Awa, Naruto no fuha (Wind and waves at Naruto, Awa Province)

The sweeping view of the whirlpools at Naruto presents the distant mountains stretching across the horizon, with the foaming rapids of the famous Naruto whirlpools dramatically depicted in the foreground. Hiroshige returned to this subject several times, most notably in Awa Naruto no fukei (View of the Whirlpools at Naruto, Awa Province), a celebrated triptych from his final series of snow, moon and flowers (setsugekka), published in 1857.
As noted by Suzuki Juzo in Rokujuyoshu meisho zue by Hiroshige, collected by Professor Gerhard Pulverer (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1996), the powerful perspective and dramatic treatment of the waves and rocks in the present work may suggest the influence of Katsushika Hokusai. Hiroshige transforms the turbulent movement of the water into a dynamic composition, contrasting the powerful foreground rapids with the distant, tranquil landscape beyond.