121-459: Shunga ( 春画 ) is a type of Japanese erotic art typically executed as a kind of ukiyo-e , often in woodblock print format. While rare, there are also extant erotic painted handscrolls which predate ukiyo-e. Translated literally, the Japanese word shunga means picture of spring ; "spring" is a common euphemism for sex. Shunga, as a subset of ukiyo-e, was enjoyed by all social groups in
242-461: A representative democracy . The samurai lost their status as the only class with military privileges. However, during the Meiji period, most leaders in Japanese society (politics, business and military) were ex-samurai or descendants of samurai. The 1889 Meiji Constitution made relatively small concessions to civil rights and parliamentary mechanisms. Party participation was recognized as part of
363-454: A Chinese set of twelve scrolls depicting the twelve sexual acts that the crown prince would perform as an expression of yin yang . The Japanese influences of shunga date back to the Heian period (794 to 1185). At this point, it was found among the courtier class. Through the medium of narrative handscrolls , sexual scandals from the imperial court or the monasteries were depicted, and
484-507: A Chōshū native who has been credited with the founding of the modern Japanese army and was to become the first constitutional Prime Minister . The Supreme War Council developed a German-style general staff system with a chief of staff who had direct access to the Emperor and who could operate independently of the army minister and civilian officials. The Constitution of the Empire of Japan
605-468: A cabinet composed mostly of genrō who wanted to establish a government party to control the House of Representatives. Although not fully realized, the trend toward party politics was well established. On its return, one of the first acts of the government was to establish new ranks for the nobility. Five hundred people from the old court nobility, former daimyo, and samurai who had provided valuable service to
726-456: A constitutional form of government since before 1874, and several proposals for constitutional guarantees had been drafted. While acknowledging the realities of political pressure, however, the oligarchy was determined to keep control. Thus, modest steps were taken. The Osaka Conference in 1875 resulted in the reorganization of government with an independent judiciary and an appointed Chamber of Elders (genrōin) tasked with reviewing proposals for
847-414: A fan held by a courtesan) or allusions in the work itself (such as Utamaro 's empon entitled Utamakura ). Edo period shunga sought to express a varied world of contemporary sexual possibilities. Some writers on the subject refer to this as the creation of a world parallel to contemporary urban life, but idealised, eroticised and fantastical. By far the majority of shunga depict the sexual relations of
968-423: A fundamental repositioning over the course of the 20th century. Early 20th century movements in art such as cubism , futurism , and German expressionism explored the erotic through manipulating the nude to explore multiple viewpoints, colour experimentation, and the simplification of the figure into geometrical components. In the mid 20th century, realism and surrealism offered new modes of representation of
1089-511: A general statement of the aims of the Meiji leaders to boost morale and win financial support for the new government . Its five provisions consisted of: Implicit in the Charter Oath was an end to exclusive political rule by the bakufu (a shōgun ' s direct administration including officers), and a move toward more democratic participation in government. To implement the Charter Oath,
1210-649: A legislature. The Emperor declared that "constitutional government shall be established in gradual stages" as he ordered the Council of Elders to draft a constitution. Three years later, the Conference of Prefectural Governors established elected prefectural assemblies. Although limited in their authority, these assemblies represented a move in the direction of representative government at the national level, and by 1880 assemblies also had been formed in villages and towns. In 1880 delegates from twenty-four prefectures held
1331-555: A national convention to establish the Kokkai Kisei Dōmei . Although the government was not opposed to parliamentary rule, confronted with the drive for "people's rights", it continued to try to control the political situation. New laws in 1875 prohibited press criticism of the government or discussion of national laws. The Public Assembly Law (1880) severely limited public gatherings by disallowing attendance by civil servants and requiring police permission for all meetings. Within
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#17327662475081452-630: A powerful Tosa leader who had resigned from the Council of State over the Korean affair in 1873. Itagaki sought peaceful, rather than rebellious, means to gain a voice in government. He started a school and a movement aimed at establishing a constitutional monarchy and a legislative assembly . Such movements were called The Freedom and People's Rights Movement . Itagaki and others wrote the Tosa Memorial [ ja ] in 1874, criticizing
1573-464: A rather short-lived constitution with eleven articles was drawn up in June 1868. Besides providing for a new Council of State , legislative bodies, and systems of ranks for nobles and officials, it limited office tenure to four years, allowed public balloting, provided for a new taxation system, and ordered new local administrative rules. The Meiji government assured the foreign powers that it would follow
1694-499: A result of such wholesale adoption of radically different ideas, the changes to Japan were profound, and affected its social structure, internal politics, economy, military, and foreign relations. The period corresponded to the reign of Emperor Meiji . It was preceded by the Keiō era and was succeeded by the Taishō era , upon the accession of Emperor Taishō . The rapid modernization during
1815-415: A structured narrative. A whole variety of possibilities are shown—men seduce women, women seduce men; men and women cheat on each other; all ages from virginal teenagers to old married couples; even octopuses were occasionally featured. While most shunga were heterosexual , many depicted male-on-male trysts. Woman-on-woman images were less common but there are extant works depicting this. Masturbation
1936-474: A tradition with its roots in Chinese shunkyu higa. Shunga was also produced in hand scroll format, called kakemono-e (掛け物絵). This format was also popular, though more expensive as the scrolls had to be individually painted. The quality of shunga art varies, and few ukiyo-e painters remained aloof from the genre. Experienced artists found it to their advantage to concentrate on their production. This led to
