Erotic Ukiyo-e

This week Asian Art History is on Eroticism of Japanese woodblock printing. It is fascinating to know back in the early times, Japanese have been drawing these kind of images. Settings within interior, characters are not totally in nude but exposing their genital parts. Some other visual elements to pick up like “presence of a open clam” referring to female sexual organ, “presence of flowers” where flowers celebrate into this kind of mood and “using of screens” to divide the public and private sphere. So enjoy~

Kiesai Eisen – Upright Embrace

Kunisada – On the Stairs

Kunisada II – Before the Snowy Window

Tomioka Eisen – Poetic Intercourse

Tomioka Eisen – Poetic Intercourse

Utagawa School – Geisha in Green Kimono

Utagawa School – Geisha in Orange Silver Kimono