Which Hokusai woodblock print is often mistaken for a tsunami?

The Hokusai woodblock print often mistaken for a tsunami is The Great Wave off Kanagawa.

Created by Katsushika Hokusai around 1831, the print shows three long boats threatened by a towering, curling wave, with Mount Fuji in the background. Its dramatic shape and apparent scale have led many modern viewers to label it a tsunami, but the image is generally understood as a storm wave or possibly a rogue wave rather than a documented tsunami.

The print is formally known in Japanese as Kanagawa-oki nami ura, often translated as “Under the Wave off Kanagawa.” It was the first and most famous design in Hokusai’s series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. The brilliant blue pigment, made with imported Prussian blue, helped give the work its distinctive appearance.

The Great Wave became a global icon and influenced artists including Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet. It also inspired Claude Debussy’s orchestral work La mer. The print’s popularity explains why it is frequently used in popular culture as a generic symbol for giant waves or tsunamis.