Shunga

When Japanese ukiyo-e woodcut prints arrived in the European art world of the late nineteenth century, they caused a sensation and influenced artists as diverse as van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Rodin. Picasso first encountered their bold stylization and expressive flair as a young artist in Barcelona, but his connection with Japanese art has been comparatively neglected by critical studies until now.
Although Picasso expressed an ambivalent attitude to the Japonisme movement, it has recently been discovered that he personally owned more than sixty of the highly erotic prints known as shunga. Now a selection of these rare works from his private collection has been brought together by the Museu Picasso in Barcelona and is shown here for the first time along with Picasso’s own prints and drawings. This juxtaposition reveals a series of fascinating parallels and convergences in terms of both subject matter and composition. The stylistic echoes are most visible in Picasso’s erotic drawings of the first decade of the twentieth century, and in a series of witty and explicit prints made toward the end of his life, which share the frank yet playful attitude to sexual relationships that shines through in the best Japanese works of this genre.

At its height in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Japonisme had a tremendous impact on Western art. In this publication, author Ricard Bru approaches the cultural phenomenon of Japonisme from an innovative standpoint. He presents an in-depth discussion of the influence of Japanese printed erotic imagery by ukiyo-e masters such as Kitagawa Utamaro and Katsushika Hokusai on European artists, including Edgar Degas, Auguste Rodin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Gustav Klimt and Pablo Picasso, as well as writers, critics, and collectors, such as Edmond de Goncourt, Joris-Karl Huysmans, and Émile Zola. With over 160 color illustrations sourced from public and private collections, Erotic Japonisme demonstrates the rich artistic dialogue that existed between Europe and Japan.

This article analyzes the shunga collection owned by the Mito Tokugawa family. It presents the discovery of six pieces from the Mito Tokugawa, one of the three branches of the Tokugawa. This collection helps us understand the uses and the spread of erotic art among the ruling classes in Edo period Japan. The collection, formed of diferent types of works (scrolls, books, prints, and sex toys) is important in documenting the high degree of acceptance of erotic art within the Tokugawa family. In particular, the manuscript notes written by the daimyo, Tokugawa Nariaki, show that the works were acquired as part of a regular family practice over the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. This suggests that it was common for all daimyo families to collect shunga.

"Kawanabe Kyōsai's Arrest and Its Relation to Shunga: The Impact of the Incident on the Historical Evaluation of the Artist," Bunka shigen gaku (Cultural Resources Studies), Vol.13, Special Issue: "Shunga and Japanese Society," Tokyo: The Association for the Study of Cultural Resources, 30 June 2015, 163-178.

「河鍋暁斎の筆禍事件と春画――暁斎評価の変遷との関わりにおいて」『文化資源学』第13号、「春画と日本社会」特集、文化資源学会、2015年6月30日、163~178頁。

Histories of sex and sexuality have often been omitted from the interpretive frameworks of museum and heritage sites. Many museums confined sexually graphic material to basement stores, omitting
the ‘unpalatable’ aspects of cultures from public display. The British Museum’s recent exhibition, Shunga: sex and pleasure in Japanese art reflects significant attitudinal changes, both institutionally and in society at large.

Sexually explicit paintings, prints, and illustrated books known as shunga (‘spring pictures’) were produced in Japan in considerable quantities between 1600-1900. The British Museum’s recent exhibition was one outcome of a five year collaborative research project aimed at furthering
understanding of shunga. The sexually explicit nature of the material posed some unique challenges. In order to explore these issues this paper draws on evaluation undertaken both to inform the development of the exhibition and to measure its impact.

El artículo se propone un examen de la situación del estudio del shunga desde la historia del arte japonés, a la vez que analiza su colocación reciente como parte de las narrativas más frecuentes de la disciplina.
This article examines the current state of the art of shunga studies within Japanese Art History, and, at the same time, analyzes its recent inclusion at the main narratives of the discipline.

El artículo versa sobre la censura hacia la producción de estampas eróticas shunga en el Japón de los siglos XVII al XX. Este número especial de la revista "Bessatsu Taiyō" celebra el 250 aniversario de la invención de la xilografía ukiyo-e polícroma, y también la primera exhibición de shunga en Japón, que se inauguró el 19 de septiembre de 2005.

