Miss Hokusai

The year is 1814. The setting is Edo, the city that would one day become Tokyo. A bustling metropolis, one of the most crowded in the world, filled with peasants, samurai, merchants, nobles, artists, courtesans-and maybe even unseen spirits lurking in the shadows. Tetsuzo, a renowned artist in his mid-fifties, has clients from across Japan. He works tirelessly in his cluttered, chaotic home studio, creating astonishing works-from a massive Bodhidharma painted on a 180-square-meter sheet of paper to tiny sparrows etched onto a single grain of rice. Short-tempered, sharp-tongued, and indifferent to money or drink, he demands exorbitant fees for commissions that don’t interest him. His third daughter, 23-year-old O-Ei, born from his second marriage, has inherited both his talent and his stubbornness. She often paints in his place, though she never gets credit. Her skill is so striking that it sometimes causes problems. "We're father and daughter," she says. "With two brushes and four chopsticks between us, we’ll always find a way to get by." Decades later, Europe would recognize Tetsuzo’s genius. He would become famous under one of his many names: Katsushika Hokusai, an artist who would inspire Renoir, van Gogh, Monet, and Klimt. Yet few today know of the woman who worked beside him all his life, shaping his art while remaining invisible. This is the untold story of O-Ei, Hokusai’s daughter: a vivid portrait of a spirited woman living in the shadow of her legendary father, unfolding as the seasons turn.