HOKUSAI MANGA
Ken Ogata
Yuko Tanaka
Kanako Higuchi
Frankie Sakai
Nobuko Otowa
Jo Shishido
Kon Omura
Kinya Aikawa
Kotoe Hatsui
Toshiyuki Nishida
Directed by Kaneto Shind�
Tetsuzo.
Hello. Changed your professional name?
Ikku Juppensha. I've written a death-poem.
Already? What poem?
- "Now it is time..." - Now it is time...
- "To bid farewell..." - To bid farewell...
- "To this world..." - What's next?
- "I'll be happy to become ashes." - Ashes?
You'll be glad to become ashes? When?
I won't die. I just want to get rid of my past.
Hey, Ikku...
You just scribble for sake.
I enjoy writing novels. You go ahead, too.
Why not? I'm ready to write a great masterpiece.
One much better than your latest.
I heard you'd changed your name to Sanba Shikitei.
Written a death-poem too?
"Life is like a fart...
"I fade away, nothing left behind."
My next work is entitled... �Public Bath�.
Public bath for women?
I'll write about men too.
When naked, there's no difference between the Shogun and us.
- Right. - That's good.
Tetsuzo, what on earth are you doing?
Look at Utamaro.
He thinks he's the only woodblock artist now.
Have you seen his pictures?
Damn Utamaro!
They just look beautiful...
They're not alive!
Who are you?
Oei!
Some food!
That's rude.
Are you a samurai's daughter?
Go downstairs.
Did you bring me here for that?
What's he doing?
You said you preferred old men, right?
- Hey. - What?
- Nothing.
Who's he? Another of your kind?
Utamaro. I don't like him.
The famous Utamaro?
Shogunate Mirror-Polisher Ise Nakajima
This is where I live.
Are you teasing me?
I'm the Shogunate mirror-polisher's son.
Then why do you live in that place?
You'll see.
Hello. Where is my father?
Taking a bath.
You're his son, so why not just go in?
He's disowned me.
Oh, it's wonderful!
Shogunate mirror-polishers are far richer than country lords.
He has lots of money.
What do you do?
I'm a painter.
- What's funny? - All you do is doodle.
When a shower comes...
there are some who just wait until it stops.
They're cowards. I don't care.
I start walking. I start running.
Nobody knows where I'm running to.
How should they know? I don't know, myself.
All I know is, I must start over, forgetting everything.
Don't look at me like that.
You mean nothing to me.
I'll mean something one of these days.
Is Oei really your daughter?
She was born when I was 19.
Then I divorced my wife because of a shower.
Rain?
Yes. A shower in my mind.
How many showers since then?
Such a long time, Father.
- What brings you here? - I'd like some money.
Who is she?
I wondered if you'd like her, so I brought her along.
Slight trouble with your eyes?
As for money, I won't support you any more. This is the last time.
Why? I brought her for you...
Think well...
You left home to become a painter.
I disowned you then.
I had no children.
I adopted you because...
I wanted you to succeed me as the Shogunate mirror-polisher.
I will. I can study painting while working.
Idiot! Thinking like that, you'll never succeed.
I hear you're studying under Yusen Kano, the Shogunate painter.
You're studying many styles, all at once.
What are you thinking?
"Because sometimes, a shower falls..."
"A shower"? What's that? Hopeless!
He was raised in Honjo, the worst place in Edo.
His father was a day-laborer.
He was poverty itself. Tetsuzo's mother left him.
His uncle was a clam vendor and...
he often brought Tetsuzo along when he came to sell clams.
Unlike now, he looked bright. So I adopted him.
Go to Shunsho Katsukawa and...
study painting under him.
That advice and this money...
that's all you'll get from me.
Pick them up.
Do you want me to act like a beggar?
I shouldn't get angry.
Thank you very much.
About her... Do you like her?
She's interesting. I'll leave her here.
I don't understand him.