O presente trabalho trata da análise do filme O Império dos Sentidos (1976), que tem como protagonistas Tatsuya Fuji como Kichizo Ishida e Eiko Matsuda como Sada Abe. O filme trata da relação amorosa obsessiva, baseada em fatos reais, que acaba por se desenrolar no assassinato do homem, que tem seus órgãos genitais extirpados pela companheira. A obra cinematográfica é muito controversa por tratar de forma aberta e audaciosa a profundidade do desejo sexual no limiar da patologia.

Part of 2nd International exhibition “Sofia Comics Expo 2014” (https://www.facebook.com/events/904873949538749/)
[Abstract in Bulgarian] Няма друга култура, като японската, която толкова контрастно може да приюти изящната естетика на традиционната художествена култура и артистично наследство, заедно със сътворяването на графичен еротичен и порнографски артефакт, който еволюира лесно в анимиран. Именно артефакт, защото хентай, като тип аниме и манга, се категоризира като арт-еротика и арт-порно, напук на всички онези, които твърдят, че няма порнография в изкуството, и изкуство в порнографията.
Категорично явлението хентай е без аналог в световната комикс, кино и сексуална култура. То е уникално по своята морфология, разновидност, приложимост, масовост и потребление. Нещо повече: авторите на хентай активно диалогират с потребителите в антропологичния дискурс на дефиниране и обрисуване на националната сексуалност. Хентай феномен на сексуалната субкултура, който дори притежава силата на социален коректив
Има изследователи, които смятат, че разделянето на еротично от порнографско е насилствено създадено. А японският хентай се люлее непрекъснато в двете, прескачайки благодарение на полижанровостта си ту от едната страна на барикадата, ту от другата.
Визуално-сексуалният театър на Изтока се разиграва по други правила, различни от тези на Запада. И разбира се, като всичко в Азия, е обвързано с традиционното. Ето защо ако центърът и фокусът на предложения доклад е хентай, то в две направления ще се търсят приемствени връзки – в изобразителните решения и канона при еротичната гравюра шунга; и в образи вдъхновени от хентай във филма „Надуваема кукла” на Хирокадзу Коре-Еда (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2T3YkiazkM), който не е нито еротичен, нито порно, а принадлежи на арт-хаус.

Realocar o movimento da alteridade no campo das forças que atuam na e emanam da experiência com o literário talvez seja o fio condutor a percorrer, às vezes apenas margeando, mas às vezes como tópico em questão, toda a especulação construída nesta monografia. A começar, instalando como ponto cardeal de leitura a singela novela O mistério da prostituta japonesa & Mimi-Nashi-Oichi, de Valêncio Xavier, texto a partir do qual se optou por desenvolver o potencial erótico experimentado no contato com a alteridade japonesa no conjunto dessa esfera de ocidente chamada Brasil. Em seguida, partindo para uma ponderação propriamente teórica, que joga com a história moderna da relação entre o Japão e o Ocidente e a crítica pós-colonial, o texto se debruça no desenvolvimento de um enfrentamento que tem por eixos as perspectivas teóricas do intelectual palestino Edward Wadie Said e do antropólogo brasileiro Eduardo Viveiros de Castro; das tensões produzidas nesse enfrentamento, surge um palco para pensar: 1) de que modo a configuração conferida à relação com o Outro, no problemático texto do Ocidente, pode ser lugar estratégico para fazer proliferar experiências com outras imaginações, 2) a reabertura da própria potencialidade do fictício, inoculada no texto literário, como um modo de devolver o corpo à realidade como alteridade.

************** ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

This critical essay in Italian explores emerging formulations of the visual trope of ’tentacle erotica’ in the arts and media of the past few decades. Putting them in relation to previous iconographies and textual genealogies, it examines representations and stories of monstrous intercourse that explore and straddle the line between attraction and repulsion across visual cultures and literatures.

The tentacle erotica trope has been serving manifold explorations of gendered horror in popular cultures – from normative apologetics of the male gaze, rape culture, and speciesist projections to progressive explorations of non-normative, fluid, and xenomorphic gendered practices. The study looks at its transnational emergence across Japan and the United States in media such as manga, anime, pulp literature and horror film, reworking visual iconographies of interspecies intercourse, bestiality, and sexualised monstrosity. It also examines the relations of these media with iconographies from previous historical traditions – from the Glaucus of Greek mythology to Japanese artist Hokusai’s notorious image of intercourse between a woman and an octopus.

