Edo Timeline (Woodblock Prints and Artists)

Hidden Symbols in Shunga

Symbolism featured widely and artists developed alot of subtle sexual symbols and it is crucial the viewer understands these symbols, usually hidden in the artwork to fully understand and appreciate what the composition.The symbols would have been fully understood by viewers at the time.

Some examples of different symbols used;

Chrysanthemums - symbolised the anus
Azeleas - homosexual love.
Clam - the female gentile
Willow - the female waist, a willowy waist
Spear / Sword - the penis
Mushroom / Mountain - the penis
Mirror - the voyueristic pleasure of seeing something that shouldn't have been seen
Kimono Sleeves - a silky, inviting (open) analogy of the vagina
Cherry Blossom - young female, viginity
Plum - male, masculine and represented older men who ripened with age
Tissue - impending ejaculation

Other elements may be subtly used in images such as musical instruments, plants, animals, motifs on clothing and seasons.

The gender of those portrayed in the images can at first also be hard to identify a male or female again we can use symbols; In the following image it is difficult to know if these are male/female or male/male, there are infact male/male the male has a coloured cap covering the top of his head.

Art historical texts often describe these individuals as "young men" or "dandies," but in this exhibition, they are described simply as wakashū (beautiful youth), categorically distinct from both women (onna) and older biological males (yarō). Wakashū can be identified most easily by their hairstyle. While yarō shaved the tops of their heads completely, wakashū shaved only the back half of their heads, and their forelocks remained intact. Sometimes wakashū covered the tops of their heads with brightly colored, brimless caps. Another signifier of wakashū was their long-sleeved kimonos (Kristin Remington, Honolulu Museum).

The next image of a older man and a "beautiful youth" with a woman;

Women also rarely appeared fully nude this was because Japanese were used to seeing naked bodies at mixed bath houses, so it was more erotic to wear something and leave something to the imagination for the partner.

Mixed bath house

These and many more elements help the viewer to construct the story and understand the texts better.

British Museum Shunga Exhibition - Curators Introduction (2013)

MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna (Shunga Exhibition 2017)

Chokosai Eiri - Fumi no kiyogaki

Chokosai Eiri Collection

Fumi no kiyogaki 婦美の清書き 

(Models of Calligraphy)

Neat Version of a Love Letter or Pure Drawings of Female Beauty

FORMAT: Folded Album of 11 erotic colour woodblock prints (unusual as the norm is 12 prints)
DATE: circa 1801

Overview of images;

PRINT#1

PRINT#2 - Two females, one woman is lubricating the wooden dildo with the cream from the shell shaped container. She says, ‘Seeing as we’re going to do it like this, I’ll put lots of the cream on it. So really make yourself come. Without the cream this big one would not go in.’ The aphrodisiac cream is obviously being used as a lubricant. The other woman puts a hand up to the dildo and urges her friend, ‘Hurry up and put it in. I want to come. I want to come five or six times without stopping.’

PRINT#3 - From 1639 to 1853 the Dutch were the only Europeans allowed to trade in Japan. They were confined to a small artificial island in Nagasaki Harbour and their activities were closely regulated by the Japanese. No European women were allowed in Japan, but the Dutch were permitted to enjoy the company of local courtesans.
As we look through the window we see a well-dressed European, surely intended to be a senior Dutch trader, with a Japanese women, who would be a Nagasaki courtesan. They are both heavily dressed for winter, but she leans out of an open Western-style window, suggesting that they are in the East India Company compound on the island of Dejima (which, of course, Eiri would never have seen). It is elegantly fragranced with burning incense. The European speaks gibberish, while the woman protests, ‘I can’t make out what you’re on about. Push it in tighter! What am I to do?!’

 

PRINT#4 - Lovemaking scene at the bath, the woman holding a towel decorated with a sea star motif in her mouth and a cup of tea and a small cloth bag resting on the lid of the wooden tub (hinoku taruburo).

PRINT#5 - A couple making love beside a tray with dishes and a sake kettle

PRINT#6 - A couple making love in front of a six-fold screen painted with birds and plum blossom

 PRINT#7

PRINT#8 - PRINT2 shows two women with a dildo. This type of dildo, with a cord attached, was intended to be worn by women, not men. When two women were playing together it was worn around the hips: when one woman was enjoying it alone, she tied it to her ankle. In this image the  woman is masterbating with the large club instead of a dildo and tied it to her leg while the naked man watches her intently.

