Is Hokusai’s Great Wave Public Domain? Yes—Choose the File

The short answer

Yes. Hokusai’s historical Great Wave design is public domain; a practical reusable image is the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s open-access file for impression JP1847. The museum marks that image Public Domain and makes it available under CC0. This does not give you rights to every modern poster, photograph or adaptation featuring the wave.

The two things to keep together are the particular print and the particular download. “Hokusai, Great Wave” identifies a design, not a single image file shared by every museum.

One design, many physical prints

Under the Wave off Kanagawa belongs to Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. It is a colour woodblock print, not an oil painting. An impression means one sheet printed from the blocks. Many sheets can share the design while differing in ink, wear, paper, fading and later treatment.

The Met’s record dates its sheet to about 1830–32 and identifies it as JP1847. The museum records dimensions of 25.7 × 37.9 cm. The dramatic wave, small mountain and boats identify the composition; the accession identifies this physical example.

Another institution’s Great Wave may look bluer, paler or more sharply printed. Do not fix that difference by swapping files while keeping the first museum’s credit. Nor should every historical impression be called “the original.” The design was made to exist as multiple prints.

That distinction matters even for an ordinary presentation. A caption stating that an image comes from the Met should actually show the Met sheet named in the source record, not an attractive version selected later from a search engine.

Why the old design is public domain

The evidence concerns a nineteenth-century published print design, not just an artist’s death. Seattle Art Museum’s collection label places its first publication in 1831. That published-print history distinguishes the design from a private drawing that was never issued. The source supports the design’s publication history; the image shown on this page remains the Met’s separate impression, JP1847.

In the United States, a work published that early is far beyond the maximum term discussed in Copyright Office Circular 15A. The URAA restoration rules do not provide a new term merely because the design originated abroad.

Hokusai died in 1849. Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs explains that its 2018 extension from life plus 50 to life plus 70 did not revive already expired protection (official Q&A, in Japanese). The design also lies far beyond the ordinary author-life-plus-70 terms described in UK guidance and Türkiye’s ministry guidance.

These are economic-copyright conclusions about the old design. They are not a claim that every form of attribution, integrity, trademark or contractual obligation disappears everywhere. For a project involving an unusual territory or disputed modern edition, obtain advice for that particular use.

The Met file used here

This page uses the Met’s JP1847 reproduction, not a reconstruction of the wave. Its object page carries a Public Domain label. The museum’s Open Access programme explains that qualifying images and basic data are available under CC0, including commercial and non-commercial reuse without a permission fee.

Follow the download from that object page. Retain the object number and the file you received. A filename containing “great-wave” is convenient, but it does not preserve provenance on its own.

The museum name in a credit identifies the source; it is not an endorsement of your product. Do not add its logo or describe your work as an official museum collaboration unless you have that separate relationship.

The CC0 statement also should not be stretched to cover everything surrounding the image. A museum’s website design, newly written text, video or branded merchandise can have different terms. Use the open artwork file, not a screenshot of an entire museum page.

What the open file does not clear

Consider three downloads showing almost the same wave:

Image you find	What to check
The Met’s labelled JP1847 download	Match the object and retain the CC0 source record
A modern coloured adaptation	Identify the new contribution and its licence
A framed print photographed in a living room	Obtain rights to the photograph, not just the underlying wave

An altered image may include newly drawn boats, changed lettering, a different sky or a new layout. A modern recarving can also be a different object from an Edo-period impression. Do not present it as the same historical sheet merely because the outline of the wave is familiar.

The UK Intellectual Property Office’s image guidance is useful here: faithful copying and original photography are different questions, and supply contracts can introduce conditions. Copyright on the old design is not a licence to copy another business’s finished advertisement.

Picking a useful download

For a slide or article, the full composition helps readers see how the boats, mountain and wave relate. For a vertical phone screen, a crop may remove much of that relationship. Neither choice changes the work’s age, but it changes what you are showing.

Keep an untouched source copy before making an adaptation. If you crop, call the result a detail. If you recolour or reconstruct missing areas, identify the change instead of treating your version as documentary evidence of Hokusai’s original colours.

Finally, check the dimensions of the actual file. A small preview image can be legally reusable yet unsuitable for a large print. Conversely, a huge image from an unidentified source does not become cleared simply because its resolution is impressive.

Keep the impression with the credit

A useful credit includes Hokusai, the title, the date range, the museum, accession JP1847 and the source’s CC0 designation. The acquisition credit for this sheet is the H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929. Link directly to the object so a reader can verify the same sheet.

Save that record with the original download and a note of your changes. Repeat the check if you switch museums or impressions. This small habit prevents a clear public-domain answer from turning into a vague “found online” image trail.

For the people and mountain within the composition, read The Story Behind Hokusai’s Great Wave. For other works and additional impressions, use the Hokusai artist guide. This page answers the narrower reuse question; it does not replace either of those guides.