He has his nerve.
I believe my father will like you.
You took me to your house because you were plotting this?
- See you again. - Again?
I'll come again, to get a ransom.
What else do you want?
Don't you mind if I leave?
- How old are you? - 20.
- You may have me. - What did you say?
- That you can have me. - You mean that?
I always mean what I say.
So soft...
I don't want you to treat me carefully.
I'm not a pet.
Are you asking for rough treatment?
You've only begun to see what I really am.
Here's some money for you, old woman.
Take it, disown me, go somewhere.
Ingrate!
You are here because I bore you.
This is where I work.
I don't think you can stand my father's way of life.
You plan to save lots of money first...
To make your life stable, and then write books.
That's right. You can't work well if you're poor.
May I be honest?
I find your way of thinking boring.
I see.
You're the son of a samurai, aren't you?
Yes. My father worked for one of the Shogun's close retainers.
And because you wanted to be an author...
you married the daughter of a rich store owner.
That's very bad. She's 13 years older than you, at that.
- You know very well... - What's bad?
Nothing...
Go outside and play. You're in the way.
Don't bother about her.
You and your father just live off us.
The sight of you sickens me!
She looks so gentle, but she's grumbling all the time.
She's just serious.
- Did you say something? - No, I didn't.
Those good-for nothings!
You're good at making clogs.
I'm a clog-maker now. I must do my best.
- What's funny? - Nothing.
I think my father always drinks because Onao left him.
I didn't think she was anything special,
But when she ran away, that hurt him very badly...
You'll understand when you grow up.
When I grow up?
I'll still be a female when I've grown up.
I won't understand men.
That reminds me. You are a woman.
What talk! Even I have someone whom I love secretly.
Something nice happened last night...
Let's drink to it.
Something nice?
I'll tell you. Stop working.
I visited Master Kano's last night...
The master was painting...
a picture of a child trying to reach some persimmons.
The persimmon branch was as high as this...
and the end of the pole the child was holding was much higher.
Yet he was standing on tiptoes.
That's odd. The tree should have been much taller. I told Kano about it.
Then he became angry.
Get out!
He kicked me out.
He got upset, because I put him to shame.
Wait a minute, Father...
He might have been trying to paint an awkward child...
Or how innocent children were.
There are many ways of painting.
If paintings are too logical, they're boring.
Right.
Your pictures don't sell, because yours are just a collection of...
something you stole from the others. Yours are too perfect.
Yes. That can be true.
Oei...
Thank you.
Damn it! A shower again!
Go eat something.
Seems you don't want me here.
Clog man, will you leave us alone?
- This is his house. - I don't mind.
You too, boy.
Me too?
Onao came to see me almost every night.
We drank together.
I washed her body...
We nearly went to bed together.
Excuse me.
But at the very last moment,
she always disappeared, leaving only a mysterious smile.
Made yourself up to look younger?
I miss Onao so badly...
I can't just sit and wait.
It's the same with me.
I can't forget her beautiful body.
I'm painting nothing but pornography...
in which she's being raped.
Ironically, some connoisseurs say...
this pornography is... the best work I've done.
- Can you give me that pornography? I'll offer as much as you like. - No!
Where has she gone, leaving me all torn up?
Leave! Don't make advances to Onao, or I'll kill you!
Go!
Are you still in there?
I'm coming out now.
I'll go take the clogs to Tsutaya.
I see. Come home early. Don't be late for supper.
Eating regularly is good for the health.
- Did you hear us talking? - No.
Don't you mind your wife being so nosy?
When I married her, I promised never to write books.
I didn't mind her being older...
because I thought, someday I could do what I really wanted to.
After she falls asleep, I get up and start writing novels.
I know, if written that way, they can't be very good,
but at least I'm still trying.
Actually, I'm going to see Tsutaya the publisher...
to show him a novel I've just finished.
I wonder who wrote it...
Don't play dumb. You wrote it.
