One convention of shunga is a set of twelve pictures that reference the main annual event in each month of the year. In this twelfth and final design from Kyosai‘s series ‘Picture Calendar with Erotic Scenes of the Twelve Months‘ (1869) we watch a man carrying money into a storehouse on Kan-no-iri.
Shunpon
It’s the beginning of midwinter, when the seasonal cold intensifies. In shunga and shunpon*, a vagina is sometimes compared to a treasury. Kyosai‘s depiction can be said to be almost ‘scientifically anatomical’ in its accuracy.
‘Vaginal storehouse (the Twelfth month)‘ (1869) from the series ‘Picture Calendar with Erotic Scenes of the Twelve Months‘ by Kawanabe Kyosai
Click HERE for the amusing first month design of this series including a gay couple !
Koban-sized print ‘Vaginal storehouse‘ (c.1850) by Utagawa school
‘Ridiculous things / Boiling tea in the belly button‘ (c.1858) from the series ‘Warai no gu oheso ga cha‘ by Koikawa Shozan (Source: ‘Shunga. Explicit art of Japan‘, 2016. Authors: A. E. Pushakova, K. G. Danelya) *
'Treasury ' (c.1820) from the series 'Tsumagasane (Overlapping Skirts)' by Katsushika Hokusai
*shunpon is literally translated ‘Pornographic book’. The kanji for shunpon is 春本.
Source: ‘Sex and Laughter with Kyosai: Shunga from the Israel Goldman Collection‘ by Ishigami Aki and S. Koto
*Photo provided by Darya
What is your favorite subject within shunga art? Leave your reaction in the comment box below….!!!