PRINT#9

PRINT#10 - A couple making love outdoors beside an abaraya

PRINT#11 - A couple making love in a room, in front of a low screen, the man unkempt and a discarded comb on the futon. 

FRONT

Shunga Japanese Erotic Art

Author: Monta Hayakawa

Synopsis:

A collection of Japanese eroticism by Ukiyo-e artists. A new volume in the Traditional Patterns series, this book features Shunga, a type of Ukiyo-e that is made using the finest Japanese woodblock print techniques and portrays the erotic expressions of men and women; and the pleasure, the pain, and the beauty of the human body. This Japanese erotic art was made by all Ukiyo-e artists and was usually more profitable than "normal" art during the Edo period. It is believed that Shunga, literally "springtime picture," originated from Chinese medical books. It was not only intended to provide the fun that comes from viewing erotic images, but also the book could be held as a charm against evil. Shunga was also used as textbooks for the sexual education of young men and women. Because there were fewer restrictions on Shunga, ukiyo-e artists used a variety of colors usually not seen in usual woodblock prints. Only the best techniques of Ukiyo-e are found in Shunga. This glorious volume features works from the Edo period to the present. Including works by Ukiyo-e artists such as Hishikawa Moronobu, Kitagawa Utamaro, Utagawa Kunisada, Katsushika Hokusai, this Japanese "kama sutra" manages to be erotic, artistic, and fun all at the same time.

Book Review

Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: PIE Books; Bilingual edition (1 Nov. 2014)
Language: Japanese
ISBN-10: 4894448025
ISBN-13: 978-4894448025
Product Dimensions: 15 x 3.8 x 21 cm

To follow.....

Shunga Erotic Art in Japan (Updated 2/Aug/2017)

Rosina Buckland

Hardback (29 Aug 2013) | English

Synopsis

Featuring paintings, handscrolls, prints, and illustrated books of erotica produced in Japan between 1600 and 1900, Shunga showcases some of the finest examples of Japanese erotic art, created with opulent materials and special printing effects. This book includes work by Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806) and Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), who produced erotic imagery as a standard part of their work.

The erotic encounters depicted in shunga reflect multiple perspectives--male, female, heterosexual, and same-sex. There is a particular emphasis on sexual situations in everyday life: a wife catches her husband seducing a maid, a couple is spied on by a curious servant, and mice start copulating in imitation of the humans. Japanese erotic art was characterized by exaggeration and fantasy and, as one verse-writer warns, "The foolish couple copy shunga and pull a muscle." Shunga examines this underexplored area of Japanese culture and is fully illustrated with fascinating images from the rich collections of the British Museum, many of which have never been published before.

Book Review

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: British Museum Press; 01 edition (8 Nov. 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 071412463X
• ISBN-13: 978-0714124636
• Product Dimensions: 25.6 x 2.2 x 25 cm 

A beautifully illustrated book. The images mostly sizedto fit on the page, there are several that cover two pages but it does ot distractaway from the quality. There are 140 illustrations in wonderful vibrant colours, unless they are line drawings.
The author has provided us with a good history of shunga art in Japan at the time as well as other useful information at the back of the book. An excellent read and a number one book a must for anyone interested in Japanese art and Shunga in particular.

 SCORE: 9.8/10

Reproduction Shunga Prints - #1

All these prints are printed onto a 120gms Archive Grade, Acid Free Cream Parchment Paper using a top of the range H.P Laser printer & Toner.

The prints are centred onto an A4 sheet giving a print size of 10" x 7" or 255mm x 180mm approx.

All the prints have a cream border.
All have vivid colours and are a good reproduction of the originals.

Not worth a lot money wise however still very good to look at and be part of a collection.

PRINT1
Kitagawa Utamaro II (?-1833). Two lovers kissing at the window and a mirror on the floor for the viewer to see what else is going on..

PRINT2

PRINT3
Utamaro - Lovers in full embrace

PRINT4

PRINT5
Taken from Ehon Embracing Komachi (絵本小町引), New Year 1802 

 
PRINT6
Utamaro Kitagawa - Unravelling the Threads of Desire

 
PRINT7
Utamaro Kitagawa
Unravelling the Threads of Desire c1799
The man is eager to make love yet the women who has just finished bathing wants him to wait while she fixes her hair up.