Tell Tetsuzo about that clearly. Understand?
Some fear to see crabs walking sideways...
Like you.
A grown-up man, at that.
Your wife's a crab, which sidles along.
I'm afraid I've lost my wits. Crabs crawl sideways.
If they walk forwards, they're monsters.
I'm in a hurry. I'll be brief.
Come to Honjo in two hours.
- To my father's? - Yes.
What for?
Come to the garden. Promise.
What does she think I am?
Stay away from her, or you'll get hurt.
- I saw Onao... - Shut up!
I wonder why you're so excited!
What was Onao to me?
I fear I might do something with her...
But I know I shouldn't. I have you as my daughter.
You get excited easily, but you cool down quickly, too!
I thought you'd soon get tired of her.
What trouble!
Tetsuzo, look at yourself.
Oei, will you sit up all night and watch over me?
- Did you tell them? - Not yet.
Then I'll tell them.
Get out of here very soon, you two.
I'm too busy!
What a strange answer! Understand, Oei?
I wonder...
With you here, my husband can't concentrate on his work.
Writing novels isn't for normal people.
I'm sorry.
What a shame!
I'm always doing my best for you...
but all you do is write books using names like...
Bakin Takizawa, or something.
Sashichi!
Oei!
So long!
Onao.
Onao, you're angering me. Come on out.
What brings you here?
To see Onao.
Onao?
That's odd. She said to meet her here.
Onao... Where are you?
Here.
What's wrong?
How cruel of her!
What's cruel?
Gosuke!
- The clog-store boy. - He works for Sashichi.
Forgive me...
She seduced me. She forced me to!
I'm not to blame.
You were just teasing him, right?
Nothing happened with him, right?
Please don't be so hard on this old man. Please!
Why won't you look at me? I've not hanged myself yet.
- Not hanged yourself? - My parents hanged themselves.
- They were very close, though... - Did you sleep with that boy or not?
I was so bored for the last several days.
I'll forget everything...
Live with me.
I'll give you all I have.
I don't care for honor, job title or money.
Shall I leave Edo?
I'm tired of it.
I'll try farming, in the country.
Stop it! You bitch!
I'm sorry...
Onao...
Kill me!
She jilted me.
She turned me down.
She turned me down - me, the Shogunate mirror-polisher!
Onao isn't here. Where did she go?
She said to come here?
Tetsuzo, what's wrong with you?
I quit. I stopped painting.
That's good...
You'll be better off as merely Tetsuzo.
I'll be a clam vendor... No, I'll sell red peppers.
That's just fine.
I'll forget everything...
Except for one thing:
and that's Onao.
I think he's been terribly hurt, around here.
He hanged himself!
Tetsuzo, what is this?
Buy my red peppers!
They�re flavoured with spices...
like sesame and poppy seeds. Buy my red peppers!
Buy some!
Buy my red peppers!
They�re flavoured with spices like sesame and poppy seeds.
If it isn't Tetsuzo...
What's happened?
I wonder where Father has gone...
They�re flavoured with spices...
Tetsuzo, what are you doing?
Are you crazy?
It's me! It's Ikku Juppensha!
So you're at a place like this?
I looked for you.
You upped and left, and never returned.
You're selling red peppers, too?
Have one.
I bought something. I'm broke...
so I sleep outdoors.
What did you buy?
At an antiques store, with all the money I had...
I bought this...
- It's Saint Nichiren. - It's Onao for me.
I think you still miss her.
I always need something to depend on.
So now you're able to talk about your own weak points!
Tetsuzo, what happened to you?
Selling red peppers... Did you quit painting?
You look nice... Buy my red peppers!
- They�re flavoured with spices... - Shut up!
Selling red peppers? What a blockhead!
Don't call him bad names!
You can't be a painter. Selling red peppers is right for you.
Angry? Then paint some good pictures. Surprise us.
- Shut up. - Stop it.