2057-602: Is a long tradition of erotic art in Eastern cultures. In Japan, for example, shunga appeared in the 13th century and continued to grow in popularity until the late 19th century when photography was invented. In Japan during the Edo period (1600–1869), Shunga, translated to "spring pictures", was a series of sexually explicit paintings created with ink or woodblock works that became printed onto paper scrolls as an introduction to sexual education. Shunga, embraced by individuals as part of
2178-478: Is called the Battle of Tabaruzuka. During this eight-day-battle, Saigō's nearly ten thousand strong army battled hand-to-hand the equally matched national army. Both sides suffered nearly four thousand casualties during this engagement. Due to conscription, however, the Japanese army was able to reconstitute its forces, while Saigō's was not. Later, forces loyal to the emperor broke through rebel lines and managed to end
2299-402: Is dependent on context, as perceptions of what is erotic and what is art vary. A sculpture of a phallus in some cultures may be considered a traditional symbol of potency rather than overtly erotic. Material that is produced to illustrate sex education may be perceived by others as inappropriately erotic. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines erotic art as "art that is made with
2420-416: Is sustained by male erotic energy. This is why many 'seminal' works of the period are nudes." Artists such as Sylvia Sleigh is an example of this reversal of the male gaze as her work depicts male sitters presented in traditional erotic reclining poses that usually were reserved for the female nude as part of the ' odalisque ' tradition. The rise of feminism , the sexual revolution and conceptual art in
2541-490: The sankin-kōtai system and the merchants' need to travel to obtain and sell goods. It is therefore argued that this ownership of shunga was not superstitious, but libidinous. Records of women obtaining shunga themselves from booklenders show that they were consumers of it. Though not shunga, it was traditional to present a bride with ukiyo-e depicting scenes from the Tale of Genji . Shunga may have served as sexual guidance for
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#17327662475082662-527: The Edo period , despite being out of favor with the shogunate . The ukiyo-e movement sought to idealize contemporary urban living and appeal to the new chōnin class. Shunga followed the aesthetics of everyday life and widely varied in its depictions of sexuality. Most ukiyo-e artists made shunga at some point in their careers. Shunga was heavily influenced by illustrations in Chinese medicine manuals beginning in
2783-527: The Muromachi era (1336 to 1573). Zhou Fang , a notable Tang-dynasty Chinese painter, is also thought to have been influential. He, like many artists of his time, tended to draw genital organs in an oversized manner, similar to a common shunga topos . Besides " shunga " literally meaning a picture of spring (sex), the word is also a contraction of shunkyū-higi-ga (春宮秘戯画), the Japanese pronunciation for
2904-561: The Rikken Kaishintō (Constitutional Progressive Party), which called for a British-style constitutional democracy. In response, government bureaucrats, local government officials, and other conservatives established the Rikken Teiseitō (Imperial Rule Party), a pro-government party, in 1882. Numerous political demonstrations followed, some of them violent, resulting in further government restrictions. The restrictions hindered
3025-570: The Shōwa (1926–1989) and Heisei (1989–2019) art in Japanese video games , anime and manga known in the Western world as hentai and known formally in Japan as jū hachi kin (adult-only, literally "18-restricted"). Like shunga, hentai is sexually explicit in its imagery. Shunga was probably enjoyed by both men and women of all classes. Superstitions and customs surrounding shunga suggest as much; in
3146-647: The Sumerian Early Dynastic Period frequently shows scenes of frontal sex in the missionary position . In Mesopotamian votive plaques from the early second millennium BC, the man is usually shown entering the woman from behind while she bends over, drinking beer through a straw. Middle Assyrian lead votive figurines often represent the man standing and penetrating the woman as she rests on top of an altar. Scholars have traditionally interpreted all these depictions as scenes of ritual sex , but they are more likely to be associated with
3267-666: The United States Constitution as "too liberal", and the British system as too unwieldy, and having a parliament with too much control over the monarchy; the French and Spanish models were rejected as tending toward despotism. Ito was put in charge of the new Bureau for Investigation of Constitutional Systems in 1884, and the Council of State was replaced in 1885 with a cabinet headed by Ito as prime minister. The positions of chancellor (or chief-minister), minister of
3388-585: The Wakashū age range were considered erotically attractive and often performed the female parts in kabuki productions. Many of them worked as gigolos . These carried the same fetish of the sex worker, with the added quality of often being quite young. They are often depicted with samurai, since wakashū and older samurai often formed couples with the elder acting as a mentor for the younger. Both painted handscrolls and illustrated erotic books (empon) often presented an unrelated sequence of sexual tableaux, rather than
3509-462: The kamigata region preferred a more muted, understated style. This also translates into a greater amount of background detail in Edo Shunga. After 1722 most artists refrained from signing shunga works. However, between 1761 and 1786 the implementation of printing regulations became more relaxed, and many artists took to concealing their name as a feature of the picture (such as calligraphy on
3630-554: The "civilized countries of the West", leaving behind the "hopelessly backward" Asian neighbors, namely Korea and China . This essay certainly encouraged the economic and technological rise of Japan in the Meiji era, but it also may have laid the intellectual foundations for later Japanese colonialism in the region. The Meiji era saw a flowering of public discourse on the direction of Japan. Works like Nakae Chōmin 's A Discourse by Three Drunkards on Government debated how best to blend
3751-529: The 14-year-old Prince Mutsuhito succeeded his father, Emperor Kōmei , to the Chrysanthemum Throne as the 122nd emperor. This coincided with pressure on the ruling shogunate to modernize Japan, combining modern advances with traditional values. Mutsuhito was sympathetic to these ideas, leading to a call for the restoration of the governing power to the emperor. On November 9, 1867, then- shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu tendered his resignation to
