The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife and Its Influence on Tentacle Erotica
The previous translations published on the internet of one of the most coveted erotic prints called ‘The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife‘ (蛸と海女) were not completely accurate. Below you can find the definitive translation and more background info on this shunga masterpiece…
Fig.1. ‘The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife (c.1814)’ from the series ‘Young Pine Saplings (Kinoe no komatsu)’ by Katsushika Hokusai
Hokusai’s ‘The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife‘ became one of the most celebrated of all Japanese erotic prints partly by Edmond de Goncourt who wrote in his influential book ‘Hokousai‘:
“In these albums we find this frightful image: on rocks green with seaweed lies a naked body of a woman, swooning with rapture, sicut cadaver, such that we know not if she is alive or has drowned, and an immense octopus, its dreadful pupils the shape of black quarter-moons, sucks her nether regions, while a smaller octopus greedily feasts upon her mouth.”
The Most Complete Translation of the Text in The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife
Octopus: “Wondering when to do the abduction, but today is the day. At least she’s captured. Even so, this is a plump, good pussy. A greater delicacy than even a potato. Saa, saa, sucking to complete satisfaction, then take her to be imprisoned in the Dragons King Palace.
Sounds: “Zuu, zubu, zubu, chu!, chu! chu! Zuu, zuu! Fu, fu, fu, fu!”
Diver: “This hateful octopus, fu, fu, fu, fu…rather, aa, aa..sucking on the surface of the inner mouth of my womb until I’m breathless, aa, eee, I’m coming! By that projecting mouth. By that projecting mouth the open vagina is teased. Oh! Oh! Are, are… What to do? Aa, yoo, oo, oo, oo, ooo, aaree, oo, oo good, oo, good, good, good, haa, aa, good, good, haa, good, fu, fu, fuu, fuu. Again! Yoo, yoo, yoo, yoo. Until now, although people have called me aa, fu, fu, fu, fuu, fuu, fuu…Oo, fu, fuu, fuu. Why, why? Ee, ee, this, yo, yo, yo, saadeha, aa, aa, aa!
Sounds: “Zuu, zuu, zuu, zuu, hicha, hicha, gucha, gucha, pichchu, chu, chu, chu, guu, guu, zuu, zuu.
Octopus: “Say! How about the feelings of being entwined by eight legs?”
Commentary: “Juices are flowing like hot water. Nura, nura, nura, doku, doku, doku.”
Diver: “Ee, moo. I’m becoming ticklish, zo, zo…One after another until I lose track, fu, fu, fuu, fuu, limits and boundaries are gone oo, oo, oo, I’ve arrived, aa, aa, are, are, there, there, uu, mu, mu, mu, fumu, fumu, uuu, I’m coming! I’m coming!
Small octopus: “After my parent is finished, I too will use my projecting mouth to rub from her clitoris to her ass until [she] loses consciousness, and then I’ll do it again, chu, chu.”
Fig.2. ‘Octopus and ama diver‘ (c.1781) from the series ‘Yokyoku iro bangumi (Programme of Erotic Noh Plays)’ by Kitao Shigemasa
Far-fetched Fantasy
In the catalogue of the British Museum Hayakawa Monta (professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies) comments on “The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife” the following:
“This is the shunga image by Hokusai that has always fascinated people the most. Dragging a diving woman into a cleft between two rocks a large octopus is taking its pleasure, using almost all of its eight legs to coil around and play with her arms, legs and nipple.
A second, smaller octopus simultaneously ‘kisses’ her on the mouth. For all that this is an image of far-fetched fantasy, with its powerfully volumetric forms and brilliant coloring, it nonetheless gives the vivid sensation that we are direct witnesses of the scene, as the tentacles seem to slither and writhe before our gaze.
Fig.3. The print that inspired Hokusai Octopus design entitled Diver and Octopuses (c.1786)
Tight Grip on the Tentacles
The diving woman who gives up her body for the octopus to have its way may at first appear ‘lifeless, like a corpse’ (as Edmond de Goncourt wrote); but in fact she has all but lost consciousness with the pleasure that the creature is giving her. This is abundantly clear from her arched back, her tight grip on the tentacles, and her long sighs, cries and exclamations that fill the dialogue text surrounding them.
Fig.4. ‘Octopus and ama (abalone) diver’ (c.1773) by Katsukawa Shunsho
Diver Who Stole a Jewel
[…] The idea for the pairing of octopus and diving woman was not original to Hokusai. Some thirty years earlier the artist Kitao Shigemasa (1739-1820) drew a similar combination (see Fig.2.) in his erotic book ‘Yokyoku iro bangumi (Programme of Erotic Noh Plays)’, where the context was the ancient Taishokan tale of the diver who stole a jewel from the Dragon King’s Palace at the bottom of the sea.
Hokusai’s fellow pupil in the Katsukawa school, Katsukawa Shuncho, also depicted a diving woman having sex with an octopus (see Fig.3.) among rocks on the shore in ‘Ehon chiyo-dameshi (Erotic Book: Lusts of Many Women on One Thousand Nights)‘ of 1786.
