Asian Art Presentation Shunga

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What is Why was shunga? shunga popular? About the Shunga: image Porn or Erotic art? Who did it My take and why? on shunga Edo period Shunga’s & The Floating Influences World today

Detail of Ten scenes of lovemaking, handscroll painting, c. 1795-1810 Katsukawa Shun’ei Shunga literally means spring pictures • Spring refers to sex • Spring: the mating season for many animals Also known as: makura-e ( pillow pictures), warai-e ( laughing pictures) and koushoku-bon ( libidinous books)

Sometimes referred to the erotic Nara period (710-794) art of Japan’s cities during the Edo period (1615 – 1868) Heian period (794-1185) Many shunga predate the Edo period actually Kamakura period • Started in the Heian period (1185-1333) (794 – 1185) • Typically in a Muromachi period (1336-1573) handscroll format • Reached its height and Azuchi-Momoyama period popularity in the Edo period (1568-1603) Shunga is considered a type of ukiyo-e Edo period (1615-1868)

WHAT IS SHUNGA? , or literally the floating world pictures Depicted Japan’s urban culture – the chonin bunka (townspeople culture) during the Tokugawa Shogunate . Has a Buddhist origin referring to the suffering world (uki-yo ) • (Suffering world Floating world) Subject was the (idealised) city life – the activities and scenes from the entertainment districts Shunga of the Edo period portrayed the sexually explicit images of the city life

WHAT IS SHUNGA? “ From lust springs grief, from lust springs fear; ” for him who is wholly free from lust, there is no grief, much less fear From DHAMAPADA, 216-16

WHAT IS SHUNGA? “ Living only for the moment, turning our full attention to the pleasures of the moon, the snow, the cherry blossoms and the maple leaves; singing songs, drinking wine, ” diverting ourselves in just floating, floating; caring not a whit for the pauperism staring us in the face, refusing to be disheartened, like a gourd floating along the river current; this is what we call the floating world FROM TALES OF THE FLOATING WORLD (UKIYO MONOGATARI ), 1660

WHAT IS SHUNGA? Lover in an upper room, colour woodblock print, published in the album Poem of the Pillow, 1788 Kitagawa Utamaro

WHAT IS SHUNGA? Actors on stage and in bed, colour woodblock print, Unknown source

WHAT IS SHUNGA? Lovers, colour woodblock print, c. 1760 Suzuki Harunobu

Brief The Clothes Description (or the lack of it) About the The The Format image Characters The The Story Representation

ABOUT THE IMAGE Tako to ama or literally • Made during the Edo period Octopus and the Shell diver (1615 – 1868), under the From the anonymously published Tokugawa Shogunate album Young Pines ( • More commonly referred as “The Kinoe no komatsu), 1814 Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife”

ABOUT THE IMAGE Sign under the name of Shiunan Ganko , often thought to be Katsushika Hokusai A ukiyo-e woodblock print, categorised under shunga

ABOUT THE IMAGE Young Pines – three-volume album is an erotic tale, thought to be written and illustrated by Katsushika Hokusai • Volumes One and Two each contain six double-page (spread) illustrations, printed in colour • Volume Three contains seven double-page illustrations • In each volume, the double-page illustrations are preceded by a single-page portrait of a woman This is not a typical format until very much later in the Edo period

ABOUT THE IMAGE Shunga were sold as single sheets, but more frequently as enpon • Enpon typically contains twelve images (like that of Shunkyu-higa) Shunga has its origins from China, inspired by the illustrations in Chinese medicinal manuals Shunga is a contraction of Shunkyu-higa There was a set of 12 scrolls from China depicting the 12 sexual acts that the Crown Prince carried out as expression of yin and yang – it was called Shunkyu-higa

ABOUT THE IMAGE 17th century to late 19th centruy Chinese Erotic Images from Gardens of Pleasure: Eroticism and Art in China by Ferdinand M Bertholet

ABOUT THE IMAGE A female pearl diver and two lascivious octopuses in an erotic encounter on a rocky seashore One octopus wraps his slithering tentacles about the girl’s thighs and waist performing cunnilingus A smaller companion, grips her neck and plies her with kisses

ABOUT THE IMAGE Danielle Talerico1: Edo audience would have associated the image with the story of Tamatori and not what was typically read by Western audiences as a rape 1 From “Interpreting Sexual Imagery in Japanese Prints: A Fresh Approach to Hokusai’s Driver and Two Octopi”

