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.”