The Sex Adventures of Three Castaways on the Isle of Women (P1)
03 oktober 2017 
2 min. read

The Sex Adventures of Three Castaways on the Isle of Women (P1)

For Utagawa Kunimaro (act.1830s-1860s)’s most famous work ‘A Treasure Ship Embarking at the Isle of Women (Nyogo no shima takara no irifune)‘ from c.1848 he was inspired by at least two sources. The first one was the Chinese encyclopedic work Collected Illustrations of the Three Realms (Sancai tuhui), which was first published in 1609. and was his source for including the “Country of Women” in Kunimaro’s shunga version.

isle of women

Three Fishermen near a harbour‘ (c.1848-54) from the series ‘A Treasure Ship Embarking at the Isle of Women (Nyogo no shima takara no irifune)

Escaped Sailor

The myth of the Country of Women is traceable to circa the early twelfth century China. It tells the story of a sailor who escaped from a mysterious island to the east inhabited by women. These latter were lethal to all those whom disaster brought to its shores.

isle of women

Orgy scene with two sailors and four beauties (dildo’s in the background)‘ (c.1848-54) from the series ‘A Treasure Ship Embarking at the Isle of Women (Nyogo no shima takara no irifune)

Exposing Their Genitals

Already in the beginning the stories of the island had strong erotic connotations, for instance, there is a Japanese Buddhist fantasy which mentions that the women could conceive children by exposing their genitals to the south wind.

isle of women - erotic

Intimate scene with two sailors and two female beauties‘ (c.1848-54) from the series ‘A Treasure Ship Embarking at the Isle of Women (Nyogo no shima takara no irifune)

In part 2 we’ll examine another source that Kunimaro used for his erotic masterpiece!

 

 

About the author
Marijn is the founder of shungagallery.com. With more than 20 years of experience within the sensual and erotic art of shunga he is an authority in the genre. During this time he served many customers with complementing their art collection.
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