Japanese Historical Fart War Scroll reveals ancient toilet humor
At Waseda University they’ve made available another side to traditional Japanese art in the “Fart War Scroll Picture” (屁合戦絵巻 or He-gassen-emaki), a series of images telling the epic tale of breaking wind competitively in ancient Tokyo.
Japanese humor can sometimes be very slapstick and we have trouble relating it to our western chums. Lavatorial jokes are pretty universal, though, and it seems that Edo era Japanese had a liking for this kind of comedy, if this scroll is anything to go by.
Beyond this one that Waseda has made available online, there are more examples around (search Google Image!) and it seems to be a mini subgenre, attracting the likes of Kuniyoshi Utagawa and other famous names!
It’s not the first time that a fart war scroll has popped up, at least one other item selling at Christie’s in London in 1992. Nor should it surprise us that famous ukiyoe print artists were doing this kind of “lower” art, since we already know they liked making erotic shunga prints!
Hat tip to Naruhodo blog