ABOUT THE IMAGE Interesting situations with a wide variety cases found Sometimes fantastical, like this Hetrosexuality, homosexuality (typically male on male) and masturbation are portrayed Orian and their lovers, Samurai and kabuki actors, Buddhist monks and their novices Even within Enpon, there may not be a running storyline Top: From Untited Album by Kitagawa Utamaro Bottom: From Untited Album by Utagawa Toyokuni , c. 1820

ABOUT THE IMAGE The female pearl diver is completely nude, unusual of Shunga Nudity was not inherently erotic in Tokugawa Japan Clothes helped people identify courtesans and foreigners Clothes helped draw attention to parts of the body that were revealed

ABOUT THE IMAGE The female pearl diver and the two octopuses • Not typical: belong to the realm of overt fantasy and animalism • Typical characters of Shunga are the orian and their lovers, kabuki actors and the samurai Marks a shift in the type of Shunga produced at the later part of the Edo period when Shinto was making a resurgence Suetsumuhana , Colour woodblock print Series of 12, c. 1830 Yanagawa Shigenobu

ABOUT THE IMAGE Lack of realism in representation • Unrealistic positions with exaggerated genitilia • The genitilia is also generally interpreted as a “second face” – expressing primal passions that the everyday face is obliged to conceal Top: Title Unknown by Kitagawa Utamaro Bottom: From A Picture Book for Sewing by Katsushika Hokusai

WHO DID IT AND WHY It has been signed as Shiunan Ganko, commonly been referred to be Katsushika Hokusai • It is argued that he only used this signature in his early work • Could also be by other artists like Keisai Eisen or Hokusai’s daughter, Oei

WHO DID IT AND WHY Also signed off as Shiunan Ganko: Images from Picture Album of Couples (Ehon tsui no hinagata), c. 1810-1815

WHO DID IT AND WHY He is famed for his meisho-e of Fugaku Sanjurokkei (or ‘Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji’), c.1831 Hokusai made Mount Fuji central to the identity of Edo

WHO DID IT AND WHY Even though the Shogunate had set up prohibition on the publishing and sale of shunga, there was little stigma for artists who produced shunga Artists did not lose any prestige for doing shunga Besides, there was a great demand for it • Shunga could fetch higher prices than ordinary ukiyo-e • Shunga for a high-ranking client could fetch 6 months of money

WHO DID IT AND WHY Hokusai had many names throughout his career, often related to his change of his artistic production and style • Katsukawa Shunro (1779 at age 18), Tawaraya Sori (1790), Hokusai Tomisa (1798), Katsushika Hokusai (1880), Taito (1811), Iitsu (1820), Gakyo Rojin Manji (1834) After 1722, shunga artists used pseudo-names • Due to governmental restrictions; threat to public morality • Punishment ranged from jail to exile and confiscation of property • Between 1716 and 1736, Confucianism was also introduced • Between 1761 and 1786, when printing regulations were relaxed, it became a practice for artists to conceal their identity

TO UNDERSTAND SHUNGA’S POPULARITY Tokugawa family seized power in 1600 Brought Japan 250 years of stability and marked a new era of social and Edo cultural history (1603 – 1868) Kyoto The Shogunate’s initiatives led to an extraordinary growth in the size of towns and villages led to a drift in Nagasaki to the city

TO UNDERSTAND SHUNGA’S POPULARITY Map of Edo Koka Era (1844 – 1848)

TO UNDERSTAND SHUNGA’S POPULARITY Edo, Photograph, c. 1865, Felix Beato Bird’s eye view of Edo, Colour woodblock print, c. 1840 Rapid growth gave Edo a flourishing middle class society that were cut away from traditional Japanese arts • They wanted arts reflecting the down-to-earth life of the common people • Kabuki theatre, restaurants, boating parties, kuruwa (or the pleasure quarters), etc. Life in the city and the access to various attractions had changed the way people lived, including the samurai

TO UNDERSTAND SHUNGA’S POPULARITY Scenes from Sakuran, by Mika Ninagawa (2006) BGM: Brush on silk, by John Williams, from Memoirs of a Geisha (2006)

It was easily affordable • Woodblock printing methods allowed mass production and kept production costs low Used by both genders Traditions and superstitions • Shunga for newly weds as a consumation guide • Shunga as a lucky charm

The increasing spending power of the merchant class • And their desire for down-to-earth art It pandered to the desire of the townspeople • Not everyone could afford to go to the kabuki and kuruwa • That increased fetishisation and since most people cannot afford to go so pictures filled the gap • Used for autoerotic purposes?

