[BITList] erotica, etc

Sat Oct 5 18:41:40 BST 2013

Further to my recent email with the hilarious Japanese 18th century woodblock cartoon; they are usually known as ‘shunga’ or ‘makura e’, so I decided to try to find out why the difference. 

Incidentally, the Japanese did not at that time have the puritanical european views on sex and pleasure.

During my research I came across a book which looked rather intriguing – “A Diplomat in Japan” by Ernest Mason Satow  [1843 to 1929], especially his description in Chapter 1 of Japan!

What a delightful description of the male paradise  - eh! Sir Ernest [as he became] writes in an interesting 19th century style - with humour.

 Satow was an exceptional linguist, an energetic traveller, a writer of travel guidebooks, a dictionary compiler, a mountaineer, a keen botanist (chiefly with F.V. Dickins) and a major collector of Japanese books and manuscripts on all kinds of subjects before the Japanese themselves began to do so. He also loved classical music and the works of Dante on which his brother-in-law Henry Fanshawe Tozer was an authority. Satow kept a diary for most of his adult life which amounts to 47 mostly handwritten volumes.

Satow is better known in Japan than in Britain or the other countries in which he served. He was a key figure in East Asia and Anglo-Japanese relations, particularly in Bakumatsu (1853–1867) and Meiji Era (1868–1912) Japan, and in China after the Boxer Rebellion, 1900-06. He also served in Siam, Uruguay and Morocco, and represented Britain at the Second Hague Peace Conference in 1907. In his retirement he wrote A Guide to Diplomatic Practice, now known as 'Satow's Guide to Diplomatic Practice' - this manual is widely used today, and has been updated several times by distinguished diplomats, notably Lord Gore-Booth. The sixth edition edited by Sir Ivor Roberts was published by Oxford University Press in 2009, and is over 700 pages long.

Ernest Mason Satow –born 1843 in Clapton and died aged 86 in 1929 in Ottery St Mary, East Devon , England.  Ottery St Mary [where do the English get these names from?] is a typical small English market town – here it is today.

Makura e – literally translated, ‘pillow pictures’ is the Japanese equivalent of the Kama Sutra – they are in-bed sex instructional manuals, and I would imagine  very expensive if one can be found for sale today. [Ebay # 321205576136].

Shunga – picture of spring
Shunga (春画?) is a Japanese term for erotic art. Most shunga are a type of ukiyo-e, usually executed in woodblock print format. While rare, there are extant erotic painted handscrolls which predate the Ukiyo-e movement.[1] Translated literally, the Japanese word shunga means picture of spring; "spring" is a common euphemism for sex.

The ukiyo-e movement as a whole sought to express an idealisation of contemporary urban life and appeal to the new chōnin class. Following the aesthetics of everyday life, Edo period shunga varied widely in its depictions of sexuality. As a subset of ukiyo-e it was enjoyed by all social groups in the Edo period, despite being out of favour with the shogunate. Almost all ukiyo-e artists made shunga at some point in their careers, and it did not detract from their prestige as artists.[1] Classifying shunga as a kind of medieval pornography can be misleading in this respect.[2]

ct

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