Hokusai#3 miss Hokusai "Katsushika Ōi"

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 Today we're talking about Hokusai's daughter "Katsushika Ōi".

"Ōi" is the name she used when drawing pictures, called a "gago".
Her real name was "Oei", but she was called "Ōi, Ōi" by Hokusai, so
she became known as "Ōi".
"Ōi" means "Hey" in Japanese.

Three Women Playing Musical Instruments by Katsushika Ōi

The year of her birth and the year of her death are both unknown.
Her life is shrouded in mystery.

There are only about 10 works that remain in her name, which is very few.
However, it is estimated that there are many works that Ōi drew and published as Hokusai's works,
as well as works that she drew together with Hokusai.

Ōi was good at drawing women, which is called bijin-ga (portraits of beautiful women).
Her father Hokusai even said, "Ōi is better at drawing women than I am."
He also had an interest in Western-style painting and seems to have studied it.

Ōi's most famous work is "Yoshiwara Koshi Sakinozu"(Nightscene in the Yoshiwara).
It's also one of my favorite works.
When this painting was discovered, it didn't have a name on it, so it wasn't known who had painted it. However, if you look closely, you can see that the name "Ōi" is hidden in the lanterns in the painting. This is how we know that it was painted by Katsushika Ōi.

Nightscene in the Yoshiwara by Katsushika Ōi


I really like Ōi's work. I work designing printing block copies, and sometimes I refer to Ōi's work.

If you want to know more about "Katsushika Ōi", please watch the anime "Sarusuberi - Miss HOKUSAI" produced by Production I.G.
It is an anime work with Ōi as the main character, and it is a very beautiful work.


"This is the house where I and Hokusai live. We don't cook, we don't clean, and if the garbage piles up, we just move out. Hokusai (my father) is not interested in anything except painting."






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