Senju Shunga's Absorbing 36 Flowers of Edo Series

Following on from his shunga series 36 Views of Mount Fuji (2022/2023), the Swedish artist Senju Shunga has started a new series that will again consist of 36 designs. The artist explains:

“Hatsu” is the first of 36 prints in my latest series titled “Edo no Shana (Flowers of Edo)”, and marks yet another step forward in the way I create art. Within Japanese Ukiyo-e (pictures of the floating world), there is a genre called “Bijinga (portraits of beautiful women)” and it's closely connected with the more explicit “shunga” genre. Loose shunga prints were often collected in albums, where the collector could construct his or hers personal little fantasy.

Fig.1. Hatsu ( Oct 2023)

Firefighter

Many times, these albums had Bijinga prints glued in on the first couple of pages, perhaps to create a more real sensation when viewing the prints for personal pleasure. So, naturally, I want to challenge myself with creating a collection of Bijinga. The keywords tonthia collection will be subtleties and a lot of playing with the historical roles of women and men during the Edo period. “Hatsu” is a Hikeshi, a firefighter. A very masculine profession in those days, and I have never heard of any female Hikeshi as of yet.

Fig.1a. Detail close-up

Rowdy

The Edo firefighters had a very short life expectancy and where regarded as heroes, even though their rowdy and uncompromising lifestyle perhaps terrified and bothered the common folk and samurai class likewise. The next print will be of a famous Kabuki character, and equally rowdy person -Benten Kozo."

Fig.1b. Preliminary drawing

Fig.2. Benten Kozo (Oct 2023)

Five Men of the White Waves

Can we trust our own eyes? For my second painting in the ”Flowers of Edo” series, I have chosen to portray the Japanese Kabuki theatre character Benten Kozo. In the famous play "Shiranami Gonin Otoko" (Five Men of the White Waves) Benten Kozo is a gizoku (honorable thief) with the ability and skill to disguise himself as a beautiful woman. For a long time I have been contemplating the idea that perhaps Benten Kozo could instead be a beautiful woman with the ability to pose as a man. Wouldn’t that be a truly interesting twist to the already very interesting and exiting drama? I have placed Benten Kozo on the famous Ryogoku bridge in Edo (now Tokyo). This iconic bridge was featured in the 2015 anime film ”Miss Hokusai”. A personal favorite of mine that I recommend you to see!

Fig.2a.

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Fig.3. Kumonryu (9 dragons) (Nov 2023)

9 Dragons

“Kumonryu” (9 dragons) is the latest painting in my new ongoing series “Edo no hana” (flowers of Edo). I had a great time reconnecting with my early days of being a tattooer of traditional Irezumi body suits. In the beginning of my career, I spent countless hours sketching dragons. In my opinion, Japanese dragons are the hardest to do justice, alongside shishi (lions) and koi (carp). Being three of the basic designs in irezumi they nevertheless require a lifetime to master. And for this female version of the famous chinese outlaw hero Kumonryu, I had to design no less than eight different dragons (the ninth one is on her back and therefore not visible). There are still 33 portraits of beautiful women to create before this series reaches its conclusion, and I am now realizing how much of challenge this will be

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Fig.3c Alternative version

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Fig.4. ”Koukishin (curiosity)” (Jan 2024)

Quest For True Intimacy

After exploring softness and subdued colors in my Shunga print series ”36 Views of Mount Fuji”, I was overcome with an urge for a bolder, stronger palette. Also, I wanted to further explore the sensual world and our human imagination. Can I find the same emotions in the dressed, the barely mentioned and the subtle? My reason for painting what I do has always been a question of trying to capture the beauty of the human heart. For me, it has always been a quest for true intimacy. A matter of leaving behind the stigmas and dogmas that confuse us, deceive us, hides us, shames us and lie to us. Hopefully, and I have no real doubt about the fact, this beauty of the heart will be impossible to capture, graciously compelling me to never stop searching for it.

Fig.4a.

Fig.4b.

Fig.5 “Hasuike (lotus pond)” blue variation. (24 Jan 2024)

Different Tone and Temperature

“Hasuike (lotus pond)” blue variation. Influenced by Italian Art Nouveau posters, this blue variation of the painting I showed yesterday sets a different tone and temperature. When Japanese art, especially in the form of Ukiyo-e woodblock prints, arrived in Europe during the second half of the 1800s, young European artists began experimenting wildly with form and color. It was perhaps the single greatest art revolution in history, and without this meeting of Japan and the West, art as we have known it after the 1850s would look very different.

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Fig.6. Okiku (March 2024)

Dark and Sinister

Is my art poison for the mind? Or have religious moral delusions been infecting the world for thousands of years, and twisted what is natural and beautiful into something dark and sinister? I know the answer and I am sure you do too.

