The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife (Tako to
ama, literally Octopus(es)
and shell diver), also known as Girl Diver and Octopi, Diver
and Two Octopi, etc., is a zoophilia-associated woodcut design of the ukiyo-e
genre by the Japanese artist Hokusai. It is from the book Kinoe no Komatsu
(English: Young Pines), a three-volume book of shunga erotica first published
in 1814, and is the most famous shunga Hokusai ever produced. Playing with
themes popular in Japanese art, it depicts a young ama diver entwined sexually
with a pair of octopuses. The notion of invasion or abduction from sea creatures seems to be a recurrent theme in Japanese folklore.
The work has influenced a number of later artists including Pablo
Picasso. Picasso painted his own version in 1903 that has been shown next to
Hokusai's original in exhibits on the influence of 19th-century Japanese art on
Picasso's work. In 2003 a derivative work by Australian painter David Laity,
also titled The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife, sparked a minor obscenity
controversy when it was shown at a gallery in Melbourne;
after receiving multiple complaints Melbourne
police investigated, but determined it did not break the city's pornography
laws. Hokusai's print has had a wide influence on the modern Japanese-American
artist Masami Teraoka, who has created a number of images of women, including a
recurring "pearl diver" character, being pleasured by cephalopods.
By South Utsire
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