Under the Wave off Kanagawa, about 1830–31, Katsushika Hokusai. Woodblock print in Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. William Sturgis Bigelow Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Express Delivery Boats Rowing through Waves, 1800–05, Katsushika Hokusai. William S. and John T. Spaulding Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The “Great Wave” by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai has long been the world’s go-to emblem for tsunamis. Thing is, it doesn’t depict a tsunami. Scientists have identified it as a “rogue wave,” a freak occurrence caused by high winds and strong currents in the open sea rather than on the shore.