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3872-616: The 20th century still underpin much of the prevailing erotic art and artistic intent. Whether or not an instance of erotic art is obscene depends on the standards of the jurisdiction and community in which it is displayed. In the United States, the 1973 ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States in Miller v. California established a three-tiered test to determine what was obscene—and thus not protected, versus what
3993-594: The Asian mainland and construction of railroads, shipyards, munitions factories, mines, textile manufacturing facilities, factories, and experimental agriculture stations. Greatly concerned about national security, the leaders made significant efforts at military modernization, which included establishing a small standing army, a large reserve system, and compulsory militia service for all men. Foreign military systems were studied, foreign advisers, especially French ones, were brought in, and Japanese cadets sent abroad to Europe and
4114-561: The Conscription Law of 1873, and all the reforms and progress, the new Japanese army was still untested. That all changed in 1877, when Saigō Takamori led the last rebellion of the samurai in Kyūshū. In February 1877, Saigō left Kagoshima with a small contingent of soldiers on a journey to Tokyo. Kumamoto castle was the site of the first major engagement when garrisoned forces fired on Saigō's army as they attempted to force their way into
4235-533: The Emperor were organized into a new peerage, the Kazoku , consisting of five ranks: prince, marquis , count , viscount , and baron . In the transition between the Edo period and the Meiji era, the Ee ja nai ka movement, a spontaneous outbreak of ecstatic behavior, took place. In 1885, noted public intellectual Yukichi Fukuzawa wrote the influential essay " Leaving Asia ", arguing that Japan should orient itself at
4356-590: The Emperor, and "put his prerogatives at the Emperor’s disposal", formally stepping down ten days later. Imperial restoration occurred the next year on January 3, 1868, with the formation of the new government . The fall of Edo in the summer of 1868 marked the end of the Tokugawa shogunate , and a new era, Meiji , was proclaimed. The first reform was the promulgation of the Five Charter Oath in 1868,
4477-473: The Meiji era adapted many aspects of Victorian taste, as seen in the construction of Western-style pavilions and reception rooms called yōkan or yōma in their homes. These parts of Meiji homes were displayed in popular magazines of the time, such as Ladies' Graphic, which portrayed the often empty rooms of the homes of the aristocracy of all levels, including the imperial palaces. Integrating Western cultural forms with an assumed, untouched native Japanese spirit
4598-503: The Meiji era was not without its opponents, as the rapid changes to society caused many disaffected traditionalists from the former samurai class to rebel against the Meiji government during the 1870s, most famously Saigō Takamori , who led the Satsuma Rebellion . However, there were also former samurai who remained loyal while serving in the Meiji government, such as Itō Hirobumi and Itagaki Taisuke . On February 3, 1867,
4719-552: The Shinto religion, focused on liberating the innate sexual beings that are within all humans, including women and homosexual sexuality. Couples engaging in sexual acts were shown laughing and enjoying the sexual encounter with their partner; this focused on the positivity of sex. Around 1700, shunga was met with opposition and banned in Japan, but the circulation of this prominent Erotic Art continued. Shunga could be found in local libraries and homes of many Japanese citizens. Similarly,
4840-593: The United States and Europe, and hired more than 3,000 Westerners to teach modern science, mathematics, technology, and foreign languages in Japan (O-yatoi gaikokujin). In 1871, a group of Japanese politicians known as the Iwakura Mission toured Europe and the US to learn western ways. The result was a deliberate state-led industrialization policy to enable Japan to quickly catch up. Modern industry first appeared in textiles, including cotton and especially silk, which
4961-816: The United States to attend military and naval schools. In 1854, after US Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry forced the signing of the Treaty of Kanagawa , Japanese elites took the position that they needed to modernize the state's military capacities, or risk further coercion from Western powers. In 1868, the Japanese government established the Tokyo Arsenal. The same year, Ōmura Masujirō established Japan's first military academy in Kyoto. Ōmura further proposed military billets be filled by all classes of people including farmers and merchants. The shōgun class, not happy with Ōmura's views on conscription, assassinated him
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5082-677: The Warren Cup, a Greco-Roman drinking cup which features scenes of anal sex between males. Many of Warren's eclectic pieces collected over the years are in the Boston Museum of Fine Art. Caliph Al-Walid II , who ruled the Umayyad Caliphate in the 8th century, was a great patron of erotic art. Among the depictions of the Qusayr Amra , which were built by him, is the abundance of naked females and love scenes. There
5203-418: The West. The Industrial Revolution in Japan occurred during the Meiji era. The industrial revolution began around 1870 as Meiji era leaders decided to catch up with the West. The government built railroads, improved roads, and inaugurated a land reform program to prepare the country for further development. It inaugurated a new Western-based education system for all young people, sent thousands of students to
5324-469: The appearance of shunga by renowned artists, such as the ukiyo-e painter perhaps best known in the Western world, Hokusai (see The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife from the series Kinoe no Komatsu ). Ukiyo-e artists owed a stable livelihood to such customs, and producing a piece of shunga for a high-ranking client could bring them sufficient funds to live on for about six months. Among others,
5445-575: The applicable state law; and (c) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. As this is still much vaguer than other judicial tests within U.S. jurisprudence, it has not reduced the conflicts that often result, especially from the ambiguities concerning what the "contemporary community standards" are. Similar difficulties in distinguishing between erotica and obscenity have been found in other legal systems. Meiji period The Meiji era ( 明治時代 , Meiji jidai , [meꜜː(d)ʑi] )
5566-450: The authorities for offending contemporary mores with his depictions of nude girls. By the 20th century, photography became the most common medium for erotic art. Publishers like Taschen mass-produced erotic illustrations and erotic photography . Many erotic artists worked in the 2010s. Much of the genre is still not as well accepted as the more standard genres of art such as portraiture and landscape. Erotic depictions in art went through
