I get emails from AtlasObscura.com; interesting stories on things and places worldwide. This recent issue had an article on rediscovered prints by Hokusai - great little article. BUT you can also link over to the British Museum collection to see hi-rez images of the drawings, including his hand lettered kanji.
I also just realized this yesterday, when I saw it on a Uniqlo t-shirt of all places. But I think I only even looked for it after reading the full name: The Great Wave Off Kanagawa. That made me look for the land. Also, there was a sign in the shelves about Mt. Fuji being iconic and all.
I actually realized there’s Mt. Fuji in the Great Wave picture after visiting a museum in Tokyo. There was an exhibit dedicated to the artist and and a mrntion that he liked to paint different views of Mt. Fuji. I think there’s something like 50 pictures with a similar theme.
Speaking of the original topic (and not the one disclaimer at the bottom), I think I would have said that was Chinese… e.g. what is 弍 (a variant of 二) doing there?
The variant numbers are still used in formal situations to prevent some unscrupulous type with a pen from changing a 二 into a 三, say, or a 一 into a 十. You can see them on the currency, for example.
On the Chinese/Japanese kanji history Kristen gives a great explanation on this podcast about 20 min in. A lot of appropriation and customizing with every era change.
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