Skip Ribbon Commands
Skip to main content
Seattle Art Museum (SAM)
menu
Skip Navigation Linksvisit

Awa Province, Naruto Whirlpools (Awa, Naruto no fuha), from the series Famous Views of the Sixty-odd Provinces (Rokujuyoshu meisho zue)

Photo: Susan Cole

Awa Province, Naruto Whirlpools (Awa, Naruto no fuha), from the series Famous Views of the Sixty-odd Provinces (Rokujuyoshu meisho zue)

1855

Utagawa Hiroshige

Japanese, 1797-1858

The Naruto Strait separates Awaji Island from Shikoku. Its famous whirlpools spiral in eddies, sending water crashing against vertical rocks. At the center of the eddy, the water turns a menacing black. The design and drama here recall Hokusai's Great Wave, which Hiroshige quotes directly in the towering wave at left, its foamy fingers reaching out like claws.
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Framed: 14 1/8 x 9 1/4 in. (35.9 x 23.5 cm)
Gift of Mary and Allan Kollar, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum
2017.23.20
Provenance: [Peter Gilder, Arts and Designs of Japan, San Francisco, California]; private collection; [Christie's, New York, An Important Collection of Japanese Prints, Mar. 25, 2003, sale no. 1298, lot no. 221, reproduced p. 119]; purchased at auction by Allan Kollar, Seattle, Washington, 2003; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2017
Photo: Susan Cole
location
Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, SAM at 75: Building a Collection for Seattle, May 5 - Sept. 9, 2007.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Fleeting Beauty: Japanese Woodblock Prints, Apr. 1 - July 4, 2010. Text by Catherine Roche. Cat. no. 56, reproduced p. 79.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Our Blue Planet: Global Visions of Water, Mar. 18 - May 30, 2022.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

Learn more about Equity at SAM