5687-475: The background. Symbolism also featured widely, such as the use of plum blossoms to represent virginity or tissues to symbolise impending ejaculation . In many of the shunga the characters are fully clothed. This is primarily because nudity was not inherently erotic in Tokugawa Japan – people were used to seeing the opposite sex naked in communal baths. It also served an artistic purpose; it helped
5808-459: The blurred boundaries between pornography and art. Artists such as Carolee Schneemann , and Hannah Wilke were using these new mediums to interrogate the constructs of gender roles and sexuality. Wilke's photographs, for instance, satirised the mass objectification of the female body in pornography and advertising. Performance art since the 1960s has flourished and is considered as a direct response and challenge to traditional types of media and
5929-411: The castle. Rather than leave an enemy behind him, Saigō laid siege to the castle. Two days later, Saigō's rebels, while attempting to block a mountain pass, encountered advanced elements of the national army en route to reinforce Kumamoto castle. After a short battle, both sides withdrew to reconstitute their forces. A few weeks later the national army engaged Saigō's rebels in a frontal assault at what now
6050-412: The celebrities of their day, and Edo's pleasure district, Yoshiwara , is often compared to Hollywood. Men saw them as highly eroticised due to their profession, but at the same time unattainable, since only the wealthiest, most cultured men would have any chance of sexual relations with one. Women saw them as distant, glamorous idols, and the fashions for the whole of Japan were inspired by the fashions of
6171-494: The characters tended to be limited to courtiers and monks . The style reached its height in the Edo period (1603 to 1867). Thanks to woodblock printing techniques, the quantity and quality increased dramatically. There were repeated governmental attempts to suppress shunga, the first of which was an edict issued by the Tokugawa shogunate in 1661 banning, among other things, erotic books known as kōshokubon ( 好色本 ) (literally "lewdness books"). While other genres covered by
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#17327662475086292-409: The common stereotype that this art was pornographic by offering an alternative view of oneself. Her works paved the way for women to openly express sexual desires. Painting nude male subjects were uncommon in the 1970s; her Art turned the tables and allowed for women to be at the forefront of this fem expression revolution that occurred in the 70s. The acceptance and popularity of erotic art has pushed
6413-516: The courtesan. For these reasons, the fetish of the courtesan appealed to many. Works depicting courtesans have since been criticised for painting an idealised picture of life in the pleasure quarters. It has been argued that they masked the situation of virtual slavery under which sex workers lived. However, Utamaro is just one example of an artist who was sensitive to the inner life of the courtesan, for example showing them wistfully dreaming of escape from Yoshiwara through marriage. Similarly, boys of
6534-409: The cult of Inanna , the goddess of sex and prostitution. Many sexually explicit images were found in the temple of Inanna at Assur , which also contained models of male and female sexual organs, including stone phalli , which may have been worn around the neck as an amulet or used to decorate cult statues , and clay models of the female vulva . Depictions of sexual intercourse were not part of
6655-561: The distinction was intuitive, saying about hard-core pornography which would not be legally protected as erotic art, "I know it when I see it". Others, including philosophers Matthew Kieran and Hans Maes, have argued that no strict distinction can be made between erotic art and pornography. Among the oldest surviving examples of erotic depictions are Paleolithic cave paintings and carvings, but many cultures have created erotic art. Artifacts have been discovered from ancient Mesopotamia depicting explicit heterosexual sex. Glyptic art from
6776-430: The earliest known works of art include erotic themes, which have recurred with varying prominence in different societies throughout history. However, it has also been widely considered taboo, with either social norms or laws restricting its creation, distribution, and possession. This is particularly the case when it is deemed pornographic , immoral , or obscene . The definition of erotic art can be subjective because it
6897-591: The edict, such as works criticising daimyōs or samurai , were driven underground by this edict, shunga continued to be produced with little difficulty. The Kyōhō Reforms , a 1722 edict, were much more strict, banning the production of all new books unless the city commissioner gave permission. After this edict, shunga went underground. However, since for several decades following this edict, publishing guilds saw fit to send their members repeated reminders not to sell erotica , it seems probable that production and sales continued to flourish. Further attempts to prevent
7018-615: The erotic art of China (known as Chungongtu ) reached its popular peak during the latter part of the Ming dynasty . In India, the famous Kama Sutra is an ancient sex manual that is still popularly read throughout the world. In Europe, starting with the Renaissance , there was a tradition of producing erotica for the amusement of the aristocracy. I Modi was an erotic book with engravings of sexual scenes by Marcantonio Raimondi that were based on designs by Giulio Romano . I Modi
7139-566: The establishment of a national assembly in 1890 and dismissing Okuma. Rejecting the British model, Iwakura and other conservatives borrowed heavily from the Prussian constitutional system . One of the Meiji oligarchy, Itō Hirobumi (1841–1909), a Chōshū native long involved in government affairs, was charged with drafting Japan's constitution. He led a constitutional study mission abroad in 1882, spending most of his time in Germany. He rejected
7260-443: The female subject. The questioning and interrogation of the overarching male gaze within the historical art narrative, manifested in both critical writing and artistic practice, came to define much of the mid to late 20th century art and erotic art. American Art Historian Carol Duncan summarises the male gaze and its relationship to erotic art, writing "More than any other theme, the nude could demonstrate that art originates in and
7381-595: The following year. In 1870, Japan expanded its military production base by opening another arsenal in Osaka. The Osaka Arsenal was responsible for the production of machine guns and ammunition. Also, four gunpowder facilities were opened at this site. Japan's production capacity gradually expanded. In 1872, Yamagata Aritomo and Saigō Jūdō , both new field marshals, founded the Corps of the Imperial Guards. Also, in