Even before that, Suzuki Harunobu (d. 1770) and Katsukawa Shunsho (d. 1792; Fig.4.) had both designed so-called ‘risqué pictures’ (abuna-e) – images that titillating but not explicit – on the theme.”
Fig.5. Still photo of the film ‘Edo Porn’ (1981)
Tentacles Curl Around
An accurate description of The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife by the shunga expert Rosina Buckland (British Museum) goes as follows: […] ‘Despite the passage of nearly two hundred years, it has lost none of its arresting graphic power. A naked woman lies between to seaweed-covered rocks, her legs spread to accommodate a huge octopus which penetrates her with its mantle. One of its tentacles curls around to stimulate her clitoris. At her head, a smaller octopus cradles her neck as it battens on to her mouth and tweaks her left nipple.’
Fig.6. Remake of ‘The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife’ (2018) by Yuuya Shimoi
Hypodermic Fat
The woman is one of the female divers (ama or awabi) who gathered abalone shellfish. Women possess more hypodermic fat so have an advantage over men in being able to endure the cold temperatures of the water, and these divers were renowned for their ability to hold their breath for long periods of time.
Cutting Her Breast
Ama had appeared in various archaic stories, in particular Taishokan, the tale of a Buddhist jewel captured along the way from China to Japan and taken to the Palace of the Dragon-King. An ama finally succeeds in rescuing the jewel, but only by cutting her breast open to conceal it, thereby sacrificing her own life.
Barely Clad
This story was turned into a noh play in the early fifteenth century, as well as being adapted for more popular stage plays. The story was represented in woodblock prints, but during the eighteenth century the depiction of the barely clad divers, wearing only a red underskirt, became sensualized and provided suitable subject matter both for ukiyo-e designs of beauties (such as the opening page of the Utamaro’s Poem of the Pillow album), and for explicit images of octopuses penetrating and sucking.
Heroic Diver
In addition, tako, the word for octopus, was argot for vagina, for its ability to suck firmly, and this term is used in the dialogue here. Yet the design lacks obvious references to the tale of the heroic diver, contemporary readers (viewers) of the book would have been familiar with these links, and would have understood the visual play which Hokusai was deploying in his extraordinary design.*
Movie clip of ‘The Octopus scene‘ from ‘Hokusai Manga (aka. Edo Porn)‘, 1981. Directed by Kaneto Shindô.
Click here for a translation of Hokusai’s “Horny Widow” shunga design!
The following exciting video features some other interesting designs on the Octopus theme:
After its release Hokusai’s famous ama diver design has inspired many artists over time. Below you can find some exciting examples:
Fig.8. ‘Animalz #7’ by Giuseppe Petrilli (1970)
Fig.11. Gay variation by the Japanese artist Naomichi Okutsu (title and date unknown)
Fig.13. ‘Ama diver and octopus’ by Marie Makowski
Fig.14. ‘At the beach a giant octopus is performing cunnilingus on an ama diver ‘ (c.1860) by a member of the Utagawa school
Fig.16. Segment from the acclaimed animation movie ‘La Petitie Mort (The Little Death)’ by Carla Veldman and Jennifer Linton (1968)
Fig.17. Girls pleasing themselves by Yuji Moriguchi
Fig.19. 8 horny maidens with one octopus by Yuji Moriguchi
Fig.21. Gay art with young male and octopus
Fig.22. Octopus Illustration by Jean de Villiot
Fig.23. A Lovely Garland – female with knife fighting a gian octopus by Kuniyoshi
Fig.24. Ama divers and octopuses by Toyohara Chikanobu
Fig.26. Tattoo art of the dream of the fisherman’s wife by Brooke Steele
Fig.27. Red octopus with geisha by Fabio Barboni
Fig.28. Painting with Octopus and shell diver by Kobayashi Eitaku
Fig.29. Hentai art with a red octopus and blue-haired girl
Fig.30. Tattoo design of a blue yellow speckled octopus performing cunnilingus on a corpulent female
Fig.31. Octopus with phallus tentacles
Fig.32. Tattooed female with orange octopus by Randy Hall
Fig.37. Sensual purple octopus on the back of an ama diver
Fig.38. Octopus performing cunnilingus on a pearl diver with knife
Fig.40. Hentai art featuring The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife
The Unknown Five (cover of Weird Tales) depicting a ‘Mutated octopus attacking woman‘ (2009) by Rowena Morrill
Surrealistic painting by Daria Petrilli (1970)
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Sumi-e drawing inspired by ‘Hokusai’s The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife‘ (2019) by Gabackokorabac
Takoyaki Inspired by japanese illustrator, Takako Yamamoto & Yuji Moriguchi
