One of Hokusai greatest achievements in
the erotic woodblock genre is his Pining for Love (Kinoe no komatsu),
three book volumes (including 15 double color illustrations) published in
1814, which reflects his new type of human figure and containing his excellent
masterpiece Diving Girl Ravished by Octopuses (aka.'Dream of the
Fisherman's Wife'). A design that stands in a class of its own. Despite
the substantial quantity that has been written about this work, it remains one
of those images which require neither advocacy nor analysis in order to
illuminate its enigmatic effect.
To give an impression I have included
some excerpts I found in various books on Hokusai's Diving Girl Ravished by
Octopuses:
"Among the pictures is the
terrifying plate of the nude form of a woman draped over seaweed-strewn rocks,
swooning with pleasure.
She is in such a state of abandon, sicut cadaver,
that it is not at all easy to tell whether she is a victim of drowning or if
her body is in truth alive. A huge octopus, with ghaslty pupils like black
quarter moons, sucks at her nether regions, while another smaller octopus
avidly devours her mouth" (Edmond de Goncourt - 'The Art of Hokusai in
Book Illustration, p.170).
"In Hokusai's most famous shunga,
a large octopus performs cunnilungus on a woman abalone diver or ama, and a
smaller one, perhaps his offspring, kisses her and fondles one of her nipples
with a tentacle. This print is testimony to how our interpretation of an image
can be distorted when seen in isolation and without understanding the text. A
recent study by Danielle Talerico (2001: 24-42) explains that this image was
initially considered by Western collectors and scholars like Edmund de
Goncourt, Jack Hillier and Richard Lane to represent a rape scene. Talerico's
study shows that an Edo audience would have associated the image with the
story of Tamatori. In the legend, the abalone diver Tamatori sacrifices her
life to save the Emperor by cutting open her breast, where she hides the jewel
she has stolen from the Sea-Dragon King in his underwater Dragon Palace. The
Sea-Dragon King is accompanied by all nature of sea creatures, including
octopuses. The dialogues between the two creatures and the diver express
mutual sexual enjoyment (see Talerico 2001: 37, for a complete
translation)". (p. 161 in 'Japanese Erotic Fantasies' by C. Uhlenbeck and
M. Winkel)
"This illustration, of a woman with two octopuses, twin incubi, has lost
none of his power to disturb (...) Despite the considerable amount that has
been written about this work, all attempts to interpret and elucidate it end
up by revealing more about the writer than about the original work. It remains
one of those designs which require neither advocacy nor analysis in order to
work its mysterious effect". (p.249 in 'Shunga, the Erotic Art of Love in
Japan' by Tom and Mary Evans)
"...On the right, a large octopus ravishes the girl with androit
cunnilungus, while a smaller octopus (his son?) assists earnestly at the left.
Yet however bizarre the concept, the effect is neither comic nor pornographic;
in this fantasy of a passionate shell diver, we discover a new facet of
Hokusai's genius and a consummate work of erotica". (Richard Lane -
'Love's Labour's Found: The Erotic Art of Hokusai)
"The most beautiful Japanese erotic print that I know is truly
frightening: it is of a Japanese woman mounted by an octopus; with its
tentacles, the horrible beast sucks the tips of her breasts and rummages in
her mouth, while its head drinks from her lower parts. The almost superhuman
expression of agony and sorrow - which convulses this long, graceful female
figure with aquiline nose - and the hysterical joy - which emanates at the
same time from her forehead, from those eyes closed as in death - are
admirable".
(J.K. Huysman - 1889)
