The Big Wave is a children’s novella by renowned American author Pearl S. Buck, originally published as a short story in the October 1947 edition of the children’s magazine Jack and Jill and then expanded in 1948. The expanded edition was originally accompanied by reproductions of classical Japanese art by Utagawa Hiroshige and Katsushika Hokusai, though these illustrations are not included in later reprintings. Hokusai’s famous ukiyo-e print, The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, features prominently and likely inspired the novella’s title.

Set in postwar Japan, The Big Wave centers on two boys, Kino and Jiya. When Jiya’s home in a fishing village is destroyed by a tidal wave, leaving him orphaned and homeless, Kino’s family takes him in. Jiya and Kino’s lives demonstrate The Importance of Community, The Power of Resilience, and The Acceptance of Impermanence and Death as natural parts of life.

The Big Wave won the 1948 Child Study Association’s Children’s Book Award. It was adapted for a television special in 1956 and then into a feature-length film in 1961. The film version starred all Japanese actors (a rarity at the time), including the famous silent-film-era actor Sessue Hayakawa as the Old Gentleman.

This study guide refers to the 1976 paperback reprinting by Harper Trophy.

Plot Summary

A young boy named Kino lives on his family’s farm on a mountainside overlooking the ocean and a nearby fishing village. Kino works with his father on the farm and sometimes goes to the village to play with his friend Jiya. Jiya lives with his family in a house on the beach. No house on the beach has windows facing the ocean.

Jiya and his father fear and respect the ocean, calling it their enemy. Kino does not understand, seeing the ocean only as beautiful and a place where he and Jiya can swim and play. Together, they often swim to Deer Island, a small island just off the coast where they find beautiful rocks and shells on the beach. They consider the island theirs, though it belongs to the Old Gentleman, a wealthy old man who lives in a castle on higher ground just outside the fishing village.

One day, a nearby volcano erupts. Fearing that the eruption may cause a tidal wave, the Old Gentleman invites the villagers to take refuge in his castle. Jiya’s father sends Jiya away but remains to watch his boats along with Jiya’s mother and older brother. Jiya walks up the mountainside to stay with Kino’s family as the tidal wave hits. As they watch, the big wave rises and destroys the entire village, killing everyone who stayed. Stricken with grief, Jiya faints. Kino’s father explains that Jiya will be part of their family now but that they must be patient as Jiya heals. 

While Jiya sleeps, the Old Gentleman visits, offering to adopt Jiya. Kino’s father says the decision must be Jiya’s, though he knows Jiya will have a much better life with the wealthy old man than with poor farmers. However, when Jiya wakes, he politely refuses the Old Gentleman’s offer, preferring to stay with Kino’s family. As time passes, Jiya learns to be a farmer and works with Kino’s family. Jiya becomes close with Kino’s sister, Setsu, who is lively and makes him laugh. 

Years later, other survivors of the big wave return to the abandoned beach to rebuild the village despite the Old Gentleman’s protests. Now a young man, Jiya buys a boat and returns to fishing. He asks Setsu to marry him. To show that he is ready to face the future, Jiya builds his home on the beach with a large opening that faces the water so that he will always see the next big wave coming.