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#17327662475087502-644: The furniture and the walls were covered in erotic art. The rooms and the furniture were seen in 1941 by two Wehrmacht-officers but they seem to have vanished since then. A documentary by Peter Woditsch suggests that the cabinet was in the Peterhof Palace and not in Gatchina. The tradition was continued by other, more modern painters, such as Fragonard , Courbet , Millet , Balthus , Picasso , Edgar Degas , Toulouse-Lautrec and Egon Schiele . Schiele served time in jail and had several works destroyed by
7623-517: The general repertory of ancient Egyptian formal art, but rudimentary sketches of heterosexual intercourse have been found on pottery fragments and in graffiti. The Turin Erotic Papyrus (Papyrus 55001) is an 8.5 feet (2.6 m) by 10 inches (25 cm) Egyptian papyrus scroll discovered at Deir el-Medina , the last two-thirds of which consist of a series of twelve vignettes showing men and women in various sexual positions . The men in
7744-577: The genitalia are interpreted as a "second face", expressing the primal passions that the everyday face is obligated by giri to conceal, and are therefore the same size as the head and placed unnaturally close to it by the awkward positioning. Erotic art Erotic art is a broad field of the visual arts that includes any artistic work intended to evoke arousal . It usually depicts human nudity or sexual activity , and has included works in various visual mediums, including drawings, engravings, films, paintings, photographs, and sculptures. Some of
7865-410: The genre into mainstream pop-culture and has created many famous icons. Frank Frazetta , Luis Royo , Boris Vallejo , Chris Achilleos , and Clyde Caldwell are among the artists whose work has been widely distributed. The Guild of Erotic Artists was formed in 2002 to bring together a body of like-minded individuals whose sole purpose was to express themselves and promote the sensual art of erotica for
7986-412: The genrō made decisions reserved for the Emperor, and the genrō, not the Emperor, controlled the government politically. Throughout the period, however, political problems usually were solved through compromise, and political parties gradually increased their power over the government and held an ever-larger role in the political process as a result. Between 1891 and 1895, Ito served as Prime Minister with
8107-464: The government included the creation of a unified modern currency based on the yen, banking, commercial and tax laws, stock exchanges, and a communications network. Establishment of a modern institutional framework conductive to an advanced capitalist economy took time, but was completed by the 1890s, by which time the government had largely relinquished direct control of the modernization process, primarily for budgetary reasons. The Land Tax Reform of 1873
8228-509: The human figure in Britain, with naked self-portraits of himself and his second wife in erotic settings This is explicitly evident in his work Double nude portrait, 1937. The naked portrait was arguably becoming a category of erotic art that was dominating the 20th century, just as the academic nude had dominated the 19th century. Critical writings on the 'nude' and in particular the female 'nude', meant fundamental shifts in how depictions of
8349-476: The illustrations are "scruffy, balding, short, and paunchy" with exaggeratedly large genitalia and do not conform to Egyptian standards of physical attractiveness . The women are nubile , and they are shown with objects from traditional erotic iconography , such as convolvulus leaves. In some scenes, they hold items traditionally associated with Hathor , the goddess of love, such as lotus flowers , monkeys, and sacred instruments called sistra . The scroll
8470-467: The importance of the sexual revolution upon art. The 1960s and 1970s were a time of social and political change across the United States and Europe. Movements included the fight for equality for women with a focus on sexuality, reproductive rights, the family, and the workplace. Artists and historians began to investigate how images in Western art and the media, were often produced within a male narrative and particularly how it perpetuated idealisations of
8591-596: The intention to stimulate its target audience sexually, and that succeeds to some extent in doing so". A distinction is often made between erotic art and pornography , which also depicts scenes of sexual activity and is intended to evoke erotic arousal. Pornography is not usually considered fine art . People may draw a distinction based on the work's intent and message: erotic art would be works intended for purposes in addition to arousal, which could be appreciated as art by someone uninterested in their erotic content. US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart wrote in 1964 that
8712-602: The left , and minister of the right , which had existed since the seventh century as advisory positions to the Emperor, were all abolished. In their place, the Privy Council was established in 1888 to evaluate the forthcoming constitution and to advise the Emperor. To further strengthen the authority of the State, the Supreme War Council was established under the leadership of Yamagata Aritomo (1838–1922),
8833-501: The lending libraries, or kashi-honya , that travelled in rural areas. This tells us that shunga reached all classes of society—peasant, chōnin , samurai and daimyōs . Shunga were produced between the sixteenth century and the nineteenth century by ukiyo-e artists, since they sold more easily and at a higher price than their ordinary work. Shunga prints were produced and sold either as single sheets or—more frequently—in book form, called enpon . These customarily contained twelve images,
8954-518: The mid 20th century meant that the interaction between the image and audience, and the artist and audience, were beginning to be questioned and redefined, opening up new possible areas of practice. Artists began to use their own nude bodies and began to depict an alternative narrative of the erotic, through new lenses. New media was beginning to be used to portray the nude and the erotic, with performance and photography being used by women artists, to draw attention to issues of gender power relations and
9075-549: The modern age. Between 2010 and 2015 sexologist and gallerist Laura Henkel, curator of the Erotic Heritage Museum and the Sin City Gallery, organised 12 Inches of Sin, an exhibition focussing on art that expresses a diverse view of sexuality and challenging ideas of high and low art. The erotic continues to be explored and employed in new types of art work today and the profound developments of
9196-499: The national government. Officials from the favored former han, such as Satsuma , Chōshū , Tosa , and Hizen staffed the new ministries. Formerly old court nobles , and lower-ranking samurai, replaced bakufu appointees and daimyo as a new ruling class appeared. Inasmuch as the Meiji Restoration had sought to return the Emperor to a preeminent position, efforts were made to establish a Shinto -oriented state much like it
