The Great Wave off Kanagawa
The object
one of the three slim boats half-buried in the wave
The story
The three boats are oshiokuri-bune, fast-rowing transport boats used along the Pacific coast of the Boso Peninsula to deliver fresh-caught fish to the markets of Edo (modern Tokyo) before the catch spoiled. Their schedule was tight enough that they ran in any weather. The rowers wear the wrapped headcloths that identified them by guild. Mount Fuji, the real subject of the Thirty-Six Views series, sits framed inside the falling wave. Now at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York @metmuseum
The reel
The painting
