Neo Shunga: An Introduction to Japanese Pop Erotica

by Charles Pringle (Introduction), Cocoro Books

Japan's shunga woodblock prints were originally created to advertise the facilities of the Edo-era pleasure quarters, including tea houses, restaurants and theaters, as well as the brothels. But this new art form quickly took on a life of its own, portraying every imaginable form of sexual activity from straight heterosexual acts through sodomy, bestiality and a wide range of fetishes. Today, these images of sex, many of which are grossly caricatured with outrageously proportioned genitalia, are highly sought after by collectors of art and erotica the world over. Neo Shunga, introduced here as part of the current Japanese trend of restyling traditional fashions for the 21st century, brings together in one volume some of the most fascinating images to come out of the shunga movement. These include acts of voyeurism, masturbation, menage a trios, group sex, and even bestiality with an octopus. Contains graphic sexual imagery

80 pages, Paperback

First published March 25, 2008

Reviews

[Squeasel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Avoid.

The key words in the book description are "restyling traditional fashions."

The only place you'll see the originals is in tiny postage stamp sized versions in the very back. The entire book is filled with garish Photoshop/Paint nightmare versions, as if a couple of 8 year olds came across a book hidden in their parents' closet and decided, as a surprise, to get scissors, finger paints, old scraps of 70s wallpaper, tiddlywinks, and paste, and "neo'd" the whole thing into a craft project. Then maybe their 11 year old sister scanned in the FrankeNeoShunga and used various filters like Emboss and 50% transparent overlay on the tiddlywinks pasted creations.

I don't even.