Selling red peppers... is right for me.
Sashichi, I implore you...
Praise it.
He drew it whilst... selling red peppers.
It may not sell...
but if you say it's good, that'll encourage father.
Just say it's good. Praise doesn't cost money.
You and he are friends, childhood friends.
Wonderful picture, isn't it?
You write books, yet you still don't understand how people feel?
Tsutaya, I'm not asking you to buy Tetsuzo's picture...
I'll pay for it... So publish it.
You may laugh this off,
but don't tell anybody that I paid for it.
Just pretend that you liked it and published it yourself.
It's a trick, but if he believes his drawings are recognized...
it'll encourage him.
I'm a merchant...
I'll do almost anything for money.
But if I publish poor pictures, it'll damage my reputation.
Father, wake up. Tsutaya the publisher is here.
I'm Tsutaya.
What's wrong? Can't you draw?
You've been talking big, haven't you?
I can't, Oei...
I can't.
Then draw me...
when I'm smiling...
when I�m crying...
or both?
Or do you want to draw me when I'm naked?
Sit down.
Look sideways.
The lines...
Poor carving!
Do it yourself!
Are you asleep? What's this colour?
Sashichi...
- Shall I massage your feet? - No, thank you.
Don't do anything.
Tell me anything you want.
Eat to get better. I'll cook for you.
I'm glad you've endured it all...
You'll soon be able to do what you really want to.
What?
I think you'll feel wonderful if I die.
Don't talk like that.
After I die, sell this house...
Close the clog store and concentrate on your art.
I married you because...
I wanted you to succeed to the family business.
I was wrong about that.
Eventually you failed in it.
Now that the business is gone,
you must make a good author.
Bakin Kyokutei... I think it's a good name for you.
It sounds dignified...
In Mourning
I'll write!
Now, ladies and gentlemen...
watch what Hokusai Katsushika is going to draw.
Two sparrows on a tiny grain of rice!
Absurd! What's he doing?
He surely has changed.
He's showing off!
Crazy! I can't stand it.
Everyone, up on the gate and see!
Who is it?
It's me.
Oei?
Were you working, Bakin Kyokutei?
Don't call me Bakin Kyokutei. I'm Sashichi...
Just call me Sashichi.
But I came to borrow money again...
Come in.
You're working hard, aren't you?
I'm letting out what I've saved up in myself, all at once.
- You live all alone? - An old woman comes to cook for me.
Being alone is nice. I can relax.
How is Tetsuzo doing?
He talks as big as usual, but actually he is poor.
What about his huge pictures? Don't they make money?
No. Paper costs too much.
He likes to show off.
- He's unhappy now. - He used to be timid.
To make some money, I draw for children's toys and kites.
So does he, using my name.
When a person goes up in the world too fast...
he often becomes like that.
My pictures of the Sumida River, they sell well...
I'm going to hold a geisha party to drink to them.
Thanks, but I'm busy.
I'm not inviting you, you just make me nervous.
I came to borrow money; I must get my clothes out of pawn.
- I refuse! - Lend me something.
I'm working now!
I see. I've made up my mind, too...
I'll draw no more illustrations for your novels.
They only sell because my illustrations are good.
- I don't think so! - I'll break with you!
You've broken with everybody.
- You have no friends now. - Father, he's right.
Why are you siding with him?
All you write is didactic novels. They're unrealistic.
I hate evil.
Look: �Public Bath� - Sanba Shikitei wrote it.
He went to the public baths to write it.
"To be naked, to take a bath...
"it's a matter of due course.
"Even Buddha does it.
"When you fart in the water, bubbles rise, hubble-bubble."
I read it, too...
Just minor realism.
Sanba is supposed to be talented, but I don't appreciate him.
I see nothing interesting in farting!
Even Buddha farts in the bath. That's good.
- I disagree! - Lend me some money. - No!
Then I'll steal it! I know where you're hiding it.
