The previous translations published on the internet of one of the most coveted erotic prints called ‘The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife‘ (蛸と海女) were not completely accurate. Below you can find the definitive translation and more background info on this shunga masterpiece…
Fig.1. ‘The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife (c.1814)’ from the series ‘Young Pine Saplings (Kinoe no komatsu)’ by Katsushika Hokusai
“In these albums we find this frightful image: on rocks green with seaweed lies a naked body of a woman, swooning with rapture, sicut cadaver, such that we know not if she is alive or has drowned, and an immense octopus, its dreadful pupils the shape of black quarter-moons, sucks her nether regions, while a smaller octopus greedily feasts upon her mouth.”
The Most Complete Translation of the Text in The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife
Octopus: “Wondering when to do the abduction, but today is the day. At least she’s captured. Even so, this is a plump, good pussy. A greater delicacy than even a potato. Saa, saa, sucking to complete satisfaction, then take her to be imprisoned in the Dragons King Palace.
Diver: “This hateful octopus, fu, fu, fu, fu…rather, aa, aa..sucking on the surface of the inner mouth of my womb until I’m breathless, aa, eee, I’m coming! By that projecting mouth. By that projecting mouth the open vagina is teased. Oh! Oh! Are, are… What to do? Aa, yoo, oo, oo, oo, ooo, aaree, oo, oo good, oo, good, good, good, haa, aa, good, good, haa, good, fu, fu, fuu, fuu. Again! Yoo, yoo, yoo, yoo. Until now, although people have called me aa, fu, fu, fu, fuu, fuu, fuu…Oo, fu, fuu, fuu. Why, why? Ee, ee, this, yo, yo, yo, saadeha, aa, aa, aa!
Octopus: “Say! How about the feelings of being entwined by eight legs?”
Commentary: “Juices are flowing like hot water. Nura, nura, nura, doku, doku, doku.”
Diver: “Ee, moo. I’m becoming ticklish, zo, zo…One after another until I lose track, fu, fu, fuu, fuu, limits and boundaries are gone oo, oo, oo, I’ve arrived, aa, aa, are, are, there, there, uu, mu, mu, mu, fumu, fumu, uuu, I’m coming! I’m coming!
Small octopus: “After my parent is finished, I too will use my projecting mouth to rub from her clitoris to her ass until [she] loses consciousness, and then I’ll do it again, chu, chu.”
Fig.2. ‘Octopus and ama diver‘ (c.1781) from the series ‘Yokyoku iro bangumi (Programme of Erotic Noh Plays)’ by Kitao Shigemasa
Far-fetched Fantasy
In the catalogue of the British Museum Hayakawa Monta (professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies) comments on “The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife” the following:
What is Shunga? Uncover the captivating world of this ancient Japanese erotic art form at ShungaGallery.com. Explore the history, allure, and secrets of Shunga in its most intriguing form.
image by Hokusai that has always fascinated people the most. Dragging a diving woman into a cleft between two rocks a large octopus is taking its pleasure, using almost all of its eight legs to coil around and play with her arms, legs and nipple.
A second, smaller octopus simultaneously ‘kisses’ her on the mouth. For all that this is an image of far-fetched fantasy, with its powerfully volumetric forms and brilliant coloring, it nonetheless gives the vivid sensation that we are direct witnesses of the scene, as the tentacles seem to slither and writhe before our gaze.
Fig.3. The print that inspired Hokusai Octopus design entitled Diver and Octopuses (c.1786)
Tight Grip on the Tentacles
The diving woman who gives up her body for the octopus to have its way may at first appear ‘lifeless, like a corpse’ (as Edmond de Goncourt wrote); but in fact she has all but lost consciousness with the pleasure that the creature is giving her. This is abundantly clear from her arched back, her tight grip on the tentacles, and her long sighs, cries and exclamations that fill the dialogue text surrounding them.
