Katsushika Hokusai no one knows, right? What should Katsushika be? Look up the painter's dictionary:
Katsushika was a ukiyo-e painter, the third daughter of Katsushika Hokusai in the late Edo period, and a name for Ei. At first, he inherited the family tradition, and then transferred to Di Waiting for Lin. "Guan Yu Tu", created by the dark method of Western painting, is famous for the painting world. After divorcing her husband Nanzawa and other Akira, she returned to her father to paint. He ran away from home in 1857 and his whereabouts are unknown. ——Shi Yong'an, editor-in-chief: A Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Japanese Painters
Katsushika is supposed to be the drawing number of Arong, whose original name was Kawamura. Today, her fame is still not as good as her father's, and she has little information left behind, which has only been discovered little by little in recent years. When her original appearance is gradually pieced together, it is not difficult to find that she is a veritable painting idiot.
This is naturally incorporated into The Daughter of Uki by Asai Makoto. At the beginning of the novel, there are these words:
Coupled with the fact that the man was not at home, no one urged her to ask for tea and sit and wait for dinner, she had more time to paint. "It's really hot, sister, can I come in?" Ah Rong did not stop the paintbrush in his hand, only turned his head and looked at the door. ......
Simplicity highlights Ah Rong's love and dedication to painting.
"Ukiyo-e Daughter" is a novel about Katsushika's due, and the author Asai Makoto is known as the "Queen of Japanese Period Novels", and information about her does not need to be repeated here, and her writing skills can be known in just the above few sentences.
Attention to this book stems from ukiyo-e, and katsu should be related to these information related to art history. However, I personally believe that readers should pay more attention to the book than to the literary value of Asai Makoto and Ukiyo-e Daughter as a Japanese era novel, although I do not intend to copy information about Asai Makoto himself here. After the publication of this "Ukiyo-e Daughter", Ah Rong's information and her works have also been continuously disclosed and disseminated, which makes everyone just use this novel as a springboard to introduce Ah Rong, and the interpretation of this novel is far from enough. A good novel, just a few storytellers talking to themselves does not highlight its value, it needs different readers (good evaluation, bad evaluation, professional inside, outside the professional) to complete together.
Anyone who knows Ah Rong well will know that she is completely different from the delicate and traditional Japanese women we used to remember. She was not a good wife and mother, did not trim the edges, because she was too addicted to painting and was considered a freak by the people of the time, her mother based on the traditional concept of male marriage and female marriage constantly ran for her marriage, her marriage can be successful, only because her husband Yoshinosuke is "finally appeared a person who did not shake his head and refused (this marriage)", the two of them are not united because of love, each has its own calculations. Mothers in Ah Rong after marriage is still constantly worried about their lives, the traditional concept is always by the mother to read out, to dress up, to do housework, to have children, etc., even if Ah Rong is married, tradition and rebellion are always the core of the mother-daughter relationship, these are shown by Asai Makoto with our familiar dialogue.
The dew wood is a "Hokusai Mansion Sketch", in the middle of the picture is Arong on the left and Katsushika Hokusai on the right
Homework is only part of the novel. Rather than being a full-time wife of an unknown painter, Ah Rong wants to be independent in painting, and along this story line, the process of Katsushika Hokusai's painting work with his disciples, the father teaching his daughter, and the details of the master's teaching apprentices are also spread. In Ah Rong's time, only women were particularly difficult and tragic? The novel mentions a Yoshijiro who Arong once worked with and was quite out of place with the times. The two have some similar personalities, are unwilling to compromise, and have their own ideas.
"Ashan, what are you trying for?" "For the name? Or for the money? ” "Of course it's for sleeping beautiful women, and why?"
Ah Shan's ambitions can't be said to be here, but Ah Rong is obviously not.
"I want to draw more."
Perhaps it was this idea, including the admiration for his father's painting talent and fame, that made Ah Rong just want to stay with his father Katsushika Hokusai all the time. But people will eventually experience life, old age, illness and death. Dad eventually left. However, for some time before his death, he reminded Ah Rong that good craftsmanship and insight into the meaning of painting are two different things.
Without the protection of the old father, Ah Rong continued to follow the old father's path, walking on his own, not walking badly, at least the remuneration received was higher than the old father's acceptance, but she did not forget what the old father said.
"I want to paint."
The real reason for Ah Rong's departure and its follow-up are no longer known. Asai Makoto extended it in Ukiyo-e Daughters, and the reason she gave was to "start over".
In any case, with this "Ukiyo-e Daughter" to review Arong's life, especially the image of Katsushika Hokusai seen from her perspective, the obsession and persistence of father and daughter in painting, the delicate portrayal of Asai Makoto, and the smooth translation of Lake, it is not difficult to understand why readers read this novel and use it as a "springboard" to know Arong, it can make people think more and make people want to know More and more about Arong.
If this novel is showing a female figure who struggles against traditional old ideas, it is not necessary. Ah Rong has always had a de-gender attitude, her untrimmed edges, not attached to the delicacy of life, unlike her husband (ex-husband) who pursues three meals a day, but to highlight her ambition to become a painter. Even if the people around her and the prejudices and attacks on her in the society she lives in have always existed, in fact, Ah Rong does not care too much about these things.
On the contrary, Ah Rong faithfully practiced her father's education for her:
Man, you can't lower your standards just because you can't bear the hardships.
A patriarchal society, both resources and power, will tilt toward men, and the word "oppression" in Ah Rong's time will bear much more than men. Logically, they should be better and more accomplished, and it is precisely because Ah Rong's experience makes them all look inferior.
The translator added more to my liking for the book. Just for this passage that Lake said:
The above historical materials were found by me bit by bit and made a lot of notes. The ukiyo-e magazine of the 1920s, I read. I read the first edition of Hokusai's biography, published in the 1930s. A large number of paintings by Ying Quan, I looked at. For the sake of the book, for Arong.
Source: Daughter of a Japanese ukiyo-e master, oppressed female creator
I have always stressed that translation is not an easy task, it is not simply the conversion of one language into another. In the era of fast food, the speed of translation is far faster than the speed of creation, but have translators ever understood the works they have translated? Not necessarily. I do not intend to criticize anything here, but I would like to say that without such careful preparation and love for Ah Rong, we would not be able to see a warm "Daughter of Ukiyo-e".