In this story of Katsushika Oei, the little- known daughter of the late Edo Period printmaker Hokusai, the author examines not only the constraints of politics and censorship under which artists worked, but the imperative, in a robustly commercial city, to make ends meet.
Art was often regarded as decadent. Because the number of artists in Edo was too numerous, the authorities waged a sporadic war on their work. Terror was an official requirement, and as Govier writes, "Failure to feel fear was an offense under the law." Sharp-tongued and cantankerous, it was a wonder Hokusai was never clamped in irons like other artists of the day such as Utamaro.
Hokusai was a versatile artist who could turn his hand to anything. He painted equally well with his left or right hand, painted with his fingernails, between his knees or above his head. At Gokoku-ji temple, he announced he was going to paint a huge picture using sumi ink and a giant brush made from reeds.