No. You mustn't do that, father.
You're like a robber...
What a shame!
After tonight's orgy, I'll set out on a trip to Mount Fuji...
I'll draw Mount Fuji.
How will I live then, with all those debts?
Sashichi will help you.
- I'll tell him the truth... - Stop it!
Your pictures were only published because someone paid Tsutaya.
What's that? Who on earth paid Tsutaya for me?
Who else?
Onao.
Onao?
She sent me some money during her trip.
- I think she heard you were poor... - You're lying!
Where is she now? Tell me!
Utamaro was arrested. Handcuffed for 50 days.
They say he made a fool of the Shogunate.
A false charge!
If Utamaro was jailed, will Tsutaya be punished too?
How awful! Does the Shogunate want us to stop?
It seems I'm a hypocrite...
I paid the publisher for Tetsuzo...
and I said it was Onao's doing.
Just to please myself. I know it's awful.
My novels betray it...
I must rewrite my novels.
I'm sorry. I'll do anything for you. I'll do as you say.
That's very kind of you.
Then, I'll make up a bed...
though I never make my own.
I'm almost 40. I'm mature.
I'll lose energy as I get old...
I must finish what I want to do.
I know how you feel...
My late wife told me to do my best.
I don't mind, but the world may think differently.
I don't think you'll talk about this.
Proceed, Oei.
The reader of my novels...
may think I'm writing, seated straight at a neat desk.
Actually, I get the idea of what to write while lying in bed.
Now, will you help me with my work?
I don't see well these days. I can't write fast.
"Continued to Crescent Moon, Part V".
Write it in a corner, Oei.
Is she a deity or a woman?
Spelling doesn't matter...
I'll correct it later.
Much though I hate to admit it, I'll need Tetsuzo's illustrations.
As beautiful as a moon...
As gentle as a willow tree.
I don't know how to describe her.
She has the beauty of every flower.
Oei, how old are you?
How old am I? About 24, I think.
- It's time you got married. - I'm too old.
Only in one sense...
But Ikku said I was mature.
He's always sarcastic.
You get married. Being a widower isn't good.
Unlike Tetsuzo, I like to take care of the household affairs myself.
I'm rather feminine.
Your wife could live an easy life.
Good women never expect such things.
Women don't always mean what they say.
I was married, you know. I'll go wash my hands.
I've been in love with him. I'll never mention it!
I'll drink up.
What's wrong with women drinking?
South Wind, Clear Sky
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji... They aren't much.
Only a few of them are acceptable.
Which one do I like best? Decide yourself.
To tell the truth, I think of Mount Fuji as myself...
I sit magnificently and look down on people's lives.
The Great Wave off Kanagawa
I've walked for a long time.
But my true life is just beginning.
I'm only 89 years old.
Tenement House in Asakusa
Utamaro, Sanba Shikitei, Ikku Juppensha...
They all passed away.
All the interesting ones are gone.
It's marvellous!
I went to the employment agency for help in my doll-making...
My side-job. I met her there.
Don't pull me like that!
Calm down and listen to me...
My home village was ruined in the famine and...
Now I remember... You're Onao.
Well! How do you know my name?
Onao! But...
Onao must be very old by now...
She'd be older than me.
I'll be fortunate if I can work for Hokusai...
his pictures are very popular.
He's drawing for a festival float now.
Are you from Obuse, in Shinshu?
- How did you know? - A scholar named Kozan Takai?
He's the greatest man there.
I've been there with my father...
My father drew for the floats there.
I don't understand...
Hurry and take me to Hokusai!
Onao!
I've missed you so.
What a nasty old man!
To her, the master Hokusai is nothing.
Hokusai? Is he Hokusai?
I can't believe it!
Have you really forgotten Tetsuzo?
You see? His name is Tetsuzo...
The great Hokusai couldn't be living in a dirty sty like this.
Excuse me.