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Fig.7. "Chiyo" (March 2024)

Learning Experience

You can’t hurry art. Human time is only a concept. At first, it seems strange, that the more skillful and experienced I become as an artist, the longer each painting takes to create. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Thankfully, that is not the truth. The more I know and understand, about creating art, about myself and about the world, the larger the universe of painting becomes. Each work is a learning experience and an obstacle to overcome. Success in completing one painting in a satisfactory way will leave me with more and new skills, tools and insights, so the following piece is always started at a level I haven’t quite reached yet.

Fig.7a

Snail

Some years ago, I would be frustrated if a painting dragged on for weeks and months. Today, I know that there is no such thing as fast or slow when it comes to creating. Each artwork will take exactly as long as it takes. No shorter and no longer. One of the reasons artist’s might feel they are ”failing” a painting, is because they simply haven’t worked the neccessary time required for a particular piece. Don’t stop! Continue, continue, continue and you will get there! If a snail sets out for Mount Fuji, surely it will get there!

Coffee Breaks

Please keep in mind that coffee breaks, research, looking at art, reading, having a beer, walking the dog or cooking can be equally important as putting pen and brush to paper and canvas. Just don’t let the work completely out of your mind and never give up. Continue or start over and then move straight ahead! All the masterpieces of art took exactly the right amount of time to be completed. It could be five hours or five years. You can only know when arrive at the journey’s end. Time is a concept. For this latest painting, ”Chiyo”, I spent at least 4-5 intense hours a day for about 2 weeks just for the tattoo. Coming up with the simple background took 3 days of experimenting and starting over. Painting it took half a day. was that slow or quick? Yes, it was.

Fig.7b

Bodysuit Tattoo

The following pics (Fig.7c to f) show the various steps for painting Irezumi, the traditional Japanese tattoo! Creating a full bodysuit tattoo like this ”Karajishi botan (chinese lion with peonies)” design is truly like creating a whole other painting within the painting. If you want to do it right, there can be no rush in designing it, as even one small corner being done in haste would ultimately ruin the whole composition. Even with my 24 years experience in designing for Irezumi, a piece like this is incredibly difficult to create.

Fig.7c

Horishi

Of course, compared to creating it on a living , breathing client, there is some relief in not having to deal with the person bleeding and moving around because of the pain from the needles. And I can go back and change it over and over until I reach the desired result, something which of course would be impossible once the ink is inserted into the client’s skin. I am enjoying creating this series of tattooed beauties on so many levels. Not only do I get to constanly work on my skillset as a painter, but I also get to evolve as a horishi ( a traditional Japanese tattoo artist). It’s beyond exiting to notice how all these years of intense studies and constant work seems to be coming full circle!

Fig.7d

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Fig.7f

Fig.8. "Aki" (Apr 2024)

Climbing Koi

The legend behind the koi (carp) climbing the waterfall in autumn refers is called ”Touryuumon” in Japanese. It is a Chinese folk story about a Koi going back upstream to spawn when the momiji (autumn leaves) are falling.

This is natural behavior. among many different kinds of fish. However, when he reaches the mighty waterfall called Long men (Dragon’s gate), he is unable to ascend it. After many failed attempts, the exhausted koi puts his everything into one final, desperate jump. At last, he is able to conquer the waterfall, but due to fatigue, he has to pay dearly for his victory. He dies.

The Chinese gods in heaven have taken notice of the koi’s bravery and perserverance and rewards him by transforming him into a mighty dragon!

In xen buddhism, the koi’s continous struggle to scale the waterfall is likened to the practise of zazen (seated silent meditation) and the koi’s death and subsequent transformation can be seen as finally reaching satori (enlightment/liberation).

To design a tradtional irezumi full body tattoo with this theme has been nurtured in my mind for years, and now I, just like the koi, took a giant leap and saw it through all the way.

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Fig.8b

Fig.9. Hasu (Apr 2024)

Grey-Black Mud

The lotus flower begins its life in darkness, deep down in the grey-black mud beneath the murky waters of the pond. Slowly, slowly, it shoots upward, shedding its original habitat, breaks through the surface of the dark water and bursts in to full and beautiful bloom. In Buddhism, it is used to illustrate the journey, possible for each and everyone, from delusion and suffering to liberation and, ultimately, true existamce. In irezumi, the traditional Japanese tattoo, Buddhist designs of many different kind are often used, and the lotus can be seen as the throne upon which the various buddhas sit.

Various Buddhas

In this new work, titled ”Hasu (sacred lotus)”, I have chosen to make the lotus flower itself take center stage on her back, thus becoming all the Buddhas turned into one. The various Buddhas should not be seen as separate and individual, but rather as varioous aspects of our true and original human nature. The way we are born, perfect and complete, and to where we can return by seeing through the construction so wrongfully called ”reality”. As I work along this old new path, I am find myself further and deeper immersed in the act of creating. This beautiful, frustrating, painful, joyous and liberating path of becoming what I always were.