The study focuses on three distinct phases of the modern emergence of the trope and its variant signifiers – ranging from ‘tentacle rape’ and ‘tentacle sex’ to ‘tentacle erotica’. First, the modern, transnational formalisation of the trope, from early US pulp and horror film to the work of Japanese mangaka Toshio Maeda. Second, the historical antecedents of the trope in the visual arts, from Hokusai’s erotic shunga woodblocks to Picasso’s japoniste imagery. Third, the more recent circulations of the trope across social media and visual platforms, from fine and fan art to pop references in television and animation series and Wikipedia histories.

Finally, the study examins tentacles as biological structures that have become transfixed culturally as phallic equivalents and signifiers of otherness, pointing to how the heterogeneous and yet tightly interweaved trope of tentacle erotica has come to signal anything from Dionysian explorations of post-human hybridity to orientalist stereotypes, regressive sexism, and animal abuse.

Blurb

“In a book titled Tentacle Erotica one would hardly expect to find references to Montaigne, Greek myth, Victor Hugo, Picasso, and Hokusai. Granted, they are in the company of strippers, fetish models, octopus porn, BDSM, horror, hentai, cyberpunk, and much more. Yet, this is no spurious accretion, provocative act of contamination, or attempt to legitimise pornographic imagery through mythology. Rather, this is something much more complex and consistent, even though by means of a spiralling logic. Marco Benoît Carbone delivers a wide-angle reading of the tentacle, a figure whose visual rhetoric encapsulates a wealth of mythical, cultural, and anthropological resonances, while offering a chance to probe into controversial issues. From misogynistic crimes to the limits of censorship. From the exoticism of the erotic imagination to obstinate stereotypes on Japan. From the social uses of pornography to its aesthetic value. Touching upon the dilemma of whether to consider pornography’s extreme territories as a form of dominion or as a liberating, diverse, and Dionysian practice.
~ From the Foreword by Massimo Fusillo ~

************** ITALIAN DESCRIPTION
Dalla Prefazione di Massimo Fusillo:

"In un libro che si intitola Tentacle Erotica non ci si aspetterebbe di trovare Montaigne, il mito greco, Victor Hugo. Certo, in com- pagnia di stripper, modelle fetish, octopus porn, gotico, fantasy, cyberpunk e molto altro. Non siamo di fronte a un accumulo eterogeneo, a un puro gioco di contaminazione provocatoria, né tantomeno al desiderio di nobilitare l’immaginario pornogra co, dandogli una legittimazione mitica. È qualcosa di molto più complesso, che ha una sua coerenza, pur nel suo andamento a spirale. Marco Benoît Carbone ci o re una lettura ad ampio raggio di una  gura della retorica visuale ricca di risonanze mitiche, culturali, antropologiche, che permette allo stesso tempo di a rontare que- stioni politiche spinose. Forse l’opera che condensa meglio questo tropo visivo è una stampa erotica (uno shunga) del celebre artista giapponese Hokusai, così amato anche dall’arte occidentale, Pol- pi e pescatrice di perle (Tako to ama) in cui una giovane donna è distesa sulla spiaggia in uno stato di abbandono sensuale e riceve le attenzioni erotiche di due polipi; un’opera che stilizza una tra- dizione di lunghissima durata sul rapporto fra umano e animale, fra sessualità e mostruosità, e che nello stesso tempo può essere considerata una sorta di incunabolo di una ricchissima produzione pornografica contemporanea, in cui piovre e tentacoli di vario genere posseggono anche con violenza vittime di vario genere.
Il potenziale metaforico del polpo è particolarmente ricco e am- bivalente: la sua “polidattila tattilità” lo rende innanzitutto adatto a visualizzare un metodo fatto di assaggi, sondaggi, tentativi, che ha il suo archetipo nel saggismo di Montaigne e che trova consonanze profonde con la metafora visuale che più caratterizza il sapere post- moderno, il rizoma di Gilles Deleuze e Félix Guattari, “un’eterogeneità interconnessa in stato di perenne divenire”.
[...]
“Marco Benoît Carbone è alla ricerca di un sostrato mitico, di un rimosso secolare in cui si incrociano sessualità, orrore e violenza; quindi di una costante trans-culturale, che attraversa epoche e contesti differenti. Ciò non toglie che sia meticolosamente attento alle differenze culturali, soprattutto per quanto riguarda la ricezione occidentale dei prodotti giapponesi, spesso dominata da stereotipi tenaci che configurano il Giappone o come terra arcaica, o al contrario come nazione iper-moderna, in ogni caso come luogo diverso e perverso. È il fenomeno che è stato felicemente definito “porno-orientalismo”. Ma Benoît Carbone è meticolosamente attento anche alle differenze fra i generi, i pubblici e le destinazioni della pornografia. Dopo la svolta digitale, il porno ha ormai una presenza così massiccia nel nostro quotidiano che rende del tutto superati i dibattiti politici sulla sua legittimità di qualche tempo fa: è diventato una fetta consistente di un immaginario sempre più polimorfico, con cui non si sostituisce la sessualità, ma la si allarga e la si costruisce.”