Fig.4. ‘Octopus and ama (abalone) diver’ (c.1773) by Katsukawa Shunsho
Diver Who Stole a Jewel
[…] The idea for the pairing of octopus and diving woman was not original to Hokusai. Some thirty years earlier the artist Kitao Shigemasa (1739-1820) drew a similar combination (see Fig.2.) in his erotic book ‘Yokyoku iro bangumi (Programme of Erotic Noh Plays)’, where the context was the ancient Taishokan tale of the diver who stole a jewel from the Dragon King’s Palace at the bottom of the sea.
Hokusai’s fellow pupil in the Katsukawa school, Katsukawa Shuncho, also depicted a diving woman having sex with an octopus (see Fig.3.)among rocks on the shore in ‘Ehon chiyo-dameshi (Erotic Book: Lusts of Many Women on One Thousand Nights)‘ of 1786.
Even before that, Suzuki Harunobu (d. 1770) and Katsukawa Shunsho (d. 1792; Fig.4.) had both designed so-called ‘risqué pictures’ (abuna-e) – images that titillating but not explicit – on the theme.”
An accurate description of The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife by the shunga expert Rosina Buckland (British Museum) goes as follows: […] ‘Despite the passage of nearly two hundred years, it has lost none of its arresting graphic power. A naked woman lies between to seaweed-covered rocks, her legs spread to accommodate a huge octopus which penetrates her with its mantle. One of its tentacles curls around to stimulate her clitoris. At her head, a smaller octopus cradles her neck as it battens on to her mouth and tweaks her left nipple.’
Fig.6. Remake of ‘The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife’ (2018) by Yuuya Shimoi
Hypodermic Fat
The woman is one of the female divers (ama or awabi) who gathered abalone shellfish. Women possess more hypodermic fat so have an advantage over men in being able to endure the cold temperatures of the water, and these divers were renowned for their ability to hold their breath for long periods of time.
Cutting Her Breast
Ama had appeared in various archaic stories, in particular Taishokan, the tale of a Buddhist jewel captured along the way from China to Japan and taken to the Palace of the Dragon-King. An ama finally succeeds in rescuing the jewel, but only by cutting her breast open to conceal it, thereby sacrificing her own life.
Barely Clad
This story was turned into a noh play in the early fifteenth century, as well as being adapted for more popular stage plays. The story was represented in woodblock prints, but during the eighteenth century the depiction of the barely clad divers, wearing only a red underskirt, became sensualized and provided suitable subject matter both for ukiyo-e designs of beauties (such as the opening page of the Utamaro’s Poem of the Pillow album), and for explicit images of octopuses penetrating and sucking.
Heroic Diver
In addition, tako, the word for octopus, was argot for vagina, for its ability to suck firmly, and this term is used in the dialogue here. Yet the design lacks obvious references to the tale of the heroic diver, contemporary readers (viewers) of the book would have been familiar with these links, and would have understood the visual play which Hokusai was deploying in his extraordinary design.*
Movie clip of ‘The Octopus scene‘ from ‘Hokusai Manga (aka. Edo Porn)‘, 1981. Directed by Kaneto Shindô.
‘Octopus and shell diver‘ (c.1870s) in the style of Kobayashi Eitaku
The undervalued Kobayashi Eitaku (1843-1890) became a novice at the age of thirteen of the painter Kano Eitoku (1815-1891). He climbed the ladder working as a court painter for the Hikone lords became their..
Tattoo design by Stagnio
‘The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife‘ (2018) by Paulo Javier
Iron, acrylic gouache on canvas ‘The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife‘ (2018) by Sisyu
Oil on canvas ‘The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife‘ (2016) by Elly Smallwood
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Koban sized print featuring ‘Octopus wearing a head-scarf copulating with an ama diver‘ (c.1855) from the series: ‘Shunkyo karami-dako (Spring Games: Grappling Octopus)‘ by Utagawa Kunisada II (1823-1880)
‘Octopus assaulting boatsman‘ (c.1847) from an important album of 26 original sumi shijo-style drawings by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) (Richard Kruml)
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