You came at the right time, Bakin...
Say my name.
Hachiyemon Miuraya.
That's true. But how do they usually call me?
Picture-maniac.
Come on!
Then Tamekazu, or something.
I'll knock you down!
You've already changed your name 30 times!
Have you found yourself a new name again, Hokusai?
Hokusai. It's come out at last.
I'm sorry. I realize even a great man sometimes forgets.
Bakin, don't you think she's like Onao?
Onao?
Who is Onao? I've forgotten.
Oei, make her like the Oano of years ago...
dress her up.
We've no money.
Will you lend us some?
I heard you always carry all the money you have around with you.
I refuse! I'm old, and money is the only thing I can depend on.
Your nephew said he wanted to be my disciple, right?
So what?
If you give me 10 gold pieces, he can use my name - Hokusai.
- Banto-san. - Yes! Welcome.
Dress her in a good kimono.
Here's some money.
What are you doing? Show them some good kimonos.
Welcome.
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji... Hokusai Cartoons...
Visit to the Waterfalls...
They are all splendid works.
I'm very certain of that.
I almost go insane when I think I'll be totally blind.
I use many Chinese characters.
If I dictate to some disciple...
He'll only use cursive kana characters.
Hello.
Hokusai, will you pay the rent? It's three months overdue.
If you don't, I'll kick you out.
I will, today I will...
Bakin, pay it for me. The rent for three months.
Strange old man! Something wrong with me?
No, nothing.
- It's too much. - Just take it.
OK... I hope it's not counterfeit money.
It's real.
Thank you very much.
Are you one of the hopeless painters, too?
There's a thing! Getting hard after all these years!
By the way, I wonder what brings me here?
No good... It's no good again.
What are you doing? Look how old you are!
It's really disgusting.
Where is Onao?
She's dressing up. She'll be back soon.
- Did they have good kimonos? - I chose the best one in the store.
Why are you so angry, Oei?
I know the government forbids women from wearing heavy make-up...
and that they forbid us from wearing expensive silk clothes,
but now they're going too far.
I saw some policemen stopping women who were passing by...
They said, "You must be wearing silk underwear."
And they ordered them to show it.
Did they get you, too?
They spared me. I was the only exception.
It's snowing.
It can't be. It's almost summer.
You're wrong. It's the dark snow...
There's a blizzard around me.
I'll be going.
Bakin's grown senile...
Hokusai's become senile at last.
Poor old man!
Oei, I'm hungry.
You've eaten just now.
I'm back.
Onao!
I remember the old days.
Thanks. See you again.
Do I look nice now?
Oei, I can draw now.
I can draw a real woman, for the first time in my life.
Do your best, father.
Your eyes � yes � your smiling eyes!
Strip off.
What? Strip?
I'll draw you naked.
Take them off!
No! I don't want to!
I wonder where Hokusai went?
Sometimes he ups and leaves. He'll be back soon.
He left because you refused to strip...
When he comes home, undress.
Even if I don't, he can draw birds and flowers.
- Welcome home. - Welcome back, sir.
Where were you?
You're old. Don't just leave like that.
Now, strip...
Hurry, or my vision will fade.
Undress.
I wonder if he's insane...
Hurry and undress, or the vision will fade.
Undress, just as I told you.
No! It's daytime now.
Can't be helped.
It's for father. I'll undress.
I'm not going to draw a ghost...
I'm going to draw a big octopus...
and a small one, on a woman.
Octopuses! They're alive...
This is going to be real fun!
Suppose we're on the beach,
and that a female diver is lying on her back, unconscious.
Think of this as the diver...
She's opening her thighs, and around her waist... like this...
The octopus moves... So does the diver...
The octopus sinks between the diver's thighs...
Its tentacles stretch out...
I think I'll do it.
That's the spirit!
Everyone has some desires...
You, too.
- Me too? - Yes.
We all have our desires.
