Sex and the Floating World: Erotic Images in Japan 1700-1820

by Timon Screech

Sex and the Floating World offers and entirely new assessment of the genre of Japanese paintings and prints known as shunga. Shunga prints are unusual in that they are overtly about sex. The author takes us into the strange world of sexual fantasy in Edo-period Japan, investigating the tensions in class and gender experienced by those who made - and made use of - shunga.

Genres: Art, Japan, Nonfiction, History, Academic, Sexuality, Japanese Literature

Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Tobi ﾄﾋﾞ · Rating 5 out of 5]

got so fixated on this that i felt dizzy

[Owen Hatherley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amusing for the amount of effort it makes to be unsexy - but a really interesting analysis of how shunga prints and books presented an egalitarian sexual utopia of mutual pleasure, devoid of patriarchy and hierarchy, which as a historian, the impressively named author stresses Edo Japan was definitely not.

[Nuria Sánchez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me ha parecido un recorrido muy interesante por el mundo de las estampas eróticas, con una colección de imágenes fascinante y temas qué me han producido mucha curiosidad (el de los espejos mola mucho)

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always been drawn to Japanese "spring pictures" of the Edo period, perhaps because there are so few artistic portrayals of sex in the Western tradition (beyond female nudes). Screech's book was a delight to read. It provides not only training for the eye in terms of symbols, coded meanings and artistic styles, it gives the reader a fascinating historical and cultural context of sexual attitudes in Edo Japan. The pictures are gorgeous and inspiring--I wrote a whole erotic story based on Harunobu's "Autumn Moon of the Mirror Stand"--but the author's courage in exploring what these pictures were used for is refreshing, thought-provoking and deliciously intelligent.

[snowgray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was incredibly informative not only about shunga but also generally about life in Japan during this period of history. It's also the most hilarious academic text I've ever read. The author's dry wit is delightful. The experience of looking at pictures after reading his analysis is also fascinating, equally as wonderful as reading really high-quality literary analysis.

[Tony Goriainoff]

Bought in Poblenou, Barcelona, Spain.
August 27, 2024