The film describes the life of Hokusai, the famous woodblock print artist well known for his "36 Views of Mt Fuji", who lived during the latter half of the Edo period of Japan Among all his woodblock prints, his artistic talent is most evident in his pornographic prints He called himself "picture crazy", being tossed about by the smiling face of a woman called Onao He persistently paints obscene pictures in pursuit of her He was also a close friend of Bakin Takizawa, a novelist Bakm, who was totally rationalistic, never understood women Hokusai, who indulged himself totally with women, never understood them either At the end, Bakm comes to a complete renunciation of sex while Hokusai dies with a strong, lingering attachment to women.

Kaneto Shmdo is one of Japan's oldest and best-known directors Previous films by him shown at earlier festivals include The Island (1960), Onibaba (1964), Black Cat (1968) and Strangulation (1979)