![Who Is This Girl Making Love to the Canine Hero Yatsufusa?](https://media-01.imu.nl/storage/shungagallery.com/2236/wp/0000-13.jpg)
Scenes in shunga with people (male or female) making love to a dog are rare but not unusual. The images discussed below, that use this theme, are from the series Koi no yatsu Fuji. It is a clever erotic parody on the Japanese epic bestseller Satomi Hakkenden-den (The Legend of the Eight Dog Heroes), which was Kyokutei Bakin’s most famous work, published between 1813 and 1842.
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Fig.1. ‘Princess Fusehine making love to the dog hero Yatsufusa‘ (c.1837) from the series ‘Koi no Yatsu Fuji (lit.‘The Love of Yatsufuji’)‘ by Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865)
Spy
Fusehine is having sex with the canine hero Yatsufusa. A small desk with writing materials and scrolls can be seen behind them on the left. The compelling image portrays a circular frame exhibiting the sight of a “spy“ seen through a telescope.
Coitus
Asian art historian Timon Screech remarks: “…Bakin’s story included a moment when Satomi Yoshizane looked down from Mt Toyama and saw his daughter (Fig.1.), Princess Fuse (whose name literally means ‘lying down’) is engaged in coitus with a dog – justified by Bakin’s title, although he had not written about real canines but about men with the character ‘dog’ in their names.”
![eight dog heroes - kunisada - fusehine](https://shungagallery.com/wp/../wp-content/upload_folders/shungagallery.com/0000000-10.jpg)
Fig.2. ‘General Satomi Yoshizane spying on his daughter Fusehine‘ (c.1837) from the series ‘Koi no Yatsu Fuji (lit.‘The Love of Yatsufuji’)‘ by Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865)
Cave on Mount Fuji
The text in this print (Fig.2.) explains that General Satomi Yoshizane is looking through his spy-glass towards a cave on Mount Fuji. In the Eight Dog Heroes tale, Satomi Yoshizane is the Lord of Awa and the father of Princess Fuse (Fusehine).
Family Dog
In a complicated chain of events Fusehine marries the brave family dog Yatsufusa and eventually gives birth to a litter of eight pups, each of whom bears the character of inu, or ‘dog’, in their names. We can see what Yoshizane sees in his spy-glass in Figure 1.
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Fig.3. ‘The dog hero Yatsufusa sodomizing princess Fusehine‘ (c.1837) from the series ‘Koi no Yatsu Fuji (lit.‘The Love of Yatsufuji’)‘ by Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865)
In an earlier event the dog hero Yatsufusa forces himself upon princess Fusehine (Fig.3.).
The following video features shunga designs including animals:
Click HERE to discover a superb visual translation of the Dog Hero theme inspired on Kunisada‘s masterpiece!