The detail
Look past the wave. In the trough, small and white, sits Mount Fuji. That is the subject of the series this print belongs to — thirty-six views of the mountain — and Hokusai has hidden it behind the sea. The wave is the frame; the mountain is the point.
The colour
Now look at the blue. It isn’t Japanese. Prussian blue was a new imported pigment in Hokusai’s Edo, and its depth is one reason this print looked so modern — and sold so well. The boats are real too: cargo boats, rowers pressed flat, heading home.
The line to keep
The most famous wave in the world is a picture of something else.
The role of Prussian blue is a widely published interpretation; the museum record itself does not state it.