Even the sources seem divided in their opinions (even confused?) about the function of shunga? TIMON SCREECH in the chapter “Shunga: Erotic art of the Edo Period” from Gian Carlo Calza’s Ukiyo-e Timon Screech is a professor of History of Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. A specialist in the art and culture of early modern Japan. “Although shunga had several purposes, it was above all for masturbatory usage by single males” “Shunga was sold cheaply and handled with little care: pages and images were often stained, books were frequently torn apart, and many sets now are incomplete” “Auto erotic usage of ukiyo-e is not exclusive to shunga alone. ‘Normal’ ukiyo-e was also being used the same way.”

TIMON SCREECH in the chapter “Shunga: Erotic art of the Edo Period” from Gian Carlo Calza’s Ukiyo-e From Picture Book: The Needle’s Eye of the Floating World , 1780 by Jintaku Sanjin “Just take a look at this nice-feeling thing… at the new pillow book, published this very spring, oh and the next thing you know it’s a wet dream (mozo )!” The next page shows the man’s dream itself: a second male at the top of the picture sleeps while the first thrusts his hands into the dress of a thoroughly willing woman. “Today the time has finally come when I have you for myself!” he says

ALLEN HOCKLEY in a review of Timon Screech’s “Sex and the Floating World” in Monumenta Nipponica, Vol 55, No 2, titled “ Shunga: Function, Context and Methodology” Allen Hockey is an Associate Professor of Asian Art History in Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA (Ph.D. University of Toronto, 1995, M.A. University of British Columbia, B.A. University of Victoria) “Their level of artistry and high production value suggest that not all shunga were made specifically for masturbation. ” Francis Hall’s journal citing an episode in Yokohama from 1859 to 1866: “took down ten boxes carefully wrapped up… undid them and out of each box took three books full of vile pictures executed in the best style of Japanese art, accompanied with letter press… opened the books at the pictures… began to “tell me” what beautiful books they were. ” “Is it possible that deluxe shunga were specialised item of the same order, one in which producers exhibited their ability not only to arouse but also to create a work of exquisite beauty?”

NIGEL CAWTHORNE in “The Art of Japanese Prints” Nigel Cawthorne is a writer of fiction and non-fiction, and an editor. “Many of them were highly explicit sex manuals. Some of the pictures, called shunga or spring pictures, were highly erotic, with figures’ genitals exaggerated to an almost ludicrous degree. “ “The prints could be bought from the publishers’ stories or from street vendors, and they could be pasted on walls or screens to brighten up a new home. ”

Eroticism and Art by Dr. Alyce Mahon Dr. Alyce Mahon is professor of the History of Art at Trinity College, Cambridge, London “Erotic art… is to be distinguished from pornography, which historically has been defined as ‘a description of prostitutes or of prostitution, as a matter of public hygiene” (1857) and which is today described as ‘writings, pictures, films, etc., designed to stimulate sexual excitement. ” “Pornography’s sole intent is to stimulate sexually; it is an aid to sex or masturbation.” “… pornography involves an imbalance of financial power: a pornography magazine or film intended to act as a sexual aid usually only exists for the purpose of making money” “Erotic art may draw on aspects of pornography, notably the depiction of sexual organs and sexual practices, but it does not do so for sexual arousal alone. It also plays on the aesthetics of imagination, usually employing sexual imagery as a shocking means to express social, religious and political criticism or defy bourgeois taste and its pre-conceptions of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ art”

BRYAN LIM is an undergraduate of Nanyang Technological University, School of Art, Design and Media in Singapore. He is currently undertaking part one of two Asian Art History survey course. A novice in the study of asian art. It is a celebration of sensuality and sexuality in all its varieties sexuality, • Sex is not necessarily a bad thing to begin with. Sometimes we are caught up with the western concept of sex where it is deemed to be unclean and should be kept behind closed doors Non-exploitive in nature • Portrayals of men and women, in union and as individuals (not objectified) • The artists were portraying whatever that happened among the chonin in Edo then

Serves also as a social critic of the Edo society • Where Japanese were required to maintain a front • Open protest against the Confucian ideals that the Shogunate had imposed unto them Though shunga has been used for autoerotic purposes and as sex manuals, it was not what it was intended for • It was meant for aesthetic and appreciation, for collection and for entertainment A high level of artistic skill and craft is required for the production of shunga

