Why the 'Great Wave' has mystified art lovers for generations cnn.com

A visitor looks at Katsushika Hokusai's famous print, "The Great Wave off Kanagawa," at the Ara Pacis Museum in Rome.
As many as 5,000 impressions were made from the original woodblocks for "The Great Wave."
"The Great Wave" was the first in his series "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji," a virtuosic study of Japan's highest and most revered mountain.
An endangered artAt Takahashi's workshop, craftsman Noriyasu Soda works on a replica of Hokusai's "Great Wave."
"We have to succeed in passing down this wonderful technique of ukiyo-e woodblock prints," she says.