Apologies for being a day late! So quickly I will move on...
Last Friday, J and I went to the ICA to see a screening of the film 'Miss Hokusai', one of the films that are part of The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme. The anime is directed by Keiichi Hara, adapted from the manga series Sarusuberi written and illustrated by Hinako Sugiura. The film too acts like a series, combining a collection of smaller narratives to provide a wider context of the day to day life of the characters.
The story is based in the Edo-period, Japan, focused on the life of Katsushika O-Ei, the third daughter of, arguably Japan's most famous painter and printer, Hokusai. It follows their life living together totally surrounded by their work in a tiny shack as she develops her skill as Hokusai's assistant. It describes the tensions and intricacies of their relationship in work, in family and with their clients.
The characters in the film are wonderfully enigmatic, and the main protagonist is a refreshingly subdued in a no-nonsense kind of way rather than aloof. She is clearly a woman with focus and intention and yet, reveals her vulnerability in her relationship with her blind younger sister who she shares the world with. Hokusai too is portrayed as a mysterious, contemplative master, who is strict with his students but is sympathetic with their struggles to achieve greatness.
What is very interesting about the narrative of this film is the way that it weaves fantasy into the story. The snippets of their everyday show their process within their work, particularly how dreams, legends, spirits and fantasy figures affect their painting. For example, they say when painting a dragon, the dragon itself needs to appear and transmit itself through you; for O-Ei, it appears in a storm, creating a powerful image of a dragon. As many anime engage in fantasy, this element seems to be used here to illustrate the bodily performative element of their process, and relay the immersive experience of their practice.
Three Women Playing Musical Instruments, Katsushika O-Ei, Boston Museum of Fine Art
O-Ei, in her real life, is a compelling figure. Very little is known about her. She is thought to have cared for Hokusai in his old age, even divorcing her husband to look after her father. She was an accomplished painter herself, although there are currently only ten works to her name. It has been contested as to whether she may be responsible for some of the later works of Hokusai. From his fame in his lifetime, it would have benefited them both financially that she sold her work as her fathers. Today, the problem is the same; although the painting may have evidence of O-Ei's hand, it still won't serve the high price and prestige of the work being made by Hokusai himself.
Not only does this film serve a feminist perspective on O-Ei and the development of her practice and the relationship with her father, but it also expands the picture of what an unusual position she was in for a young, single woman in Edo. The way it describes the experiential process of painting, the way in which the different painters approach painting shunga, what inspired and drove these individuals in the practice, broadens my imagination on the lives of these artists, particularly for O-Ei, who is stuck in a male-dominated life.
In other words, I highly recommend. If you get the chance to see 'Miss Hokusai', definitely do!