rt is continuously subjected to insidious forms of censorship. This may be by the Church to guard against moral degeneration, by the State to promote a specific political agenda or by the art market, to elevate one artist above another. Now, and in the last century, artwork that touches on ethnic, religious, sexual, national or institutional sensitivities is liable to be destroyed or hidden away, ignored or side-lined. Drawing from new research into historical and contemporary case-studies, Censoring Art: Silencing the Artwork provides diverse ways of understanding the purpose and mechanisms of art censorship across distinct geopolitical and cultural contexts from Iran, Japan, and Uzbekistan to Britain, Ireland, Canada, Macedonia, Soviet Russia, and Cyprus. Its contributions uncover the impact of this silent control of the production and exhibition of art and consider how censorship has affected art practice and public perceptions of artworks.

Uno de los elementos más interesantes de la biografía de la estampa erótica japonesa shunga, radica en las maneras que se han estructurado sus relaciones con los diferentes contextos por los que ha transitado a través de más de tres siglos. A pesar de los altos índices que alcanzó su producción durante el período Edo, de que a partir de 1990 se convirtiera en un nuevo y fértil terreno para la investigación, y del boom de publicaciones japonesas sobre estas imágenes, hasta el día de hoy no se ha realizado en Japón ninguna exhibición pública de estas piezas. La ponencia, entonces, examinará las diferentes políticas de exhibición, relativas a la estampa erótica japonesa shunga, que se han implementado en Japón y en otros países. Para esto se revisará además aquellas exhibiciones que recientemente se han realizado fuera de Japón, y se analizará, por vez primera, los vericuetos detrás del proyecto para una magna exhibición de shunga programado para el año 2013 en el Museo Británico, y su posible impacto en Japón.

In 1911 the journalist and fierce enemy of censorship, Miyatake Gaikotsu 宮武外骨 (1867–1955), rescued some old references about the publication ban, in 1723, of a purportedly erotic sequel to the book Hyakunin jorō shina sadame, by the famous Kyoto artist Nishikawa Sukenobu (1671–1750). 1 Those references apparently turn this book into one of the first and rare examples of direct Edo period prohibition of sexually explicit material. Miyatake explores some other important cases in his Hikka shi 筆禍史. 2 Yet, despite the many years that have passed since 1911, until now this particular episode has been dismissed, probably because of issues with credibility regarding Miyatake himself and the uncertainties about the existence of copies of the erotic book in question. However, is Miyatake's argument really so baseless? What are the sources that Miyatake uses in his attempt to historicize the censorship of publications in Japan? Is it possible to find suitable candidates occupying the same...

When viewed through its art, the Edo period (1600-1868) appeared to the West and post-Edo Japan as if it were a pornotopia. Although art can be considered to be like a mirror that reflects reality, it is also widely acknowledged that art can provide an escape from reality by depicting illusions. With the popularity of pictures of beautiful people (bijinga), who were often prostitutes or actors, and the wide circulation of prints, paintings and books containing explicit depictions of sex (shunga), it is not surprising that notions of illusion, fantasy, and misconception frequently re-occur in relation to Edo-period society and sex.

There are different illusions about shunga that scholars want to expose and, correspondingly, different aspects of reality that they want to call to the attention of their readers. Because shunga is a collective term used to refer to a wide-range of work relating to sex, produced by many artists throughout the Edo period, and not a particular school or movement there is enough variety within shunga that evidence can be found to support multiple illusions and realities, even when seemingly contradictory.

Any text on shunga, including the interpretations in this paper, reveals as much about the author and their culture as it does about shunga and Edo society. Katsushika Hokusai’s famous depiction of an octopus performing oral sex on a woman is a classic example of this, which Tom and Mary Evans also remarked on: “Despite the considerable amount that has been written about this work, all attempts to interpret and elucidate it end up by revealing more about the writer than about the original work.” The experiential background and knowledge that viewers bring with them when they engage with an artwork affects how they interpret it and its possible allusions and illusions.