I'll do it!
It tickles!
Clammy, too...
Look...
Women bend their toes backward when they're excited.
Like this?
More strongly! Until your legs hurt.
It's hard...
I've been waiting for this, and now the time's come.
I have caught you - today at last.
"What a nice love nest you have!
"I'll suck and suck it.
"I'll take you to paradise..."
"Well! What an octopus!
"I'm breathing hard.
"I'm gasping."
"Use your suckers... More..."
What I want to draw is...
not the octopuses violating the woman...
but rather, a picture of the woman fondling the octopuses.
This is a masterpiece, father.
Show me.
It's very good... It's excellent.
Oei, you must remember this:
my real masterpiece will be...
not the �Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji�,
but the various phases of women who have desires.
I'll draw them, so there's no mistake.
Damn it! I wish I were young...
Damn it!
You worked so hard. I'll massage you now!
What kind of boat is it?
A boat made from bamboo leaves.
I sent the boat as far as China...
go you know what they gave me when I came home?
A jewellery box, a mirror...
and beautiful clothes.
Do you know whom those gifts were for?
They're for Oharu, the girl I love. Where is she?
She went to visit her family grave...
We were all children once...
Children never get tired of anything... I envy them.
Bakin, are you totally blind now?
- Can you tell? - I'm not over there, I'm here.
Here I am...
I'll catch you. Don't cheat.
I've caught you.
I'm glad you could catch me...
You deliberately let me catch you, right?
Yes. I don't want to tell you lies.
I'm glad I came! I'm glad I'm here!
Though blind, you came all the way just to see us?
I made up my mind never to go home again...
I'm tired of living.
I'm from a samurai family...
I'll commit hara-kiri, as a samurai should.
- Hara-kiri? - I'm hungry.
With my eye trouble, my brain and mind are both in darkness.
Even though I try to write, I can't think of a word.
Being like this... I'm no longer Bakin Takizawa.
I'm nobody...
- I'm just Sashichi, a dotard... - Don't spoil yourself.
Oei, kick him out.
Death, get out!
I still have lots of things to do while I'm alive.
No matter how old you may be...
it's better to live miserably than to die a peaceful death.
I realize how it is, at last...
you love Bakin.
That's why you've never been married.
Come on... Make love to him now.
That's not the proper way to talk to your daughter!
I thought you'd wasted your life for my sake...
but now I know what you really did.
What he said - is it true?
Yes...
Just as father loved only Onao,
you were all I had.
I didn't know...
that such a good person as you was before me.
I have spent my life...
just coming and going between my study and the publisher.
Get out, the two of you!
I disown you.
I have Onao with me.
I'll take care of him.
Actually...
I'm the sort of woman who has something dirty and awful in me.
I always want to do something others hate to do.
For example, while showing you the way, saying this way is shorter...
I'd let you drop into a drain.
That's how I feel.
When Utamaro was popular,
while my father was still unknown...
I thought I'd inform on Utamaro...
and have him jailed for his pornography.
Don't let me drop...
I decided to leave my father...
because I know he'll die, exhausted by the young Onao.
I'd like to watch him die.
Hokusai, keep working.
Your pornography sells well.
Draw anything - octopuses or eels.
Draw a picture a day. Continue like that for a year...
then I'll marry you.
I wonder what's happened...
I can't get excited.
I can't feel that inspiration...
Something like burning flames...
Oei...
Bring me the box.
Open it.
They're yours...
You can live on them all your life, even though...
that may not be very long.
I was born poor, and I'm used to poverty...
So much money means nothing to me.
Use the money for your father's funeral, or something.
You're really kind, aren't you?
My life has been...
a joy, because I could meet him.
A real joy.
Was it a joy to have met me, too?
Of course.
Oei, I feel cold...
Will you come in here and warm me up?
I've already built a grave for myself.
I've written a death-poem, too...
