Whirlpools and Waves at Naruto, Awa Province, No. 55 In the series Famous Views of the Sixty-odd Provinces c. 1853 – 1856
Here, Hiroshige depicts the famous whirlpools in the Naruto Strait. The channel – located between Naruto in Tokushima (on Shikoku) and Awaji Island in Hyōgo Prefecture – connects Japan’s Inland Sea with the Pacific Ocean. Twice a day, the tide moves large amounts of water in and out of the Inland Sea through the narrow strait, causing water to rush through the channel reaching speeds of around 10 miles per hour and creating some
of the world’s strongest currents and spectacular whirlpools, known in Japanese as uzushio or uzumaki. Though Hiroshige had never visited the Naruto Strait, he illustrated the whirlpools on more than one occasion. Here, he cleverly uses the white of the paper in the claw-like crests of the waves and the spiraling swirls of the whirlpool to express the water’s immense energy and perhaps pay homage to Hokusai’s iconic Great Wave.
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