Therefore, I am not claiming that I can uncover ‘the reality’ of sex in Edo Japan; in fact, I would argue that due to there being multifarious viewpoints and experiences dependent on gender, age, class, and sexuality which, when combined with people’s reluctance to talk openly and honestly about sex, demonstrate that there is not a single, verifiable ‘reality’. Nevertheless, by being aware of and attempting to look beyond some of the illusions in, and misconceptions about, shunga, some important aspects of Edo society can be revealed. Furthermore, the most convincing illusions, even if wildly exaggerated, have a basis in reality. Insights into the realities of Edo society and its attitudes to sex and sexuality may be gained by questioning why artists chose to present those particular illusions and what viewers felt they were lacking in reality that caused them to look to shunga to satisfy their needs. The answers to these questions might also suggest why shunga continues to fascinate modern-day viewers.

If shunga are taken at face value Edo Japan does appear to fit the idea of a pornotopia, but I will examine in more detail how and why this illusion has been formed. Firstly, I will discuss the illusion of sexual freedom in comparison to Western norms of moral judgement and censorship. Secondly, I will look at the illusion that there was always a willing partner, ready to have sex at any time and in any place. I will then briefly discuss misconceptions relating to the uses and functions of shunga. Finally, I will question illusions relating to choice, gender equality, sexuality, and courtesans.

With the recent exceptions of Hayakawa Monta and Akiko Yano, scholars have avoided discussing the depiction of children in shunga, sexually-explicit art created in Edo Japan (1603-1868). The presence of children in shunga may cause offence and therefore such images may be omitted from books and exhibitions. I will argue that this is unnecessary as children in shunga are presented as innocent and the adults are often their parents. Furthermore, I will show how their innocence is used as a humorous counterpoint to their parents’ adult activities and how their unwanted presence brings a touch of realism to a genre that depicts fantasies.

I will contrast the innocence of children in shunga with the sexualisation of children in Utamaro’s mother and child prints. Utamaro subverts the conventions of mother and child art by eroticising the relationship, particularly in his prints of the folklore figures Yamauba and Kintaro. I will suggest that he used images of breastfeeding to bridge the two different types of depiction of children – as innocent and as sexualised.

Although shunga, sexually explicit art created in the Edo period (1603-1868), does not represent Japanese visual culture, which is a wide and varied field, it is one aspect of it which seems to be uniquely Japanese as it had no comparable equivalent in most other countries during that time. However, despite that and its taboo status in modern Japan, it could be argued that due to its subject matter and art’s ability to transcend cultural barriers shunga can be understood and appreciated on a universal level. 

On the other hand, cultural, historical and artistic differences may counteract this universality. I will discuss how shunga has been presented recently with particular reference to the current British Museum shunga exhibition, drawing on staff interviews and visitor feedback. This will be compared to shunga exhibitions in Hawaii (2012, 2013), Milan (2009) and Helsinki (2002) and shunga included in exhibitions in London (2007, 2013) and Cambridge (2013). In order to address whether shunga is universal, I will examine how these exhibitions interpreted and contextualised shunga to make it accessible for viewers in contrast to the, arguably inherent, universality of sex, emotions and art.

I would like to compare these with exhibitions in Japan, but apart from a small number of works displayed at Ritsumeikan University (2009) and Mori Art Museum (2003), shunga has not been exhibited in Japan. Therefore, I will question why it is acceptable to exhibit shunga across the world but not within Japan and ask if this is likely change in the near future.

"Some of the reasons behind the non-explicit prohibition against organizing public exhibitions of shunga in Japan lie in the ways that, even today, the legal apparatus perceives these prints. Causes related to the ambiguous, and sometimes absurd, ways in which shunga was classified as “obscene” during the second half of the 19th century, when Japan was importing many Western modern discourses from above, Victorian Puritanism being one of them. Even though, since 1868, new concepts and categories were imported substituting and complementing vernacular terminology, others were brought that would also affect different areas, which were deliberately discriminated and concealed, in order to display Japan as a “civilised modern State”. Sexual puritanism is one of such imports, which would shape new conceptions around the phenomenon of the “obscene” and would finally take its fury out on the representation of sex.Therefore, during the majority of the XX century, shunga was regarded as inadequate and obscene, and its publication followed the regulations stipulating that any bodily representation should be arranged or altered in a manner such that zones like the genitals and the pubic hair be kept hidden.
This paper will trace and examine the history of modern discourses regarding shunga’s multiple identity changes, from commodity and popular entertainment to “obscenity”, and then to “art”."