  

PRINT8

PRINT9
Katsukawa Shunchō, Lovers at play, surrounded by thick blankets, the female wearing her koshimaki (腰巻 waist cloth)- Ehon kantan no makura, ca1795-1800

PRINT10
UTAGAWA SCHOOL - UTAMARO II (? -1833). Two lovers in the room.
Late Edo (1603-1868)

PRINT11
Threesome (Three Gays) from Masanobu’s most highly regarded shunga set: Someiro no yama neya no hinagata, “Mountains of Dyed Colours, Examples of Bedrooms.” Published c. 1735

PRINT12
Bedroom scene from Masanobu’s most highly regarded shunga set: Someiro no yama neya no hinagata, “Mountains of Dyed Colours, Examples of Bedrooms.” Published c. 1735

July IOTM

This month is what I would consider this image to be a total shocker, this is from the subversive side of shunga that I wouldn't blame you if you click close. It is one of 26 images that on the whole are full of humour however this one in particular made me cringe. The image of necrophilia, the man now has an opportunity to have sex with someone he loved who now cannot resist and the gravedigger annoucing the fact makes it even more of a shocker.

It is from a series Ōyogari no koe - Call of Geese Meeting at Night of 1822 by Utagawa Toyokuni (1769-1825).

 Gravedigger and Corpse

Translation of the Japanese text (by Shirakura Yoshihiko):

GRAVEDIGGER: “In my life my love for this woman was great, but nothing could be done about our differences in birth. But now whether corpse or ghost, such things are of no matter and and I´m grateful.”

Okumura Masanobu - Artist Intro

Each month I will take an in depth look into the work of a Shunga artist. This month I have chosen OkumuraMasanobu.

Masanobu (the family name being Okumura) was thought to be born in Edo (modern day Tokyo) sometime around 1686 and passed away 13 March 1764 approx. 78 years old and was a print designer, book publisher and painter. A lot of his early life was never documented. Masanobu attended the Torii school (鳥居派, -ha) which was a school of ukiyo-e painting and printing founded in Edo, founded by the Torii Clan. His work generally adhered to the Torii style however later he did drift.
Masanobu taught himself how to paint by studying various other Shunga artists for example Torii Kiyonobu (died 1729). His paintings depicted scenes in stores, theatres and living quarters and were usually large. He is also attributed with the invention of the hashira-e and uki-e and who may have been the first to change from hand colouring to colour printing

Signatures and Seals

Hôgetsudô shômei Okumura Bunkaku Masanobu shôhitsu (with seal: Tanchôsai)

Masanobu's work included Buddhist subjects, birds and flowers with his own individual style; flowing lines and tall thin figures and beautiful women. His earliest work was referred to as the Courtesan Album (depicting courtesans in the Yoshiwara pleasure district) which was published in 1701 in which he reworked a series of prints that had been designed by Torii Kiyonobu (1664-1729) the previous year. In the years following, Masanobu produced a number of albums and illustrated books retelling classic Chinese tales in a light hearted way, the Genji monogatari, and stories from Noh and kabuki plays. In the 1720s, he took the then unusual step of opening his own publishing house. This gave him greater creative control over his work, and allowed him to keep the lion's share of the profits from prints he designed.

WORKS INCLUDE:

• The most highly regarded shunga set: Someiro no yama neya no hinagata, “Mountains of Dyed Colours, Examples of Bedrooms.” Published c. 1735 Format: Oban 12 prints.
• Nudes of the Innumerable Secret Loves of Shidoken (c1720) Format:ko-orijo 12 prints
• Sexy Robes of the Bed Chamber ca1711-16 Format:Handscroll
• Love in the Three Capitals, ca1710-15 Format: oban yoko-e 12 prints.

"A Day in the Gay Quarters"
The customer who is smoking a cigarette in the center is a mature man with a lady f pleasure on his right, he likes her and she like the young dandie on the left. This leaves us with what will happen next!!

A couple more images from this album can be seen here and I will have a look at the full series in the near future.

Some of Masanobu's other works;

Woman Holding a Young Man's Hand, from an untitled series of Yoshiwara scenes with poems

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okumura_Masanobu
https://ukiyo-e.org/artist/okumura-masanobu
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/masanobu_okumura.html
Museum of Fine Arts Boston http://www.mfa.org