Japan’s first ever shunga exhibition: coming this autumn to Tokyo

Yes, finally! Japan is getting its first ever shunga exhibition, opening in Tokyo this September.

While legally you can’t show genitalia in films, porn or even art (as Megumi Igarashi has found out to her misfortune), Japan has an immensely rich history of sexually explicit art and erotica.

The important thing to remember about shunga (literally “spring paintings”) is that they were created by some of the most famous and popular woodblock print artists, including Hokusai and Utamaro. Sure, they were more niche than the most iconic prints — but they were still part of the mainstream.

This all got forgotten when Japan tried to “modernize” in a kind of strange copy of the western model.

The result? There has never been a large-scale shunga exhibition in Japan or porn is pixellated, as is full-frontal nudity in regular movies. Go figure.

Shunga have also faced censorship in the past, with the key penetration or genitalia imagery blocked out from view. However, many books have been published in recent years with the prints in their full glory, so perhaps this is a sign of progress.

We’ve seen also shunga on public display in Japan before but usually curtained off discreetly as part of another exhibition.

Incredibly, it was overseas appreciation of shunga that has prompted this first major show, such as the British Museum exhibition in 2013-14, which was visited by 88,000 people in three months!

Featuring around half the works seen at the London institution and drawing from the collection of former prime minister Morihiro Hosokawa, the Tokyo exhibition happening from September 19th to December 23rd at Tokyo’s Eisei Bunko Museum in Bunkyo-ku.

Getting a museum was the problem, it seems. The organizers wanted to hold the show in parallel with the London one but around 10 facilities turned them down! It’s a guaranteed blockbuster but museums-for-hire deemed it “immoral” or “distasteful”!

Naturally, you have to be at least 18 years old to get in to see the 120 works.

We always find it fascinating how the penis is exaggerated and enlarged in shunga — much like erotic manga today also features massive cocks and breasts, but still slender waist. This déformer style has very old roots in Japan.

While certain motifs and aspects are obviously exaggerated and reveal the “male gaze”, shunga do also tell us a lot about the history of sex in Japan and include depictions of old sex toys, and also tropes like “tentacle rape“.

On a side note, we also recommend you check out Japan’s amazing “fart war” scrolls for a glimpse into historical toilet humor!