This is the first modern study on Japanese erotic print art (so called shunga) and shows highlights from the oeuvre of Kitagawa Utamaro, Katsushika Hokusai, Suzuki Harunobu, Utagawa Kunisada, Utagawa Kuniyoshi and many others. Various essays written by international experts describe this fascinating genre in its social, historical and artistic context, discussing themes like homosexuality, voyeurism, life in Edo's brothels, techniques of composition etc.

Male homosexual narratives in various genres and media—from “high-brow” literature by distinguished female authors to “pornographic” comic books produced and distributed by amateurs—have attracted the attention of a number of cultural critics in Japan and abroad. This book represents the first extensive critical attempt to examine Japanese women's narratives of male homosexuality/homoeroticism, addressing not only popular culture genres, but also the considerable body of critically acclaimed literary works (with English translations of the original works). The result is an in-depth analysis of the ways in which female fantasies of male homosexuality/homoeroticism may be composed, acknowledged, and interrogated.

Sociology of Japanese Ladies' Comics : Images of the Life, Loves, and Sexual Fantasies of Adult Japanese Women

Stories, terms and extracts of illustrated scrolls, known as pillow books, that reflect the atmosphere of Shunga or Japanese eroticism.

This book offers an entirely new assessment of the genre of Japanese paintings and prints today known as shunga. Recent changes in Japanese law have at last enabled erotic images to be published without fear of prosecution, and many picture books have since appeared in Japan. There has, however, been very little attempt to situate the imagery within the contexts of sexuality, gender or power. Questions of aesthetics, and of whether shunga deserve a place in the official history of Japanese art, have dominated, and the question of the use of these images has been avoided. Timon Screech seeks to re-establish shunga in its proper historical contexts of culture and creativity. Sex and the Floating World opens up for us the strange world of sexual fantasy in the Edo culture of eighteenth-century Japan, and investigates the tensions in class and gender of those who made - and made use of - shunga.

A coffee-table collection of a fascinating tradition in Japanese art. This is a lush coffee table art book comprising a survey of Ukiyo-e posterart, which was a genre of Japanese wood block prints of the ancient Edo period(1600-1867) that continue to inspire and inform creators of Japanese manga andanime. Decadence focuses on shunga prints, or Japanese erotica. Shungawas designed to titillate, depicting a range of traditional themes such asexotic Asian beauties in intimate, pin-up poses and dramatic couplings withfierce warriors wielding enormous "swords," macabre supernatural lovers, andbestial animals and monsters. Many of the most historically and aesthetically significant artists of thegenre are represented, including Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Kachoyojo Azumagenji,Toyohara Kunichika, Yoshiiku, and Hokusai, among others.

Featuring paintings, handscrolls, prints, and illustrated books of erotica produced in Japan between 1600 and 1900, Shunga showcases some of the finest examples of Japanese erotic art, created with opulent materials and special printing effects.