RIDING THE GREAT WAVE

I have a framed print of Hokusai's “The Great Wave" on my living room wall. It's one of the world's most recognizable works of art, a dramatic scene of brave fishermen in their tiny boats struggling to survive in an angry sea. The print is a little smaller than my sofa. I look at it every morning before I go out into the world and I smile just a little.

Katsushika Hokusai was a Japanese artist of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He produced over 30,000 works of art, ranging from simple sketches called manga to a 600 foot long portrait of the Zen master Daruma. Most of his art was in the form of woodblock prints and were widely circulated. In that time, Japan was closed off from the outside world, but some Dutch art was smuggled in by traders. From that, Hokusai learned techniques of perspective and shading and used them to revolutionize Japanese art. He even introduced elements of surrealism in his work. He also broke with tradition by depicting ordinary people engaged in everyday activities. Before Hokusai, only the privileged appeared in works of art.

Hokusai was also an eccentric, along the lines of Western artists like Van Gogh, Dali and Picasso. He was stubborn, cranky, and single-mindedly devoted to his art. He signed one of his late works, “The Art-Crazy Old Man.” No one argued with that.

“The Great Wave” is one of a series of woodblock prints, Thirty Six Views of Mount Fuji, which was produced when Hokusai was in his seventies. It was a huge popular success and made Hokusai the leading artist of his time. Some are actually views of Mount Fuji itself: most, like “The Great Wave,” are scenes of Japanese life with Mount Fuji rising in the background.

Mount Fuji is the highest point in Japan, a dormant volcano that last erupted in 1707. Throughout Japanese history, the mountain has been the subject of myth and legend, a sacred mountain. Hokusai was a Nichiren Buddhist, and in that tradition Mount Fuji was seen as a symbol of immortality. It was visible from Edo (now Tokyo), Hokusai's home, and it held a lifetime fascination for him. Even today, the mountain is a wonder of nature, a volcanic cone towering over the flat land.

For me, Hokusai's Mount Fuji is a symbol of inner calm, of our true nature. Enlightenment. It's really as close to immortality as we ever get. In “The Great Wave,” the fishermen are being thrown about by a furious sea. The largest wave towers over them, threatening to crush them. But they paddle along bravely while Mount Fuji stands behind them, majestic and unmoved.

It's like life. The world is in turmoil. Our lives are often hard. We are buffeted by the events of everyday life. There's not much we can do about that. The waves of our lives seem to tower over us like the waves in Hokusai's print. We are thrown around like the fishermen. All we can do is keep paddling. And keep that mountain in our hearts.

So as I go out to face the world this morning, I look at “The Great Wave” and I smile. The waves I'll face today aren't nearly that bad. And I'll keep the mountain in mind.