Edo Porn

1981 Japanese film

Hokusai manga
by Seiichi Yashiro

Produced by

Gakubun Akashi
Hiroyuki Nakajo

Starring

Ken Ogata
Toshiyuki Nishida

CinematographyKeiji MaruyamaEdited byYoshi SugiharaMusic byHikaru Hayashi

Production
company

Shochiku

Distributed by

Shochiku
Fuji Film

Release date

12 September 1981 (1981-09-12) (Japan)^[1]^[2]

Running time

119 minutesCountryJapanLanguageJapanese

Edo Porn (Japanese: 北斎漫画, romanized: Hokusai manga) is a 1981 Japanese biographical drama film written and directed by Kaneto Shindō. It is based on Seiichi Yashiro's stage play on the life of Japanese artist Hokusai.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Plot

Tetsuzō is an unsuccessful ukiyo-e (woodblock) painter who lives in poverty with his daughter Ōei over a geta shop owned by Ōyaku, the older wife of the aspirant writer Sashichi, who is a childhood friend of Tetsuzō.

Tetsuzō lives by borrowing money from his adoptive father, mirror-maker Nakajima Ise. One day, he meets a young, beautiful prostitute named Ōnao and becomes fascinated with her. He produces a series of drawings of her, but later leaves her to Nakajima as a concubine. Ōnao, a sadist with a traumatic past, psychologically torments Nakajima until he hangs himself, and leaves.

After Ōyaku dies, Sashichi, adopting the pen name Bakin, devotes his life to writing and ignores Ōei's advances who has intimate feelings for him. Nevertheless, Ōei continues to love him, withdrawing to celibacy.

Years later and after hard-earned fame, Tetsuzō (now Hokusai) is 89. He lives by painting Ichimatsu dolls with Ōei. One day, Ōei finds a peasant girl who looks like Ōnao. After he sees a young ama (pearl diver) playing with a dead octopus, Hokusai persuades the girl to pose for the shunga (erotic art) of an ama engaged in a threesome with two octopuses.

Cast

Ken Ogata as Tetsuzō (Hokusai)
Toshiyuki Nishida as Sashichi (Bakin)
Yūko Tanaka as Ōei
Kanako Higuchi as Ōnao / peasant girl
Frankie Sakai as Nakajima Ise
Nobuko Otowa as Ōyaku
Yoichi Sase as Gosuke
Taiji Tonoyama as the woodcarver
Joe Shishido as Jippensha Ikku
Kon Omura as Shikitei Sanba
Kinya Aikawa as Utamaro
Rokkō Toura as head clerk
Hideo Kanze as Kanō Torukawa
Kunio Otsuka as Tsutaya Jūzaburō

Awards

Blue Ribbon Award^[4] and Japan Academy Film Prize^[3] for Best Supporting Actress Yūko Tanaka

References

^ ^a ^b "北斎漫画". Kinema Junpo (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 December 2020.
^ ^a ^b "北斎漫画". Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 December 2020.
^ ^a ^b "北斎漫画とは" (in Japanese). Kotobank. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
^ "ブルーリボン賞ヒストリー". Cinema Hochi (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 19 August 2023.