"Fleeing from all worldly evils, I'll return to the soil,
"like a broken clay doll."
How do you like it?
Do you think it's too logical...
just like my novels?
I wanted to die pressed against the soft body of a woman.
Oei, you are old now...
but you still have soft skin.
Naturally. I'm not married. I'm still a virgin.
Ohyaku, I'll come to you before long...
Everything has gone as I planned,
from the beginning to the end.
Oei... may I suck on your breasts?
Yes, as much as you want.
Are you excited?
Reality first?
I wanted to show you something realistic.
You don't want to draw us?
Indifferent?
How boring! What's the matter with you?
Have a nice time.
Poor old man! He's like a mere shadow.
Are you stopping?
- I'm kind of disappointed... - What a shame!
He missed a chance to draw pornography.
Hurry!
Hey, Oei!
He believes he's calling me.
Here I am! I'm coming!
"Fleeing from all worldly evils, I'll return to the soil,
"like a broken clay doll."
What a bad poem!
Bakin kept on putting on airs until he died.
When it comes to that, my death-poem is...
Now, listen: I've thought of one just now...
Listen...
"As a spirit, I'm passing through a field in summer."
'A field in summer' is the point.
I decided to die in the summer, when I'm 101.
I'm 90 now...
It's time to quit making pornography.
I have no time to play around with young girls.
I'm going to study European-style painting for five years...
I'll master it when I'm between 95 and 99.
When I'm 100...
then I'll be able to draw pictures I really like myself.
I can hardly wait until then! I feel excited.
Oei!
I wonder where she is...
Father, what are you doing?
You're dirty... Your clothes are torn, too.
You can't do a thing without me.
Serves you right!
Seems Onao ran out on you.
Preparing for the festival?
The Torigoe Shrine Festival is coming up.
So is the Goddess of Mercy's.
I'm glad I moved to Asakusa...
I'm the son of poor peasants.
I had to work on the empty land,
so I wanted very badly to live in the busy town of Edo.
Mother...
At a theatre very near here...
they're presenting a Nanboky Tsuruya play. It's popular...
I wish I could take you there.
I don't think there's anyone who'd remember me.
Someone is calling me...
St. Nichiren!
Glory to the Lotus Sutra!
You helped me a lot...
As long as I believed in you, you always watched over me.
You're smart...
You haven't prayed to him for years, have you?
Thank you very much for giving Onao back to me.
- Go to bed now. - I will, Onao.
St Nichiren... actually, I want you to give her back to me...
Oei, rather than Onao.
I want Oei to carry me on her back on a trip.
For a woman, she was quite strong.
I'm 70 now. You still want me to be a slave for you?
I'm beginning to be like Bakin...
I can't see well... The landscape is fading into the distance.
It's in perspective!
Trying to be funny?
This is bad. It's because I wrote my death-poem too soon.
I should have drawn a picture instead...
I made a mistake.
"A forlorn spirit like this, in a field in summer...
"It wanders here and there, floating in the wind."
It'll sell.
I can buy you a kanzashi then. (kanzashi = an ornamental hairpin)
Onao, bring me my brush.
You're Oei...
Oei...
You made a big mistake, eh? If you were married,
you could be enjoying a happy life with your grandchildren.
It's getting dark...
If Heaven allows me... to live 10 years longer...
Five more years will be enough.
If Heaven permits me to live for five more years...
I'll be able to become a true artist.
He died.
They all say something nice...
when they are dying...
Crew:
Planning: Akihisa Kanai Original Story: Seiichi Yashiro
Cinematography: Keiji Maruyama Art Direction: Shigemori Shigeta
Music: Hikaru Hayashi Sound Mixing: Michiru Shimada
Lighting: Masahiro Noda Editing: Yoshi Sugihara
Producers: Manabu Akashi & Hiroyuki Nakajo
Written and Directed by Kaneto Shindo
The End
HK subtitles revised by lordretsudo & quaisnord