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Fig.10. Kikumi (Feb 2024)

Is there good or bad art? Who decides?

If you ask me, there are of course no such definitions that can be applied when talking about art. How about art you like and art you don’t like? That works much better!

However, like and dislike are subject to change, sometimes with just a seconds notice. During my creative life (some 40 years now) I have changed my mind more times than can be counted. It’s a good thing, because change is as inevitable as the earth is round, so when change appears, be prepared to embrace it!

Fig.10a

Daunting

There can be a great deal of confusion and doubt connected with change. That is normal. You are going from something that you know to something you have no clue if it will work or not. If it doesn’t - drop it and continue forward! Believe me when I say that you only live once ( and you already know that), and that is a daunting and great certainty. Just as great as the frightful uncertainty of not knowing when you are going to die.

Confused

I have recently been wrestling some change in the way I paint, and also in what I feel like painting. I didn’t ask for this change. It just appeared out of nowhere and made me uncertain and confused for a couple of months. Nothing worked anymore!

That is simply because in this present we can not apply what worked in the past. Everything is constantly changing.

Fig.10b

Fig.10c. Kikumi (Blue version), Apr 2024

Blue Version

Blue version of my “Kikumi” painting. Sometimes, the first version of an artwork will have to give way to new and improved variants.

After some experimentation and careful consideration, I decided that there was a certain restlessness to the first yellow and red version of this one, and surprisingly found that blue was the way to go. I love how art is like this at times. Living, evolving and out of my hands.

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Fig.11. Nami (May 2024)

Mythical Character

Did you know that designing a traditional Japanese irezumi full body tattoo using only background is much more difficult than if also using an animal or perhaps a mythical character? For a number of years now, I have contemplated on how a bodysuit depicting only water would look. Would it be possible to even make it work? We are so used to seeing elaborate Japanese tattoos showing dragons, heroes, masks or buddhist imagery, in which water or wind are used to great effect to emphasize the main design motif, but turning the standardized background into the main focus point?

Fig.11a

Wave Designs

A wise old irezumi master once told me that waves and clouds are of as much importance that any dragon or flower, and should not be viewed as simply background. One have to take great care when designing and balancing all the elements of a full body tattoo. Before I began painitng ”Nami (wave)”, I first went back to study Japanese water and wave designs by master artists like Hokusai, Hiroshige and Jakuchu. I was determined to try to push my water design even further ( I have been designing for irezumi for about 24 years now), and I soon discovered that my project would go on to test my artistic perserverance. In the end, it would take me about three weeks of hard work to arrive at the piece you now see. I paint for at least 4-5 hours almost every day of the week, and the process of creating ”Nami” truly had me on the ropes more than once.

Fig.11b

4 Days

My mindset is an important key to be able to see it through. I never use words like ”fail” or ”do again”. Instead I think ”learning” and ”continuing”. That works well for me. If you spend the necessary time on your art, you will eventually get there, and often further than you first thought! If a painting takes 4 days to paint, that is quick! If another painting takes 4 weeks, or 4 months, that is also quick! That is purely because everything will undoubtedly take just as long as it takes! When creating, forget about speed. Just focus on what you are doing in each and every moment.

Fig.12. Hanako (May 2024)

Carefully Crafted Illusion

Change is inevitable. There is nothing you can do about it. Everything will change from one second to the other, just like it has always done, since the dawn of the Universe. Isn’t it strange how much we fear this one and only certain thing in our lives? We strive with our utmost strength to create a life that is unchanging. We are desperate for security. Schedules, plans, calendars, education, career, work, relationships… And it’s all a carefully crafted illusion. We go through life thinking that we can be safe. We will never be. The sooner we accept that, the sooner we can truly start living, fully and beautifully. In art, change is your best friend. It brings you little gifts and surprises, like a cat bringing home a dead bird, leaving it on the porch for you to find.

Fig.12a

Every Imaginable Ingredient

Change, proud like a child who just baked a cake out of every imaginable ingredient they could find in the cupboards, will always offer something beyond what you could ever imagine. Do not think about what people will possibly think about the way your art changes! Some of your audience will inevitably part ways with you. This is not a sad thing. Just like the seasons, there is a time for everything. While some take their leave, others will discover you. You too will stop loving some things and find other, new pleasures to keep you awake at night. Just like it has been since the dawn of time. ”Hanako” is my latest painting.

Fig.12b

We'll be closely following Senju's new series and will include future designs to this page.

Click HERE for the influence of the Shin Hanga artist Shotei Takahashi on Senju Shunga

The above pieces can be obtained on the following page. (We're not an affiliate!)