Kurzbeschreibung
Recent changes in Japanese law have enabled erotic images to be published without fear of prosecution, and many picture books featuring the genre of paintings and prints today known as "shunga" have since appeared in Japan. Offering an assessment of the genre, this book sets out to place the imagery within the contexts of sexuality, gender or power, and to re-establish "shunga" in its historical contexts of culture and creativity. Differing from any other form of picture, "shunga" prints are overtly about sex, and this study explores the strange world of sexual fantasy in the Edo culture of 18th-century Japan. It also investigates the tensions in class and gender of those who made - and made us of - "shunga".
Synopsis
Recent changes in Japanese law have enabled erotic images to be published without fear of prosecution, and many picture books featuring the genre of paintings and prints today known as "shunga" have since appeared in Japan. Offering an assessment of the genre, this book sets out to place the imagery within the contexts of sexuality, gender or power, and to re-establish "shunga" in its historical contexts of culture and creativity. Differing from any other form of picture, "shunga" prints are overtly about sex, and this study explores the strange world of sexual fantasy in the Edo culture of 18th-century Japan. It also investigates the tensions in class and gender of those who made - and made us of - "shunga".
