What Are the 17 Most Violent Designs in Shunga? (P2)

08/27/2017

5 min

What Are the 17 Most Violent Designs in Shunga? (P2)

08/27/2017

5 min

Welcome back! Did you manage to get out of the first round unscathed? In this second round we’ll continue to examine this violent

To name shunga a violent art is exaggerated but violence and death were subjects that were not avoided. Indeed the success of shunga in the 19th Century was certainly also determined by these exploitative..

erotica and see what is in our opinion the most cruelling one. So let’s move quickly to the final seven!

In 7th place…

violent erotica - kunisada - tales of pussy - violent art - shunga

‘Threatening samurai‘ (c.1826) from the series ‘Kaidan Yoru no Tono (Picture Book: Tales of Pussy in the Palace at Night aka.Vaginal

Designs featuring vagina close-ups in shunga are among the collector’s favorite subjects. Normally these kind of images were added in the beginning and/or the end of shunga books ( ehon ) to emphasize its contents...

Tales of the Nocturnal Palace‘ by Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865)

Castration Anxiety

A design that might disconcert some male viewers with castration anxiety. A masked intruder has interrupted the love-making of an ugly man and his attractive female partner.

Circumcise

The heavily-armed swordsman is threatening to “circumcise” his male victim while at the same time suppressing the female. This is another image in this top 10 that comes from one of the most violent shunga book series ‘Tales of Pussy‘ in the genre.

6th place…

‘Murder scene at a riverbank‘ (c.1830) attributed Utagawa Kunitora (act.c. 1804-1844)

Female Spirit

A violent encounter near a riverbank between a samurai, protecting his lover, and a dangerous female spirit. A sardonic detail is the sandal of the man touching the ghost‘s vagina while piercing his sword through her chest.

At 5…

‘Bloody robbery‘ (c.1826) from the series ‘Vaginal Tales of the Nocturnal Palace (Kaidan yoru no tono)‘ by Utagawa Kunisada

Below you can check out the sensual images of a rare complete book series by Utagawa Kunisada. The title is ‘ Aki no Nanakusa (The Seven Flowers of Autumn)’ and the year of production is 1832. Size (book closed) is 6..

(1786-1865)

Pool Of Blood

A complex trick-print portraying a murderous attack with a man climbing on a balcony with in the background a silhouette of a love-making couple behind closed doors. The above scene shows the man’s during his violent attack with the woman falling from the balcony while the male victim lies in a pool of blood.

Number 4…

violent erotica: kunisada - shunga - rape in a forest

‘Gruesome Rape in a Forest‘. (c.1829) from the series ‘Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter: Prospects for the Four Seasons (Shunka shuto shiki no nagame’)‘ By Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865)

Eerie

Without a doubt the most eerie image that appears in the late Edo-period. In this sinister scene a young woman has been captured by a mountain bandit and is being raped while her legs are tied to a pole.

Pen Name

The designer Kunisada was specialized in this sub-theme and had a special pseudonym (Bukiyo Matahei) for this special kind of depictions. This pen name would be instantly recognized by the initiated reader at that time.

The final three.

At 3rd place…

‘Double suicide‘ (c.1823) from the series ‘Mirror of the Vagina (Kaichu kagami)‘ by Utagawa Toyokuni ( (1769-1825)

Seppuku

This gruesome suicide (seppuku) scene from Toyokuni

This time we’ll have a closer look at a striking shunga series that is available in our gallery that was most probably designed by the ukiyo-e master Utagawa Toyokuni I (1769-1825), who was the founder of the..

’s Mirror of the Vagina series with a couple in the final stage of seppuku. In a previous scene the couple can be seen in last stage before ending their life with them desperately crying. Their bodies are surrounded by countless crumpled tissues which is indication of their insatiable love-making prior to their final act.

F.B.I.

The depicted herons on the folding screen in the back connect both events. This scene has a striking resemblance with the crime scene pictures* of the F.B.I.

At 2nd place…

gruesome art demon Kunisada

disturbing images - kunisada - monster - shunga

‘Ghost

During a humid summer night a man has taken off all his clothes while sleeping naked underneath a mosquito-net . Squatting next to him holding his erected member in her hand is the smirking appearance of a female..

with bitten off genitals in her mouth‘ (c.1826) from the series ‘Ehon Kaidan yoru no tono (‘Tales of Pussy in the Palace at Night‘)

A trick-moving picture (shikake-e) from Kunisada‘s acclaimed ‘Tales of Pussy‘-series. This was a bizarre

Besides being unpredictable and turbulent, 2022 is also the year of the fiftieth anniversary of the Bizarre Sex magazine, launched by Denis Kitchen in 1972 and issued until 1982. Once you\'ve stumbled across the covers..

adaptation of the love-suicide tale of Chan and Choemon.

Giant Penis

In this adaptation the couple are returning from a long journey to Ise. Upon their return they are violated by a gang of attractive youngsters. Ohan is forced to have sex

Betty Dodson (born 1929) was trained as a fine artist in the 1950s, and in 1968 had her first show of erotic art at the Wickersham Gallery in New York City. In the 1970s, she quitted her art career and began studying..

with the youths in front of Choemon, culminating in her rape by the monk Dokyo with his giant penis. Afraid of what people might think the two determine to commit love-suicide in the Katsuragawa River. Fate decides to leave Choemon alive.

Bitten Off Genitals

The above picture shows an excerpt of the opened trick page featuring a horrific scene revealing Ohan who has transformed into a giant ghost. She has bitten off Choemon’s genitals and is flying off into the night’s sky. A detailed description of this design can be found here!

And at NUMBER ONE ! Drumroll…

‘Rape

The most shocking design from both the series Utamakura and Fumi no kiyogaki by Utamaro and Eiri are the ones depicted below. Let’s take a closer at these extraordinary examples of rape art… Plate 9 from..

and torture by a violent ninja ‘ (c.1803-06) from the series ‘‘Erotic Book of Conjugal Eddies (Ehon futamigata)’ by Hokusai or Utamaro

Sinister

OK, maybe not as bloody

Between 1866 and 1868, the sublime Meiji artist Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) created a set of very disturbed and disquieting designs. The most sadistic of these bloody pictures ( muzan-e ) are to be found in a..

as some of the previous tableaux in the list but in terms of suspense this double book page has no equal. This sinister rape scene, one of the greatest shunga
What is Shunga? Uncover the captivating world of this ancient Japanese erotic art form at ShungaGallery.com. Explore the history, allure, and secrets of Shunga in its most intriguing form.
designs in ukiyo-e, should definitely be included in a list like this.

Since I have treated this image before in detail I would like to refer you to the following article A Sadistic Ninja Raping and Torturing a Terrified Couple

Because this is our personal favorite shunga print we have published a unique remake of it in 2019. Click HERE and check out all the details on this UNIQUE project!

At this time you can get this rare piece at a one-time 20% discount offer. Closes shortly!