‘Crossbreeding‘ by beytaro_0912
‘The dream of the fisherman’s wife‘ (2013) by pink-porcupine
‘A female abalone diver wrestling with an octopus‘ (c.1870s) by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892)
‘Boy Diver and Octopuses or The Dream of the Fisherman’s Husband‘ by Nikita Sho
Sketch by Maryam Gohar
Another gay variation by an unknown artist
‘Octopus making love to a mermaid’ (c.1830) attrib. to Keisai Eisen (1790-1848)
‘Octopuses and women‘ from the book ‘Human Nature‘ (2010) by Daikichi Amano
‘The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife‘ (2019) by Maria B.M
‘Dreams of the Fishermen’s Wives‘ by the Indonesian artist I Made Cekeg (1964-) (Private collection)
‘Octopus girl‘ from the book ‘Human Nature‘ (2010) by Daikichi Amano
‘The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife Print‘ by Mike Dorsey Tattoo
‘The Fishermans Wife‘ (2019) by Mike Dorsey
‘Mars attacks meets Hokusai’ by Zug Art
Silkscreen print ‘A Perfect Lover, a woman and an octopus on the beach (after Hokusai)‘ (1997) by Joost Veerkamp
Tattoo design by Naoko Matsuda
‘Octopus and shell diver‘ (c.1870s) in the style of Kobayashi Eitaku
Iron, acrylic gouache on canvas ‘The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife‘ (2018) by Sisyu
‘Female surfer and octopus‘ by Andy Fairhurst
‘Hokusai’s Great Waves of Ecstasy‘ by Timothy White
‘Girl with octopus‘ by Daikichi Amano – From the book ‘Human Nature’ (2010)
From the ‘Squids and Octopus‘ series (2011) by Neoteny
‘Ambush‘ (2008) by Penny Siopis
3D version of ‘The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife‘ on Widewalls.ch
‘Octopus N°36‘ (2017) by’ Mme S
‘An uncertain animal aspiring to an empty gesture‘ (2018) by Arjan Winkelaar
‘Over Thinking – Octopus Lady‘ by Katie Dutch
‘Squid King‘ (2011) by Ben Newman
‘From Here to Eternity‘ (2017) by Reynolds and Rose
Adriano de Vinsentiis
Koban sized print featuring ‘Octopus wearing a head-scarf copulating with an ama diver‘ (c.1855) from the series: ‘Shunkyo karami-dako (Spring Games: Grappling Octopus)‘ by Utagawa Kunisada II (1823-1880)
‘Hokusai x Aquaman‘ (2019) by Inannani
Shunga painting after Kunisada II with ‘Octopus and ama diver‘ (c.1860)
Photograph with a modern visual translation of The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife by Hajime Satawari
‘A gigantic octopus is performing cunnilingus on an awabi diver using its beak‘ (c.1920)
‘Dream of the Fisherman’s Floozy‘ by WolfStudiosArt
‘The Giant Member Fuji versus King Gidora‘ (1993) by Makoto Aida
‘”Ode to the Fisherman’s Wife” (2017) by Shane Balkowitsch
‘Class Destroyer‘ by Erotibot
‘Octopus‘ (1994) by Hajime Sorayama
Interpretation of Hokusai’s design (2008) by the Australian comic book artist Ashley Wood
Tattoo featuring ‘A Young geisha and her octopus lover’ by Lenka Cechura
Drawing by Picasso
‘Octopus‘ by Kojima Ayami
‘Kraken‘ by Pigo Lin
‘Octopus assaulting boatsman‘ (c.1847) from an important album of 26 original sumi shijo-style drawings by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) (Richard Kruml)
‘Harpoon girl ‘ by Serge Birault
‘Tentacle love‘ by Apollonia Saintclair
Another gay version of Hokusai’s design: “Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife‘
Female Bangle bracelet silver cuff – Shunga Japanese Fable Hokusai the Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife
Hentai image with a young girl (looks like a kitsune) and three octopi by Jaster K.
‘Girl and octopus‘ (2016) by the photographer Kazan Yamamoto
‘Sarah and the Octopus/ Seventh Heaven‘ (2002) by Masami Teraoka
Watercolor on paper, ‘Eight Condom Fantasy‘ (1992) from the ‘New Wave Series‘ by Masami Teraoka
‘Pearl diver and octopus‘ (1986) from the ‘New Wave‘ series by Masami Teraoka
‘Sarah and writhing octopus‘ (1992) from the ‘New Wave‘ series by Masami Teraoka
‘Sarah and dream octopus‘ (1992) from the ‘New Wave‘ series by Masami Teraoka
‘Tattooed woman Tattooed Woman at Kaneoche Bay I ‘(1984) from the ‘Wave series‘ by Masami Teraoka
‘Tattooed woman and octopus‘ by Hiroshi Hirakawa
‘Mermaid and octopus‘ by Hiroshi Hirakawa
Detail of a painting called ‘Octopus mandala – Eight Maidens‘ by Yuji Moriguchi
Digital sculpture ‘Kinoe no komatsu‘ (2019/2020) by Jeremie
Sculpture by Mushibuchi
‘The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife‘ (2020) by Andrey Surnov
‘Octopus and woman‘ (2015) by Ding Min
Amusing Japanese commercial from the 1980s targeting housewives:
Sources: ‘Erotic Japonisme, the Influence of Japanese Sexual Imagery on Western Art‘ by Ricard Bru.
‘Shunga, Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art‘ (Edited by Timothy Clark, C. Andrew Gerstle…etc.)
* ‘Shunga, Erotic Art in Japan‘ by Rosina Buckland