Pornography or erotic art? Japanese museum aims to confront shunga taboo
Thousands have flocked to view woodblock prints and paintings of couples, and sometimes groups, in the throes of sexual ecstasy
Japan’s adult movie industry is among the biggest in the world, and its range of pornographic manga is eclectic and ubiquitous. But it has taken centuries-old works of art for the country to challenge official reticence towards graphic depictions of sex.
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In recent weeks, tens of thousands of people have flocked to a tiny museum in suburban Tokyo to cast their eyes over woodblock prints and paintings of couples, and sometimes groups, in the throes of sexual ecstasy.
With titles such as Pillow Book for the Young: All You Need to Know About How the Jewelled Rod Goes In and Out, the images leave little to the imagination.
In one of the least explicit works, a semi-naked woman clutches a bamboo comb between her teeth, her gaze meeting that of the viewer. Others, though, abound with loosened or discarded kimono and the oversized genitalia of men and women in all manner of sexual contortions. Voyeurism and orgies are recurring themes. And unlike in pornographic movies made in Japan, expurgatory pixellation is nowhere to be seen.
Billed as the first proper shunga (spring pictures) exhibition in the country of the genre’s birth, the collection of 133 prints found a home at the Eisei Bunko Museum , but only after being rejected by at least 10 other prospective venues.
Galleries that feared shocking visitors with the frank depictions of sexual escapades unfolding inside Edo-era (1603-1868) brothels, inns, teahouses – and even Buddhist temples – misread the public appetite for shunga, a once-popular subgenre of ukiyo-e that mixes explicit content with visual humour and short stories with innuendo.
The museum’s director, Morihiro Hosokawa, said he was honoured to give the Japanese public its first opportunity to “appreciate the real shunga” for decades.
“Printed copies of shunga are widely available to collectors, and it is not logical that art fans are denied an opportunity to see the original works,” Hosokawa, a former prime minister, told reporters before the exhibition opened. We must work to break the taboo.”