Hokusai was a painter during Japan's two centuries of self imposed isolation. He painted in the ukiyo e style which was quite popular with the rising merchant class. Ukiyo e paintings were reproduced as wood boack prints in large numbers. "The Great Wave" is part of a series of 35 views of Mount Fuji painted later in Hokusai's life. It represents the Japanese fear of the outside world showing the waters that had protected them in the past turning against them.
—David Foss