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10 Violently Sinister Erotic
Woodblock Prints in the Shunga Genre.
Since the first encounter of
foreign countries with Japanese erotica in 1615, with their undisguised style
in depicting the amorous without avoiding the sinister, there has been an
incessant fascination with this art-form. The following ten (actually
thirteen!) shunga designs are from sub-genres of the so-called chimidore-e
('blood stained prints') and muzan-e ('atrocious prints') prints.
You can
click on the pictures for a larger and more detailed collage of the
concerning print !
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Skeleton
- Utagawa Toyokuni I |
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love-making scenes depicting the same setting but from a different
point of view in two succesive sheets. In the left image a man and
woman are in a passionate embrace kissing tenderly. In the right image
the woman has been transformed into a skeleton when the man falls
asleep. Both designs are from Toyokuni I 's masterful shungabook
series 'Ehon kaichu kagami' (Picture book: Mirror of the Vagina)
published in c.1823. |
| Suicide
- Utagawa Toyokuni I |
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from Toyokuni's Mirror of the Vagina series a horrifying seppuku
(suicide) scene with the couple in the left sheet depicted in the last
stage before ending their life with the desperately crying. The herons
painted on the folding screen are a clear point of reference
connecting both events. The suicide scene has a striking resemblance
with the crime scene pictures of the F.B.I.
More info about this particular
series can be found (if you scroll down!) on the following page:
>> Toyokuni's Shunga Series Mirror of
the Vagina. |
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Crucifixion - Utagawa School |
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A so-called trick-print with an
included flap that when opened reveals another design. The first print depicts
a woman nailed down to a giant wooden board with her bully behind her with his
hand leaning on his instrument of torture. The male in the second picture is
in the same ominous situation. His erected penis is a (unintentional?)
sadomasochistic reference.
More info concerning this design
can be found if you click here: >>
Crucifixion Shunga - Trick
Print.
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| Ghost - Utagawa School
From the same book series as the
previous plate designed in the 1840s a macabre scene with a bold-headed monk
overpowered when he discovers his lover appears to be a ghost (spirit) holding
blood soaked hair in her hands.
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Giant Cat - Utagawa Kunisada
This peaceful intimate couple is
violently disturbed by the intervention of a giant black cat. The cat has been
escaped from the cage in the background and has his eyes and tongue fixated on
the man's genitals.
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Swordkill - Utagawa School
A violent encounter near a riverbank
between a samurai, protecting his lover, and a dangerous female spirit. A
sardonic detail is the sandal of the man touching the ghost's vagina while
piercing his sword through her chest.
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Dog Transformation - Utagawa Kunisada
In the New Year of 1837 a shungabook
series designed by Kunisada was published called Koi no yatsufuji (The
Eight Dog Heroes of the satomi Clan). These book is an erotic parody on
the well-known book Satomi Hakken-den written by Kyokutei Bakin. Kunisada's
version also became a best-seller. In this particular image we see the female
protagonist, the Princess Sasehime, being attacked by her actual lover,
Yatsufusa, who has been transformed into a dog.
More info: >> Kunisada
Shunga - Eight Dog Heroes.
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Running Women - Utagawa Toyukuni I
A design from Toyokuni's series Ikuyo monogatari (c.1824) depicting the
results of a short battle between a samurai, now making love to his lover, and
two women (probably his girlfriend's helpers) who are now running for their
lives in the background. The bloody sword pointing in the floor of the room as
a silent witness.
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Public Bath - Utagawa Toyokuni I
This print is a continuing scene to the
previous one, with the escaped women cleaning their wounds in a public bath.
One of them is using a rather unorthodox way of washing her clothes.
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| Brigand - Katsushika Hokusai |
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| An early erotic design by the great
Hokusai from the Ehon futamigata (Erotic Book of Conjugal Eddies) dated
c.1803. In this unfolding print over four pages an image of rape executed by a
(ninja like) brigand who terrorizes both the tied up man, pointing his sword
to his scrotum while at the same time is having sex with the tied up wife. A
striking detail is the maintenance of the husband's erection while he's
screaming for help. The design is already an early indication of Hokusai's
mastery. |
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Recommendations:
'Poem of the Pillow and other Stories
by Utamaro, Hokusai, Kuniyoshi and other artists of the Floating World'
by Gian Carlo Calza
'Japanese Erotic Fantasies, Sexual Imagery of the Edo Period'
by C.
Uhlenbeck and M. Winkel
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Some of the prints treated in this
article are available in
>>
our
gallery If you are a shunga lover or collector please
don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions/inquiries on the
items we are offering: >>
e-mail.
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