[tjpnz]

I took my father to see the original in Tokyo today. It's a sight to behold and worth a look next time you're here. You can also watch a Sumo match nearby.

[perilunar]

It's a woodblock print — there were thousands printed, and ~100 known to still exist. I've seen the British Museum's copy.

[yardshop]

I saw an original copy yesterday in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, along with the 50,000 piece LEGO version! They have a large exhibit about Hokusai, along with many of his contemporaries such as Hiroshige, works from his students and teachers, and many many examples of how the Great Wave has been reflected in art and culture over the years. They didn't have this beautiful little 1-bit piece though.

[robga]

It must have been a thrill to see a PowerBook 100!

[smcl]

I thought he made and sold many prints of each piece, so that identifying the original one wouldn't really be possible.

[Someone]

The original are the woodblocks (it’s multi-colour, so I assume there were multiple blocks). Those wouldn’t show the full picture and would have been worn down, if we still had them. We don’t, though. The next best thing would be prints made by the artist.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/great-wave-spot-differenc... has a nice description using wear and tear to distinguish earlier from later prints.

Edit: nowadays, artists write things like “3/50” on their prints (meaning they made fifty prints, and this is the third). That informs collectors/drives up prices for the low numbered prints.

[smcl]

Yep I also saw some in a Hokusai museum in Osube near Nagano