They say you always remember your first time in an Onsen or 'Hot Bath.' My first encounter with a hot bath was actually in China back in 2015, and I was quite shocked by being naked in front of so many women. Even on my second visit to a Japanese hot bath, I felt a bit shy. When you enter a hot bath here, it feels like all the attention is on you, as if everyone is watching. In the Western culture or at least where I grew up, communal baths and being naked with strangers are beyond our comfort zones. We tend to feel embarrassed and shy about such things.
However, here this type of minor pleasure is considered as a relaxation form. Hot baths serve as social communities as well. Many woman try to show up on the same time as their friends, so they can enjoy chatting with each other. Sometimes I see them, brining ice drinks, tea or even sweets. They talk about their day, what they cooked, and sometimes even complain about their husbands :). I truly cherish these moments at the end of the day because they make me feel like I'm a part of this society. Daily baths are a part of everyone's life here, from villagers to salarymen, wives, kids, and so on.
In Japan, unlike in many other countries, sex is considered a natural human feeling and isn't viewed with the same moralistic judgment. It can be challenging to understand Japanese attitudes towards love and erotic pleasure. Sometimes, husbands and wives may have lovers but still maintain their family intact without sharing anything about it. This is because they can separate "pleasure" from their “obligations”, which is quite unusual. In other countries, infidelity means humiliation for the spouse and leads to divorce. Religion also plays a role in these differences, as described in 'The Chrysanthemum and the Sword' by Ruth Benedict.
This illustrates how Japanese culture is remarkably open to concepts like being nude in hot baths, the view of sex and even the institution of marriage. So today, I'll introduce you to Shunga and share a bit of its history.
The term Shunga (春画) means "Spring pictures" because "Spring" is a popular euphemism for sex in Japan. Erotic shunga art emerged from the ukiyo-e movement, which celebrated the lives of Japan's middle class, including merchants and craftsmen. These were ordinary people who enjoyed ordinary sex in the privacy of their homes. Unlike pornography, shunga rarely depicts completely nude bodies; instead, the figures are clothed in fine attire. This choice may reflect the idea that, at that time, people found eroticism in clothing rather than mere exposure of the skin, as suggested by Thomas Screech in his work "Sex and the Floating World."
Furthermore, Shinto which is one of the Japan's traditional religion, has always regarded sex as entirely normal. According to Shinto mythology, the first Japanese island, Onogoro, was created symbolically through the ejaculation of the god Izanagi, while all other islands were born from the womb of his wife, the goddess Izanami. This cultural perspective, which sees sex without shame, is what sets shunga apart as uniquely Japanese.
Is been said that for some generations, both male and female farmers in Japan worked their rice fields either naked or partially nude. Nudity can also be found in Japanese literature. For instance, in Natsume Soseki's novel "Botchan," the protagonist arrives at Ehime port and describes the boatsman as being completely naked. This portrayal reflects the cultural acceptance of nudity in certain contexts in Japan. Alongside Shinto's influence and the eventual emergence of mixed public baths, nudity became desexualized in Japanese culture. Consequently, artists had to emphasize the eroticism in their shunga art through means other than depicting naked bodies, often resorting to exaggerating their subjects' genitalia for a comical effect.
"The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife" is one of the most famous shunga artworks. Created in 1814, this image depicts a pearl diver engaged in sexual activity with two octopuses. While it is probably the most infamous example of shunga, it is also wholly unrepresentative of the genre.
Thus Japanese erotic art, reached its peak in the 17th century. Many shunga images aimed to normalize sex, countering the somewhat puritanical influence of Confucianism, which dominated Japan's government at the time. However, during the Meiji period, Japan encountered America's ascetic Puritan philosophy, which led to shunga being labeled as obscene and banished from the center stage of art history for an extended period. This marked a significant shift in Japan's attitude towards such art.
In 2013, the world's first large-scale shunga exhibition at the British Museum in London attracted a massive crowd, which is brining more attraction to this ‘lost art form’. Similarly, Japan's first large-scale shunga exhibition, held in Tokyo and Kyoto from 2015 to 2016, drew 210,000 visitors where more than half of them were woman.
Now, a documentary film titled "Spring Picture SHUNGA" is set to be released nationwide from November 24, 2023. This film explores the intricate world of "Shunga," a vibrant cultural phenomenon that thrived during the Edo period but was prohibited during the Meiji period.
References used for this article:
https://www.nhk.or.jp/heart-net/sei/detail/s2_1_1/
https://japanobjects.com/features/shunga
https://kokoro-jp.com/culture/4908/
