Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

This photo taken on August 19, 2025 shows a display by Utagawa Kunimori (1827-1899) at an exhibition of old Japanese "shunga" art, erotic "ukiyo-e" drawings and woodblock prints that flourished in Japan's Edo period that began in 1603, in the Kabukicho red-light entertainment area in the Shinjuku district of central Tokyo. Graphic depictions of enormous phalluses and acrobatic sex positions have long rendered centuries-old Japanese "shunga" art taboo, but a rare exhibition aims to prove the genre is a world apart from male-centred porn. Photo by Richard A. Brooks/AFP

Article (news)

Japan

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1756437306218cropped-AFP__20250829__72CY9KE__v1__HighRes__JapanArtExhibitionErotic.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">This photo taken on August 19, 2025 shows a display by Utagawa Kunimori (1827-1899) at an exhibition of old Japanese &quot;shunga&quot; art, erotic &quot;ukiyo-e&quot; drawings and woodblock prints that flourished in Japan&#x27;s Edo period that began in 1603, in the Kabukicho red-light entertainment area in the Shinjuku district of central Tokyo. Graphic depictions of enormous phalluses and acrobatic sex positions have long rendered centuries-old Japanese &quot;shunga&quot; art taboo, but a rare exhibition aims to prove the genre is a world apart from male-centred porn. Photo by Richard A. Brooks/AFP</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>TOKYO, Japan — Graphic depictions of enormous phalluses and acrobatic sex positions have long rendered centuries-old Japanese &quot;shunga&quot; art taboo, but a rare exhibition aims to prove the genre is a world apart from male-centered porn.</p><p>Female pleasure instead takes centre stage at the Tokyo exhibition showcasing around 150 pieces of shunga -- an erotic form of &quot;ukiyo-e&quot; drawings and woodblock prints that flourished in Japan&#x27;s Edo period, which began in 1603.</p><p>But so explicit is the art form in its depictions of nudity, genitals and sex that it was suppressed under Japan&#x27;s post-shogunate westernization drive in the late 19th century.</p><p>That stigma around shunga lingers more than a century on, with the genre often lumped together with commercial porn that objectifies women.</p><p>It is this misconception that the latest exhibition seeks to dispel.</p><p>On her recent visit from Germany, Verena Singmann, 38, said she found shunga strikingly different from modern-day porn that is &quot;very much focused on male pleasure&quot;.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/life/09/26/17/beset-by-visions-artist-yayoi-kusama-has-no-intention-of-slowing-down">Beset by visions, artist Yayoi Kusama has no intention of slowing down</a></div><p>Detailed depictions of the vulva, oral stimulation for women and same-sex play with dildos, she said, suggested ukiyo-e artists&#x27; deep appreciation of sensuality and sexuality at the time.</p><p>&quot;Instead of women just being an object that men look at... this is really showing female power through pleasure&quot;, Singmann, a spokesperson for a sex toy brand, told AFP.</p><p>Her colleague Miyu Ozawa, 30, agreed.</p><p>&quot;You can see from the women&#x27;s expressions that they were truly enjoying what they did,&quot; she said.</p><p>Ukiyo-e -- literally meaning &quot;pictures of the floating world&quot; -- depicted scenes from everyday Japan and often portrayed beautiful women and actors of &quot;kabuki&quot; traditional theatre, with the art made accessible to the public thanks to affordable woodblock prints.</p><p>The adults-only exhibition in Tokyo&#x27;s Kabukicho red-light district is a rare attempt to spotlight shunga, famously described by a shocked US businessman in the mid-1800s as &quot;vile pictures executed in the best style of Japanese art&quot;.</p><p>It was not until 2015 that an art show exclusively featuring shunga materialized in Japan, inspired by the genre&#x27;s successful debut at the British Museum two years earlier.</p><p>That 2015 event in Tokyo has since helped shunga inch towards acceptance, with a few art shows held and a specialist museum established in central Japan&#x27;s Gifu region.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>SEEDY IMAGE</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Still, many Japanese museums &quot;remain very much uncomfortable with these artworks&quot;, Mitsuru Uragami, one of Japan&#x27;s leading shunga experts, told AFP.</p><p>Behind their discomfort is &quot;the idea that shunga somehow runs counter to public order and morals&quot;, said Uragami, whose collection constitutes the ongoing exhibition.</p><p>Even in their heyday during the Edo period, shunga publications were at times forced to go underground, reaching their avid readership thanks to resourceful &quot;kashihonya&quot; -- or book lenders -- who went door-to-door with erotic books carefully hidden in their trunks.</p><p>Despite their seedy image, shunga represents the craftsmanship of some of Japan&#x27;s finest ukiyo-e artists, such as Hokusai and Kitagawa Utamaro, encapsulating their humor and techniques.</p><p>Even with the absurdity of penises &quot;as big as a face&quot; or &quot;near-impossible sex positions&quot;, many drawings manage to come off convincingly realistic -- proof of &quot;their authors&#x27; top-notch artistic skills&quot;, Uragami said.</p><p>That little-known artistic value resonated with Maki Tezuka, chairman of Smappa! Group, which operates everything from bars to &quot;host clubs&quot; -- where men entertain women -- in Kabukicho.</p><p>&quot;I thought shunga was similar&quot; to the infamous Tokyo district synonymous with sex, booze and crime, said Tezuka, the project leader for the exhibition.</p><p>&quot;Just like shunga is dismissed as Edo-period porn, Kabukicho is instinctively avoided as a &#x27;dangerous&#x27; or &#x27;illegal&#x27; place, despite a certain depth and humanity to it,&quot; he told AFP.</p><p>Reflecting that deep-seated prejudice against shunga, some businesses he approached refused to sponsor the exhibition.</p><p>Still, the 47-year-old is hopeful that it can inspire cultural interest in skeptics.</p><p>&quot;I think their attention will gradually shift from genitals to the art&#x27;s beautiful color, which can hopefully ignite their interest in ukiyo-e itself, and eventually kabuki&quot; theatre art, Tezuka said.</p><div><strong>— By Tomohiro Osaki, Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

<p>That stigma around shunga lingers more than a century on, with the genre often lumped together with commercial porn that objectifies women. It is this misconception that the latest exhibition seeks to dispel.</p>

That stigma around shunga lingers more than a century on, with the genre often lumped together with commercial porn that objectifies women. It is this misconception that the latest exhibition seeks to dispel.

'Female power': Japan erotic art destigmatized in new exhibit

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'Female power': Japan erotic art destigmatized in new exhibit

Agence France-Presse

Published August 29, 2025 11:16 AM PHT

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