Not Just Hokusai: Three Waves of Japanese Culture in the West. Part I

For more than a century and a half, the fashion for Japanese art has been one of the most important trends in Western culture. The famous engraving by Katsushika Hokusai “The Great Wave in Kanagawa” (1830–1832) from the famous series “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji” became its peculiar symbol. But how could it happen that this drawing, created by a Japanese artist for his own compatriots many years ago, sunk so deeply into the souls of Europeans? There are several answers to this question, and one of them boils down to the fact that the waves depicted in the engraving represent the opening of Japan to the outside world, from which the country was separated for more than two centuries (1641–1853).