9317-401: The new business environment. The industrial economy continued to expand rapidly, until about 1920, due to inputs of advanced Western technology and large private investments. By World War I, Japan had become a major industrial nation. Undeterred by opposition, the Meiji leaders continued to modernize the nation through government-sponsored telegraph cable links to all major Japanese cities and
9438-495: The new influences coming from the West with local Japanese culture. Grassroots movements like the Freedom and People's Rights Movement called for the establishment of a formal legislature, civil rights, and greater pluralism in the Japanese political system. Journalists, politicians, and writers actively participated in the movement, which attracted an array of interest groups, including women's rights activists. The elite class of
9559-583: The new name for Edo . In a move critical for the consolidation of the new regime, most daimyōs voluntarily surrendered their land and census records to the Emperor in the abolition of the Han system , symbolizing that the land and people were under the Emperor's jurisdiction. Confirmed in their hereditary positions, the daimyo became governors, and the central government assumed their administrative expenses and paid samurai stipends. The han were replaced with prefectures in 1871, and authority continued to flow to
9680-417: The nude and the portrayal of sexuality were being considered. Seminal texts such as British Art historian Kenneth Clark 's The nude: a study of ideal art in 1956 and Art Critic John Berger in 1972 in his book Ways of Seeing, were re-examining the notion of the naked and the nude within art. This period in art was defined by an acute engagement with the political. It marked a historical moment that stressed
9801-557: The nude. For surrealist artists, the erotic became a way of exploring ideas of fantasy, the unconscious and the dream state. Artist's such as Paul Delvaux , Giorgio de Chirico and Max Ernst are well-known surrealist artist's that dealt with the erotic directly. In the aftermath of the First World War , a shift away from abstracted human figures of the 1920s and 1930s towards realism took place. Artists such as British Artist Stanley Spencer led this re-appropriated approach to
9922-407: The old treaties negotiated by the bakufu and announced that it would act in accordance with international law. Mutsuhito, who was to reign until 1912, selected a new reign title— Meiji , or Enlightened Rule—to mark the beginning of a new era in Japanese history. To further dramatize the new order, the capital was relocated from Kyoto , where it had been situated since 794, to Tokyo (Eastern Capital),
10043-400: The ordinary people, the chōnin , the townsmen, women, merchant class, artisans and farmers. Occasionally there also appear Dutch or Portuguese foreigners. Courtesans also form the subject of many shunga. Utamaro was particularly revered for his depictions of courtesans, which offered an unmatched level of sensitivity and psychological nuance. Tokugawa courtesans could be described as
10164-466: The pace of reform after having rejoined the Council of State in 1875, Itagaki organized his followers and other democratic proponents into the nationwide Aikokusha (Society of Patriots) to push for representative government in 1878. In 1881, in an action for which he is best known, Itagaki helped found the Jiyūtō (Liberal Party), which favored French political doctrines. In 1882, Ōkuma Shigenobu established
10285-545: The political parties and led to divisions within and among them. The Jiyūtō, which had opposed the Kaishinto, was disbanded in 1884 and Ōkuma resigned as Kaishintō president. Government leaders, long preoccupied with violent threats to stability and the serious leadership split over the Korean affair, generally agreed that constitutional government should someday be established. The Chōshū leader Kido Takayoshi had favored
10406-519: The political process. The Emperor shared his authority and gave rights and liberties to his subjects. It provided for the Imperial Diet (Teikoku Gikai), composed of a popularly elected House of Representatives with a very limited franchise of male citizens who were over twenty-five years of age and paid fifteen yen in national taxes (approximately 1% of the population). The House of Peers was composed of nobility and imperial appointees. A cabinet
10527-478: The production of prints of limited colours. Even after 1765 many shunga prints were produced using older methods. In some cases this was to keep the cost low, but in many cases this was a matter of taste. Shunga produced in Edo tended to be more richly coloured than those produced in Kyoto and Osaka , mainly owing to a difference in aesthetic taste between these regions—Edo has a taste for novelty and luxury, while
10648-573: The production of shunga were made with the Kansei Reforms under Emperor Kōkaku in the 1790s. According to Monta Hayakawa and C. Andrew Gerstle, westerners during the nineteenth century were less appreciative of shunga because of its erotic nature. In the journal of Francis Hall , an American businessperson who arrived in Yokohama in 1859, he described shunga as "vile pictures executed in the best style Japanese art." Hayakawa stated that Hall
10769-615: The public" and had not been catalogued. In 2014 he revisited the museum, which had an exhibition entirely of shunga "proudly displayed". The introduction of Western culture and technologies at the beginning of the Meiji era (1868–1912), particularly the importation of photo-reproduction techniques, had serious consequences for shunga. For a time, woodblock printing continued to be used, but figures began to appear in prints wearing Western clothing and hairstyles. Eventually, shunga could no longer compete with erotic photography, leading to its decline. The art of shunga provided an inspiration for
10890-785: The purpose. In 1871, the Office of Shinto Worship ( ja:神祇省 ) was established, ranking even above the Council of State in importance. The kokutai ideas of the Mito school were embraced, and the divine ancestry of the Imperial House was emphasized. The government supported Shinto teachers, a small but important move. Although the Office of Shinto Worship was demoted in 1872, by 1877 the Home Ministry controlled all Shinto shrines and certain Shinto sects were given state recognition. Shinto
11011-405: The reader identify courtesans and foreigners, the prints often contained symbolic meaning, and it drew attention to the parts of the body that were revealed, i.e., the genitalia. Shunga couples are often shown in nonrealistic positions with exaggerated genitalia. Explanations for this include increased visibility of the sexually explicit content, artistic interest and psychological impact: that is,
