“Hokusai’s Daughter” by Sunny Seki

Sunny Seki opens his new children’s book, Hokusai’s Daughter, with Hokusai, the famous painter and printmaker from the Edo period, walking alongside his young daughter. He writes:

 

Long ago in Japan, there was an artist named Hokusai. His paintings were so famous because they always had little surprises in them. His young daughter, Eijo, loved to paint too, and carried art supplies with her everywhere. She often followed her father around to watch him work.

 

Eijo is determined to be a painter, just like her father. She follows him as he works, diligently learning from him even as she is told that, because she is a girl, she cannot be an artist. While her father sees her talent and guides her along, even he is surprised by Eijo’s abilities when they are summoned to the Shojun.

 

Hokusai’s Daughter: A Young Artist in Old Japan, Sunny Seki (Tuttle, October 2024)
Hokusai’s Daughter: A Young Artist in Old Japan, Sunny Seki (Tuttle, October 2024)

Seki’s illustrations work well with the text—a story with both heart and grit—and his illustrations are both vivid and striking. He succeeds in making the illustrations feel fresh and modern, despite the story taking place in the Edo period. His illustrations are, rightly, given most of each page and the detail in Seki’s work deserves attention.

Seki captures Eijo’s emotions—her curiosity, her frustration at being told she can’t be an artist because she’s a girl and the loving relationship she has with her father. Seki also does well to put, in his style, Hokusai’s iconic paintings—the crashing waves and a man making a barrel, Mount Fuji in the background.

Hokusai’s Daughter

This is a dual English-Japanese language book with the English on the left-hand side of the page, and the Japanese on the right. And while the book’s bilingual text most obviously benefits those who can read both English and Japanese, there are benefits for those learning either language or, for those without any Japanese, a chance to see what a children’s book might look like in Japanese.

Seki and his publisher take great care to extend the story—historical notes are included at the end as are details about the artworks featured in the book, while readers (or their parents) can download coloring sheets, activities and art projects from the publisher’s website.

In my family, we tried the “Make your own … HENOHENOMOHEJI DRAWING!”, an old way of learning hiragana by drawing faces. I have a child who will soon be transferring to a school where Japanese is taught (rather than Italian) as an additional language and as a result we have a copy of I’m Learning Japanese, also by Tuttle, the publishers of Hokusai’s Daughter. Although quite different, the books are complementary; the activities from Seki’s book weren’t a perfect match and the age range for Hokusai’s Daughter runs a touch younger, but there was enough of a thread to follow and to, at least in my house, spark an eagerness to learn and practice a few hiragana alphabet characters.

For those who are looking for an interesting story with illustrations to match, Seki more than delivers with Hokusai’s Daughter. But for anyone whose interest is further piqued by the story, Hokusai’s Daughter offers many additional opportunities for engagement, extending the story long after it ends.


Melanie Ho is the author of Journey to the West: He Hui, a Chinese Soprano in the World of Italian Opera.