Japan witnesses a long history and presence of images with sexual content: Fertility cults associated artifacts, drawings kept at various Buddhist temples, medical manuals, illustrated scrolls of wide-ranging themes and origins, prints, books, photos, films, videos, comics, and even interactive electronic programs. However, no matter the fact that it is possible to assert that practically all the above mentioned cultural items explicitly show the genitals and/or sexual activities, will be whatsoever erratic to consider them as a huge interdependent set. From my point of view, this option could only be valid being anchored exclusively on the horizon of depiction, since those objects, more than a uniform macro-group, conform well delimited sets, each of them dependent of a very particular context, a very specific circulation, and with very concrete connotations, regardless of the common elements that they could share beyond the field of representation. That’s why, what is called today shunga is actually nothing more than an extremely multiple troupe of existences of the visual realm that cannot be understood as a unique and globalizing entity, or even less to project that there is a historical continuity between those sexually explicit materials prior to XVII century, and the actual production of prints with similar contents made during the Edo period under the popular-urban dynamics. But, what is shunga anyway?
The main purpose of this talk it is to introduce to the public the general characteristics of shunga production and distribution in Japan, as well as the socio-cultural milieu it came from.  Also, we are interested to evaluate the present state of research regarding shunga studies worldwide.

El texto se enfoca en el estudio de los circuitos de comercio sexual en el Japón de los siglos XVIII y XIX, su relación con los centros religiosos budistas, y las representaciones que de monjes, monjas y sexo se llevaron a cabo en la narrativa popular, la poesía, y, en especial, las imágenes gráficas.

"During the Edo period in Japan (c.1603–1868) the production and dissemination of shunga, sexually-explicit prints, paintings and illustrated books, was acceptable in a way in which it was not in Europe. Despite being officially banned in 1722, shunga was an open secret that was widely produced, circulated and tolerated until, due to the influence of the West, it was suppressed in the late 19th century.

Although access to sexual material has become more commonplace, cultural institutions remain cautious about what they collect and exhibit. Shunga is a contentious subject: it has often been omitted from art history, collections of shunga offered to institutions have been refused, and exhibitions and publications featuring shunga have been censored.

It could be argued that the lack of clarity surrounding the legality and censorship of so-called obscene or pornographic artworks has put the onus on institutions to self-censor for fear of falling foul of the law or public outcry, which often only become apparent after the fact. I will look at the development of what might be termed social and institutional censorship as seen in the British Museum, from its Secretum, a secret, locked cupboard of sex-related artefacts created in 1865, to its current Shunga: Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art exhibition. It was intended that a similar exhibition be shown in Japan, but a willing venue has not yet been found. I will question why this institutional censorship of shunga in Japan continues.
"

It is well known that so-called "early European pornography" could function as political satire against the aristocratic and ecclesiastical authorities and their exercise of power. In the case of Japan, there are numerous examples of political satire within the ukiyo-e woodblock print production of the years 1600 to 1867 (the Edo period). However, it is almost impossible to trace any direct political critique involving the sexually explicit prints (known during the Edo period as makura-e, or "pillow pictures") produced in large quantities during those years. Nevertheless, makura-e took advantage of their popularity within the chonin (urban commoner) and samurai societies to address an ongoing critique and satire toward social customs and normative values.
Although there was no direct censorship of the potential political content of makura-e, a careful examination of the legislative apparatus of the shogunal government during the Edo period reveals several efforts to control the manufacture and distribution of such prints, even when the sexually explicit images did not apparently address any political issues. Why, then, did the government, if not ferociously at least on an occasional basis, feel the need to consider the problem of makura-e at all? Was there a concern with "obscenity" or "moral values," or was the discourse on makura-e motivated by recognition of a tangential questioning of the legitimacy of power?
This presentation will analyze, through the legislative corpus and the prints themselves, the involvement of the makura-e in a double strategy of critique: one part deliberate (the satire of daily life and customs) and the other constructed within the same frontiers built by the government itself (the role of the virtuous ruler and the impossibility of any commentary about daily life). I will attempt to demonstrate that the control supposedly exercised against makura-e did not actually focus on questions of morality or obscenity but on a very different register: the public commercialization and popularization of a knowledge and product that in many ways contributed to destabilizing the image of a controlled and correct society under the reign of a perfect ruler.
I will also examine another dual capacity of the makura-e prints: the constant mobility between two different spaces, one imaginary and also constructed (ukiyo, the Floating World) and the other fixed by social regulations and daily life.