This erotic booklet set entitled ‘Enshoku Tamatsubaki‘ (c.1760) by the great ukiyo-e innovator Suzuki Harunobu (1725-1770) shows a lot of designs that were decisive to the artist’s later shunga work and to his pupil Isoda Koryusai (1735-1790). Ingenious Way Harunobu uses the long narrow format of the designs in an ingenious way, often connecting the illustrated pages. The […]
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Must See: Important Shunga Booklet Set by Suzuki Harunobu
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Who Were the Favorite Beauties of Suzuki Harunobu?
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This the first plate of Harunobu’s famous The Lusty Maneemon series (c.1768) introducing the character Maneemon who plays a central role in all 24 designs. Here he is seen in a kneeling pose, before his transformation, while two beauties standing on a white cloud descend from heaven floating in front of him. Magic Brew The […]
Suzuki Harunobu: The Transition to Multi-Colour Printing
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Suzuki Harunobu (1725?-70) is often cited as one of the great ukiyo-e print artists, but the magnitude of his reputation as an artist is not matched by the depth of information about the man himself. His death date is one of the few certainties; he died in 1770, perhaps at the age of forty-five. He […]
The Voluptuous Dream Scenes by Ukiyo-e Masters Harunobu & Koryusai
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The depiction of dreams in ukiyo-e is a rather rare occurrence. This was a characteristic probably most used in the shunga genre where in the designs the thoughts of the concerning protagonist(s) wander off towards erotic desires and encounters. They are represented by means of thought clouds that are still used in comic strips today. Harunobu & […]
Harunobu’s Jealous Geisha with Snowball
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A masterful image in which Harunobu seizes a moment of climactic tension when a jealous woman who spies on two lovers prepares to ruin their joy by slinging a snowball through the window. Betrayal We can assume that she is a geisha and the man is a regular client who is betraying their relationship by […]
Harunobu and His Sensual Sail Analogy
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In this masterful design the ukiyo-e artist extraordinaire Suzuki Harunobu (d.1770) replaces the billowing sail of a ship with a towel that moves by the breeze. A young girl plucks hairs from the beard of a middle-aged man. She wears a robe with long, hanging sleeves. He gently holds her shoulder while kissing her on […]
Hishikawa Moronobu Displaying His Mastery in This Mysterious Booklet
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The charming booklet below is a rare art piece from the very early period of ukiyo-e print-making. It is attributed to Hishikawa Moronobu (1618-1694), who was the first and most important ukiyo-e artist of his time, a position he maintained until his death. Spring Lust Exhibition We recently obtained this fukuro-toji (bound-pocket book) from the famous collector […]
Young Female Student Experiences a Classical #MeToo Moment
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On his journeys examining the secrets of the art of love-making, Maneemon first goes to the ‘Islands of Virgins’. In this second plate of the series ‘The Fashionable Horny Maneemon‘ we see for the first time the effect of the drink Osen and Ofuji gave Maneemon, that caused him to shrink to minuscule proportions. Calligraphy […]
The Handsome Horse Handler With Young Girl on Horseback
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Harunobu’s sequel of prints from his ‘The Fashionable Horny Maneemon’-series (24 in total!) tells the story of the Edoite Ukiyonosuke. The name Ukiyonosuke is clearly a pun on ukiyo (‘floating world’), as in Ukiyo-e. Secret Knowledge Something of a city slicker, Ukiyonosuke one day he stumbles upon a shrine and starts praying that the secret knowledge of […]
The Irresistible Offer of the Horny Rice God Inari
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This is the sixth plate from Harunobu’s extensive series ‘The Fashionable Horny Maneemon‘ (1770). It was issued in two sets of twelve by the well-known publisher Nishimuraya Yohachi. For this shunga masterpiece Harunobu teamed up with the author Komatsuya Sanemon Hyakki (Komatsuken). Shrunken Observer The tableaux feature the adventures of Maneemon, the bewitched Edoite Ukiyonosuke who […]