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The Great Wave off Kanagawa is easily Katsushika Hokusai’s most recognizable work. Though this print is a re-edition made 74 years after the original, it, like many other historical mokuhanga works, was created through traditional techniques. Artisans in the 1950s worked as they did in the 1830s, painstakingly carving and printing every detail. The techniques passed down from master to apprentice generation after generation are the same as those developed in the Edo period. Though re-editions usually do not hold the same value as prints from the original editions, the proliferation of this work exemplifies the status of mokuhanga as a cultural cornerstone. (Clear Water: Encountering Mokuhanga, 2023)