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To get an idea of what we’re talking about, the city of Edo-the former name for Tokyo-had a population of one million by 1721. This made Edo the largest city on the planet. This meant a lot of horny blokes looking for good wank material.Īpparently, the word shunga means “ pictures of spring”-spring being a euphemism for erotica probably as in the English equivalent “the joys of spring.” (If you can’t figure that out, I’m not going to explain it for you.) Though shunga was predominantly used by men, it was very popular with the ladies, too.īut what’s more staggering is that seventy percent (70%) of the city’s population were male. It was also considered very lucky or at least a bringer of good fortune to those who carried a shunga scroll on their person. When it came to sex, the Japanese have always been far more liberated than most other countries. Indeed, homosexuality and lesbianism have a long history in Japan going way back to ancient times-long before people started documenting such pleasures. In fact, gay sex was AOK in Japan up until 1872 when sodomy was briefly outlawed. However, as of 2000, sexual orientation is not protected by national civil rights laws which means the LGBT community do not have any recourse to legal protection against discriminations-so much for progress… I guess it’s a mixed bag there. While most shunga is heterosexually oriented, there is a wealth of gay shunga featuring samurais and old Buddhist masters indulging in sex with young males-often dressed as geishas. Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861) - ‘Old Buddhist.’ Miyagawa Chōshun - scenes from ‘A Rare and Important Nanshoku Shunga Handscroll.’ These illustrations were called nanshoku or “male colors” a term used to describe the man-on-man action which depicted (usually) idealized pin-ups from the worlds of ancient myth, the military, religion, theater, class, and last but not least, prostitution. Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806) - ‘Client Lubricating a Prostitute.’ Miyagawa Isshō - detail from a hand scroll. Unknown - Nanshoku erotic print circa 1680. Suzuki Harunobu (1725-70) - Detail from Shunga Nanshoku erotic print.
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Unknown - Illustration from ‘Untold Stories in Japanese Mythology’, late 19th century.You are about to enter a website that contains explicit material (pornography). This website should only be accessed if you are at least 18 years old or of legal age to view such material in your local jurisdiction, whichever is greater. Furthermore, you represent and warrant that you will not allow any minor access to this site or services. PARENTS, PLEASE BE ADVISED: If you are a parent, it is your responsibility to keep any age-restricted content from being displayed to your children or wards. Protect your children from adult content and block access to this site by using parental controls. We use the "Restricted To Adults" (RTA) website label to better enable parental filtering. Parental tools that are compatible with the RTA label will block access to this site. More information about the RTA Label and compatible services can be found here.