11132-463: The ruling circle, however, and despite the conservative approach of the leadership, Okuma continued as a lone advocate of British-style government, a government with political parties and a cabinet organized by the majority party, answerable to the national assembly. He called for elections to be held by 1882 and for a national assembly to be convened by 1883; in doing so, he precipitated a political crisis that ended with an 1881 imperial rescript declaring
11253-508: The same design. Another trend in the Meiji era was for women's under-kimono made by combining pieces of different fabric, sometimes of radically different colors and designs. For men, the trend was for highly decorative under-kimono that would be covered by outer kimono that were plain or very simply designed. Even the clothing of infants and young children used bold colors, intricate designs, and materials common to adult fashions. Japanese exports led to kimono becoming an object of fascination in
11374-421: The same way that it was considered a lucky charm against death for a samurai to carry shunga, it was considered a protection against fire in merchant warehouses and the home. From this we can deduce that samurai, chonin, and housewives all owned shunga. All three of these groups would suffer separation from the opposite sex; the samurai lived in barracks for months at a time, and conjugal separation resulted from
11495-456: The same year, the hyobusho (war office) was replaced with a War Department and a Naval Department. The samurai class suffered great disappointment the following years, when in January the Conscription Law of 1873 was passed. This monumental law, signifying the beginning of the end for the samurai class, initially met resistance from both the peasant and warrior alike. The peasant class interpreted
11616-406: The siege on Kumamoto Castle after fifty-four days. Saigō's troops fled north and were pursued by the national army. The national army caught up with Saigō at Mt. Enodake . Saigō's army was outnumbered seven-to-one, prompting a mass surrender of many samurai. The remaining five hundred samurai loyal to Saigō escaped, travelling south to Kagoshima. The rebellion ended on September 24, 1877, following
11737-529: The sons and daughters of wealthy families. The instructional purpose has been questioned since the instructional value of shunga is limited by the impossible positions and lack of description of technique, and there were sexual manuals in circulation that offered clearer guidance, including advice on hygiene. Shunga varied greatly in quality and price. Some were highly elaborate, commissioned by wealthy merchants and daimyōs , while some were limited in colour, widely available, and cheap. Empon were available through
11858-442: The speed of Japan's modernization: the employment of more than 3,000 foreign experts (called o-yatoi gaikokujin or 'hired foreigners') in a variety of specialist fields such as teaching foreign languages, science, engineering, the army and navy, among others; and the dispatch of many Japanese students overseas to Europe and America, based on the fifth and last article of the Charter Oath of 1868: 'Knowledge shall be sought throughout
11979-436: The subject of many famous Erotic Art pieces which catered to men. Edelheit was criticized for being a female artist who created erotic artwork during a time where men were main contributors in this art. Edelheit was a pioneer in the feminist art movement because she was a woman who created erotic art and also depicted herself in many of her works, which paved the way for women's equality in sexual expression. Edelheit confronted
12100-773: The term for military service, ketsu-eki (blood tax) literally, and attempted to avoid service by any means necessary. Avoidance methods included maiming, self-mutilation, and local uprisings. In conjunction with the new conscription law, the Japanese government began modeling their ground forces after the French military. Indeed, the new Japanese army used the same rank structure as the French. The enlisted corps ranks were: private, noncommissioned officers, and officers. The private classes were: jōtō-hei or upper soldier, ittō-sotsu or first-class soldier, and nitō-sotsu or second-class soldier. The noncommissioned officer class ranks were: gochō or corporal, gunsō or sergeant, sōchō or sergeant major, and tokumu-sōchō or special sergeant major. Despite
12221-430: The unbridled power of the oligarchy and calling for the immediate establishment of representative government. Between 1871 and 1873, a series of land and tax laws were enacted as the basis for modern fiscal policy. Private ownership was legalized, deeds were issued, and lands were assessed at fair market value with taxes paid in cash rather than in kind as in pre-Meiji days and at slightly lower rates. Dissatisfied with
12342-595: The walls of ruined Roman buildings in Pompeii . The Moche of Peru are another ancient people who sculpted explicit scenes of sex into their pottery. There is an entire gallery devoted to pre-Columbian erotic ceramics ( Moche culture ) in Lima at the Larco Museum . Edward Perry Warren adapted a love for Greek Art during college and collected Greek erotic art pieces that often represented gay sexual relationships, such as
12463-443: The wealthy elite, could be owned by anyone. Faster and cheaper manufacture allowed more people to afford silk kimono, and enabled designers to create new patterns. The Emperor issued a proclamation promoting Western dress over the allegedly effeminate Japanese dress. Fukuzawa Yukichi 's descriptions of Western clothing and customs were influential. Western dress became popular in the public sphere: many men adopted Western dress in
12584-421: The workplace, although kimono were still the norm for men at home and for women. In the 1890s the kimono reasserted itself, with people wearing bolder and brighter styles. A new type called the hōmongi bridged the gap between formal dress and everyday dress. The technology of the time allowed for subtle color gradients rather than abrupt changes of color. Another trend was for outer and inner garments of
12705-706: The world so as to strengthen the foundations of Imperial rule.' The process of modernization was closely monitored and heavily subsidized by the Meiji government, enhancing the power of the great zaibatsu firms such as Mitsui and Mitsubishi . Hand in hand, the zaibatsu and government led Japan through the process of industrialization, borrowing technology and economic policy from the West. Japan gradually took control of much of Asia's market for manufactured goods, beginning with textiles. The economic structure became very mercantilistic , importing raw materials and exporting finished products—a reflection of Japan's relative poverty in raw materials. Other economic reforms passed by
12826-458: The world-famous Japanese artist Hajime Sorayama uses his special hand brush painting technique and hanko stamp signature method in the late 20th and early 21st centuries to create modern day shunga art in the same tradition of the past artists like Hokusai. Full-colour printing, or nishiki-e , developed around 1765, but many shunga prints predate this. Prior to this, colour was added to monochrome prints by hand, and from 1744 benizuri-e allowed
