The Japanese approach to sex was as liberated as that of the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Indians. Influenced by the Chinese scrolls and erotic art of the great 8th century T’ang Dynasty painter Zhou Fang, the Japanese took the concept of visualizing various sex acts (often with highly exaggerated genitalia) and made the genre their own.
Erotic art was widely circulated as a subgenre of the ukiyo-e, or “floating world” woodblock prints during the Edo period (1603–1898). These prints were known as shunga, or ”picture of spring”—a euphemism for sex.
Nearly all the ukiyo-e artists made shunga at some point in their careers, and their status as fine artists was unaffected by the association with sex. The prints were enjoyed by rich and poor, men and women, and initially carried very little stigma. It was considered a lucky charm against death for a samurai to carry shunga, and widely believed that they protected warehouses and homes against fire. It’s likely that these superstitions arose as a justification for owning the erotic prints, but, whatever the reason, the prints were as ubiquitous then as manga is today. They had the same diverse readership and it was traditional to buy shunga prints as a wedding present. Even women would acquire them directly from book lenders.
Shunga prints were produced and sold either as single sheets or, more frequently, in book form, known as an enpon. These books normally contained 12 images, but the more expensive, hand-painted scroll formats (called kakemono-e), were also popular. Shunga varied greatly in quality and price, but ukiyo-e artists could live for about six months on the profit made from creating a single shunga for a wealthy client. Yet while some works were highly elaborate, others had a limited color palette (full-color printing wasn’t invented until 1765); these were widely circulated and inexpensive.
Edo period shunga artists sought to express a varied world of sexual possibilities, creating an idealized, eroticized, and fantastical parallel to contemporary urban life. Men seduced women, women seduced men, men and women cheated on each other, and all ages—from virginal teenagers to old married couples—were depicted in sexual acts. While most shunga was heterosexual, some depicted gay trysts; lesbian artwork was rarer, but not unknown. Female masturbation was also depicted, with octopi featuring with alarming regularity.
Possibly the most common character in shunga was the courtesan. Shunga artist Utamaro was revered for his depictions of these celebrities of their day, and Yoshiwara —Edo’s pleasure district—is often compared to Hollywood. Men saw these ladies as highly eroticized due to their profession, while being unattainable except to the wealthiest, most cultured men. Women saw the courtesans as distant, glamorous idols, and Japan’s fashions were inspired by these ancient working girls. Male kabuki actors were also depicted in shunga, as many worked as gigolos, and were often depicted with samurai.
While shunga prints were not sequential as such, they often had back-stories that were revealed through text or dialogue in the picture itself. The merging of text and images makes them some of the earliest erotic proto-comics. Symbolism was also concealed throughout the works, with plum blossoms signifying virginity or tissues symbolizing impending ejaculation, for example. Yet most shunga characters remained clothed, because nudity was not inherently erotic in Japan; people were used to fully naked, mixed-sex, communal baths.
Shunga couples were often shown in unrealistic positions with exaggerated genitalia— allowing greater visibility of the sexually explicit content, increasing artistic license, and delivering greater psychological impact.
A shunga scroll from around 1870, depicting an orgy with two men and 11 women.
In Japan, the genitals are often regarded as a “second face,” expressing passions that the “everyday face” is obliged to hide by strict social codes. This meant the penis was often drawn the same size as the man’s head and placed unnaturally close to it by the awkward position.
Throughout history there have been attempts to suppress erotic material, and 17th century Japan was no exception. In 1661, the Tokugawa shogunate banned, among other things, erotic books known as kōshokubon. Shunga still managed to be produced with little censorship, but a new edict in 1722 was far stricter, banning the production of all new books without the city commissioner’s permission. Shunga was forced underground, with sales continuing in secret and most artists no longer signing their shunga works for fear of prosecution. However, between 1761 and 1786 the printing regulations were relaxed and artists started signing their work again, often concealing their names in the pictures themselves.
As in the west, the decline in erotic drawings in Japan coincided with the invention of photography, and shunga finally succumbed at the start of the Meiji period (1868—1912).
In recent years shunga has influenced many manga (meaning “irresponsible pictures”) and anime (Japanese animation) artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, inspiring them to create a variety of erotic comics with niche subjects such as yaoi (gay comics) and hentai (literally, “18-restricted” or “adult-only”).
This detail of a humorous phallic contest has four well-endowed men running toward their “prize” of two women (off page).
Making Love in Winter by Katsukawa Shuncho was painted between 1770 and 1790. This moment of ejaculation would set the tone for Japan’s hentai manga 200 years later.
The two central focal points in this picture—as with most shunga—are the faces and genitalia.
