The always-interesting to read* folks over at Socialism in an Age of Waiting had a very interesting metapost about Japanese… stuff (UPDATE: Stupid links are bloggered, as usual; scroll down to Tsupa, Tsupa, Nicha, Nicha. FYI, SIAW, TypePad’s $15/month, maximum). OK, OK, what got my attention was the link to this review of a book on erotic/pornographic art of the Edo period. Just so you know, there’s no actual pictures or anything, but it’s an interesting and educational** review just the same.
There’s also a poem from that post that has nothing to do with Japanese erotica. I devoutly hope so, at least.
Moe
*I also thought that their discussion of the Spanish election was also pretty good, although they apparently had to go through a couple of stages of pretty bad first.
**No, not that kind of ‘educational’. Well, OK, sort of, but not by the standards of the current communications media that we’re both using right now.
Japanese Erotica indeed interesting, at least to Westerners. Article mentioned the lack of emphasis on secondary sex characteristics, but did not mention that characters in Japanese erotic art are always partially clothed.
I can’t resist commenting on anything Japanese, being in Japan right now. I want to add to the article that the government’s long standing (heh, heh,”long standing”) supression of the shunga style was (typical of many things here) only official. The first one I ever saw was printed on the bottom of a bowl, out of which I had just eaten a pile of rice topped with egg, chicken, and onion. Quite a shock to find a giant money shot, however classicly rendered, at the bottom of one’s oyako-donburi.