12947-409: Was 1,000 years earlier. Since Shinto and Buddhism had molded into a syncretic belief in the prior thousand years and Buddhism had been closely connected with the shogunate, this involved the separation of Shinto and Buddhism ( shinbutsu bunri ) and the associated destruction of various Buddhist temples and related violence ( haibutsu kishaku ). Furthermore, a new State Shinto had to be constructed for
13068-418: Was also depicted. The perception of sexuality differed in Tokugawa Japan from that in the modern Western world , and people were less likely to associate with one particular sexual preference. For this reason the many sexual pairings depicted were a matter of providing as much variety as possible. The backstory to shunga prints can be found in accompanying text or dialogue in the picture itself, and in props in
13189-515: Was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan , when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization by Western powers to the new paradigm of a modern, industrialized nation state and emergent great power , influenced by Western scientific, technological, philosophical, political, legal, and aesthetic ideas. As
13310-471: Was another significant fiscal reform by the Meiji government, establishing the right of private land ownership for the first time in Japan's history. Many of the former daimyo, whose pensions had been paid in a lump sum, benefited greatly through investments they made in emerging industries. Those who had been informally involved in foreign trade before the Meiji Restoration also flourished. Old bakufu -serving firms that clung to their traditional ways failed in
13431-477: Was associated with the dematerialization of the artwork or object. As performance that dealt with the erotic flourished in the 1980s and 1990s both male and female artists were exploring new strategies of representation of the erotic. Martha Edelheit was a female artist known for her contributions to erotic art as a rebellious stance against typical gender roles, which excluded women artists from participating in free sexual expression. This limited women to often be
13552-450: Was based in home workshops in rural areas. Due to the importing of new textile manufacturing technology from Europe, between 1886 and 1897, Japan's total value of yarn output rose from 12 million to 176 million yen. In 1886, 62% of yarn in Japan was imported; by 1902, most yarn was produced locally. By 1913, Japan was producing 672 million pounds of yarn per year, becoming the world's fourth-largest exporter of cotton yarn. The first railway
13673-524: Was characteristic of Meiji society, especially at the top levels, and represented Japan's search for a place within a new world power system in which European colonial empires dominated. The production of kimono started to use Western technologies such as synthetic dye , and decoration was sometimes influenced by Western motifs. The textile industry modernized rapidly and silk from Tokyo's factories became Japan's principal export. Cheap synthetic dyes meant that bold purples and reds, previously restricted to
13794-546: Was enacted on November 29, 1890. It was a form of mixed constitutional and absolute monarchy . The Emperor of Japan was legally the supreme leader, and the Cabinet were his followers. The Prime Minister would be elected by a Privy Council . In reality, the Emperor was head of state but the Prime Minister was the actual head of government. Class distinctions were mostly eliminated during modernization to create
13915-522: Was merely erotic and thus protected by the First Amendment . Delivering the opinion of the court, Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote, The basic guidelines for the trier of fact must be: (a) whether 'the average person, applying contemporary community standards' would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, (b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by
14036-524: Was opened between Tokyo and Yokohama in 1872. The rail system was rapidly developed throughout Japan well into the twentieth century. The introduction of railway transportation led to more efficient production due to the decrease in transport costs, allowing manufacturing firms to move into more populated interior regions of Japan in search for labor input. The railway also enabled newfound access to raw materials that had previously been too difficult or too costly to transport. There were at least two reasons for
14157-463: Was probably painted in the Ramesside period (1292–1075 BC) and its high artistic quality indicates that was produced for a wealthy audience. No other similar scrolls have been discovered. The ancient Greeks painted sexual scenes on their ceramics, many of them famous for being some of the earliest depictions of same-sex relations and pederasty , and there are many sexually explicit paintings on
14278-419: Was released from Buddhist administration and its properties restored. Although Buddhism suffered from state sponsorship of Shinto, it had its own resurgence. Christianity also was legalized, and Confucianism remained an important ethical doctrine. Increasingly, however, Japanese thinkers identified with Western ideology and methods. A major proponent of representative government was Itagaki Taisuke (1837–1919),
14399-638: Was responsible to the Emperor and independent of the legislature. The Diet could approve government legislation and initiate laws, make representations to the government, and submit petitions to the Emperor. The Meiji Constitution lasted as the fundamental law until 1947. In the early years of constitutional government, the strengths and weaknesses of the Meiji Constitution were revealed. A small clique of Satsuma and Chōshū elite continued to rule Japan, becoming institutionalized as an extra-constitutional body of genrō (elder statesmen). Collectively,
14520-514: Was shocked and disgusted when on two occasions his Japanese acquaintances and their wives showed him shunga at their homes. Shunga also faced problems in Western museums in the twentieth century; Peter Webb reported that while engaged in research for a 1975 publication, he was initially informed that no relevant material existed in the British Museum , and when finally allowed access to it, he was told that it "could not possibly be exhibited to
14641-668: Was thought to be created in around 1524 to 1527. In 1601, Caravaggio painted the Amor Vincit Omnia for the collection of the Marquis Vincenzo Giustiniani. An erotic cabinet, ordered by Catherine the Great , seems to have been adjacent to her suite of rooms in the Gatchina Palace . The furniture was eccentric, with tables that had large penises for legs. Penises and vaginas were carved on
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