The Edo period (1603-1867) was the last era of feudalism in Japan. Ukiyo-e was on the rise at this time, and it is a typical flower street willow alley art, mainly depicting people's daily lives, landscapes and dramas. Ukiyo-e is often thought to refer specifically to color-printed woodblock prints (known in Japanese as Nishiki-e), but in fact there are also hand-drawn works, which are also mentioned in the book as "meat strokes".
Katsushika Hokusai
She loved to draw, and from the moment she picked up the paintbrush as a child, she never stopped.
Obsessed with lines and colors, she did everything she could to extract the colors she wanted from nature, even if it was stinking.
She loves to watch the fire, often lifting the hem of her skirt and rushing to the scene of the fire, pouring out the color and momentum of the flames, and will "secretly dream, even if it is only once, when her brush can overflow with such an imposing color." Fires often broke out during the Edo period, and she was also injured by fires.
She has pursued the improvement and proficiency of her painting skills all her life, just like her father. Want to paint more, draw better. In order to paint better, you can only keep drawing, non-stop, and keep drawing.
Human curiosity is not extinguished because of the obstruction of others, and painting is her greatest curiosity. Ah Rong was married and divorced, and there seems to be little appearance of the opposite sex in his life since then. The reason for the divorce is very funny to say - dislike the husband's painting skills, and dislike the husband's personality. In retrospect, "When I first met my ex-husband who had broken up, I only looked at it and felt that 'this man looked very boring', and when I got along, I found my ex-husband bored. "It's really called - after getting divorced, the more you think about it, the happier you are." But this caused dissatisfaction to her mother, who preached several times that she did not look like a woman, and that she was mixed with a group of men in the workshop all day, and did not want to remarry without trimming the edges. She chose to turn a deaf ear and just kept drawing with a paintbrush.
In the novel, she and Zenjiro were once lovers. Zenjiro knows her too well, understands Ah Rong's love of painting, and sees her jealous genius, but beneath his promiscuous appearance, there is a lot of pressure and helplessness lurking. He probably understood that if they were to be together, it wouldn't be of much benefit to either side. He married Ah Rong, and then he put down his paintbrush and began to make a living by other means, and one day he came to Ah Rong and asked her to "continue to paint". When I saw this scene in the movie "Vertigo: Daughter of Hokusai", an inexplicable sadness suddenly appeared, which was a mixture of giving up on his past life and the bitter words of ardent hope for his loved ones - "I can't hold on, but at least you have to continue." Ah Rong was always the person he envied, not only because of that persistence and obsession, but also because she knew what she wanted to paint. [Historically, Keizai Hidezumi (i.e. Zenjiro) is actually very famous.] 】
Keizai Hidezumi "Snow in the Sumida River"
The father is Katsushika Hokusai, a gift and a curse. With her father around all year round, her painting skills will be steadily improved, and her father's obsession and her persistence will influence each other and promote each other, which is a precious asset for a painter. In her lifetime, there are not many works published and published in her own name, because the signature is often the father, and in her words, "can sell for a good price". Katsushika Hokusai's fame and drawing skills are so brilliant that he is the light and she is the shadow. Fortunately, the excellent work itself is also a light, enough to travel through time and space to reach the eyes of modern people. She finally became the light, not only her own, but also Zenjiro's, but also all mankind.
Yes, I am Hokusai's daughter. But my father's talent, I did not inherit a star and a half, I can only turn in a painful circle. I've been painting for almost twenty years, and the lines are still so weak that I can't tune out the colors I want. So I want to paint, I want to paint more.
《Yoshihara Lattice First Map》
In his later years, Ah Rong lived in his brother's house, but chose to leave for various reasons. At the end of the story, she holds her paintbrush and starts a new life.
"Daddy has me by his side, and I, only myself." ...... Ahem, what's this! This is not the path you have chosen. You're only fifty-eight years old, and your life has only just begun. ”