Rokudenashiko (Megumi Igarashi) publishes “What Is Obscenity?” book in English in 2016
Rokudenashiko (Megumi Igarashi), the Japanese “vagina artist” accused of obscenity, has always been very business-savvy.
She has released plenty of artworks as cheap and accessible merchandise, not to mention manga, books, and even a “rental service” and sex toy. (She needs the money not least to pay for her legal fees!)
Now we are delighted that one of her books has been translated and will be published in English by Koyama Press in 2016.
What Is Obscenity? The Story Of A Good For Nothing Artist And Her Pussy is written by Rokudenashiko (Megumi Igarashi), translated by Anne Ishii, and edited by Anne Ishii and Graham Kolbeins.
The paperback will be a slim 168 pages with a cover by the famous designer Chip Kidd. It will be available in May 2016, priced $16.
Rokudenashiko’s mission is to demystify female genitalia, a mission that has led to a vulva-shaped kayak and her arrest.
A graphic memoir of a good-for-nothing Japanese artist who has been jailed twice for so-called acts of obscenity and the distribution of pornographic materials yet continues to champion the art of pussy. In a society where one can be censored, pixelated and punished, Rokudenashiko asks what makes pussy so problematic?
Edited by Anne Ishii and Graham Kolbeins and translated by Ishii, a writer, translator and proprietor of the gay manga paraphernalia brand MASSIVE, and with a cover by Chip Kidd, arguably the most well-known and influential designer of the past two decades. This is an incredible package for an incredible story.
Rokudenashiko (“good-for-nothing girl” or “bad girl”) is a Japanese sculptor and mangaka. She is known for her series of decorated vulva moulds, or Deco-Man, a portmanteau of “decorated” and “manko,” which is Japanese slang for vagina. The moulds have taken the shape of dioramas, kawaii characters and a kayak based on a 3D scan of her genitalia, which she dubbed the “pussy boat.” The scan led to her arrest in 2014 for alleged violation of Japanese obscenity laws.
Rokudenashiko was also been participating in an exhibition in Hong Kong this month, plus got a big write-up by ArtAsiaPacific:
Igarashi … denies implications that her artworks are obscene and she is prepared to fight her charges. In a society with a thriving sex industry and popular culture teeming with sexualized imagery, Japan’s values of gender equality can seem rather outdated and misogynistic. While the city of Kawasaki holds a famous annual family-orientated “Festival of the Steel Phallus” — a celebration of fertility featuring an exemplary parade of penis-shaped sculptures — the word “vagina” can hardly be spoken out loud without arousing social furor. Igarashi’s artistic intention is to empower women and liberate then from the social taboos of the vagina, to encourage more open and honest acceptance that a woman’s nether regions are just another natural part of the body.
Of her upcoming memoir, Music Magazine says: “This is actually a feel-good memoir. It’s also crucial reading for understanding the problems with the obscure methods of the Japanese police’s handling of suspects, and while that makes the book sound plenty stiff, the author’s sense of humour make this an outrageously fun read.”
We look forward to reading it.
