Honolulu Museum- Arts of the Bed Chamber, Japanese Shunga (Pt1)

This first exhibition in the series presents artwork that is clearly erotic in nature side-by-side with texts and images that discuss sexuality in less direct ways. In doing so, it seeks to address three pressing questions about the erotic culture of Edo Japan that have not yet received sufficient scholarly attention. Who was the intended audience of Japanese erotica, and what was the artwork’s intended purpose? How was gender defined in pre-modern and early modern Japan? How did the sex industry of Edo Japan function, and to what extent does mainstream Japanese art validate that industry? We hope that you find the answers offered by this exhibition to be compelling and thought-provoking.

See the whole exhibition shown November 23rd 2012 here

"The Shunga of Nishikawa Sukenobu"
Narrated by Sati

"Japanese Shunga and Concepts of Gender"
Narrated by Kristin Remington


"The Popularity of the Yoshiwara" by Dietra Cordea 


"The Sugimura Jihei Genre Handscroll and the Floating World"
Narrated by Stephen Salel