SHUNGA’S INFLUENCES ON VISUAL CULTURE TODAY Hokusai Manga (1981) Kaneto Shindô

SHUNGA’S INFLUENCES ON VISUAL CULTURE TODAY Chōjin Densetsu Urotsukidōji The Legend of the Ultra God and The Wandering Kid Japanese Original Video Animation Created by Toshio Maeda

SHUNGA’S INFLUENCES ON VISUAL CULTURE TODAY Genki-genki By Japanese fetishist Daikichi Amano

SHUNGA’S INFLUENCES ON VISUAL CULTURE TODAY Sign over club doorway Shinjuku’s Kabuki-cho street 20th century postcards from flea market 1907 fleamarket postcard

SHUNGA’S INFLUENCES ON VISUAL CULTURE TODAY “ Saeki, 55, is the godfather of Japanese erotica -- the one illustrator in the frenetic, oversexed, comics-crazy nation whose imagination outpaces all others. ” Saeki perceives himself as connected to Japan's shunga tradition. He mentions an artist of the Meiji period, Yoshitoshi, who did the same kind of work. And he cites ukiyo-e artist Hokusai's famous image of a woman having sex with an octopus, which he did not copy directly, he says, though he was aware of the reference he was making. Octo-Girl by Toshio Saeki STEPHEN LEMONS, FOR SALON.COM ”

SHUNGA’S INFLUENCES ON VISUAL CULTURE TODAY From left: Veranda, Tide and Early Afternoon Affair by Yuji Moriguchi

SHUNGA’S INFLUENCES ON VISUAL CULTURE TODAY “ After I moved to Tokyo, I had more opportunities to see Ukiyo-e and traditional Japanese paintings, and I realised that I love these art forms. I had always loved Hokusai, but never had the chance to study his works. Eventually I thought that I might be able to mix manga ” with traditional elements from Japanese paintings. YURI MORIGUCHI, INTERVIEW WITH PING MAGAZINE

SHUNGA’S INFLUENCES ON VISUAL CULTURE TODAY by Rin Nadeshico, 2006 by Rin Nadeshico, 2008

SHUNGA’S INFLUENCES ON VISUAL CULTURE TODAY From Blow-up 2 by Keiichi Tanami

SHUNGA’S INFLUENCES ON VISUAL CULTURE TODAY Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife 2003 Oil on hessian on board David Laity

SHUNGA’S INFLUENCES ON VISUAL CULTURE TODAY Octopussy 2006, Oil on wood Brian Viveros

Bertholet, Ferdinand M.. Gardens of pleasure : Eroticism and art in China, works from the Bertholet Collection. London: Prestel, 2004 Cawthorne, Nigel. The Art of Japanese Prints. London: Bounty Books, 2005 Calza, Gian Carlo. Ukiyo-e. London: Phaidon Press, 2005 Dawson, Berry. Street Graphics Tokyo. London: Thames & Hudson, 2002 Forrer, Matthi. Hokusai: Mountains and water, flowers and birds. London: Prestel, 2004 Mahon, Alyce. Eroticism & Art. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005 Reeve, John. Floating world : Japan in the Edo period. London: British Musuem Press, 2006 Tanami, Keiichi. Blow up-2. Kyoto: Seigensha Art Publishing, 2004 Hockley, Allen. “Review: Shunga: Function, Context, Methodology” Monumenta Nipponica, Vol 55, No 2 (Summer 2000), http://www.jstor.org/stable/2668429 Schalow, Paul Gordon. Untitled Review “Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Summer, 2000) “ http://www.jstor.org/stable/133280 ,

Wikipedia. “Edo Period” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edo_period . (accessed 4th September 2008) Wikipedia. “Hokusai” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokusai (accessed 4th . September 2008) Wikipedia. “Ukiyo-e” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukiyo-e (accessed 4th . September 2008) Wikipedia. “Urotsukidoji” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urotsukidoji . (accessed 4th September 2008) Wikipedia. “Shunga” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shunga (accessed 4th . September 2008) Wikipedia. “Tentacle Erotica” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ . Tentacle_erotica (accessed 4th September 2008) The Heterodox blog, http://sylaq.blogspot.com/ PingMag. http://pingmag.jp/2007/12/05/yuji-moriguchi/ Rinner. http://nadeshicorin.com/ Salon.com. “In the Realm of Senses” http://archive.salon.com/sex/ feature/2001/02/08/saeki/index.html

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Asian Art Presentation Shunga

by Bryan Angelo Lim

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