This is from the famous ‘Hokusai Manga’; a collection of Hokusai sketches featuring various subjects such as landscapes, flora, animals, tools and everyday life. The series originally consisted of monochrome sketches, with some including light vermilion and grey accents.

The term ’Awa’ in the title is the area near Naruto Channel, between the Honshu and Shikoku islands. This channel is famous for its violent whirlpools. Although the area is very dangerous even now, many ships had to pass through it transporting goods across the Seto Inland sea.

Hokusai depicted these wild and ferocious whirlpools realistically. While the colors used for the large jagged rock may seem unrealistic, the presence of the rock enhances the ferociousness of the waves crashing against it.