Katsukawa Shunchō. Third Month: A couple make love in an interior beside a folding screen, from series 'Koshoku zue juniko' / Shunga, c. 1788.

Artist: Katsukawa Shunchō [勝川春潮] (Japanese, fl. c. 1780–1801)

Signed: 春潮画 (Shunchō ga) on rightmost screen

Title: Third Month: A couple make love in an interior beside a folding screen

Series: Koshoku zue juniko (好色圖會十二候, Erotic Prints for the Twelve Months)

Date: c. 1788

Publisher: Unknown

Media: Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper; Horizontal Ōban, 260 × 385 mm

A couple engages in intercourse on a red floor covering, the woman straddling her partner with her legs wrapped around him. Her kimono is cast aside, and she clings to him with an intense, almost theatrical embrace. A voluminous, warm kimono-blanket lies on the right, propped up to support the man's back. Behind them stands a folding screen (byōbu) adorned with tanzaku poem slips, one of which bears the artist’s signature Shunchō ga (春潮画).

The interior setting is carefully detailed with seasonal references appropriate to the third lunar month (三月 / March). Beside a window showing spring foliage, a lacquered food tray holds a tea mortar (茶臼, chausu), symbolically linked to the woman’s body. Nearby, a tabako-dansu (煙草箪笥, tobacco cabinet) contains smoking implements, with a discarded kiseru (煙管, pipe) on the floor — a common post-coital motif in shunga iconography. The combination of objects evokes springtime renewal and sensual intimacy. The couple's dialogue, inscribed in the room's corner, reads:

• Man: “Even if it’s still only March, it really feels like a white sake mortar. Let’s do it again later — for real this time.”オトコ「なんぼ三月でもあんまり白酒臼（しろざけうす）のようだ。この後でまた、本当にしよう。」
• Woman: “This position just doesn’t feel right — so don’t actually do it, okay? I swear, it feels like your thing is gonna pop out. Yeah, it’s already slipping out!”オンナ「どうもこんな姿勢では具合が悪いから、本当にしてくんなよ。もうマラが外れそうだわな、ええ、もう。」

This playful, gender-bending banter exemplifies shunga's humorous tone and theatricality. The scene likely represents March in a cycle of twelve prints, each themed around a month and a seasonal setting.

Notes:

• 白酒臼 (shirozake usu) – literally “white sake mortar.” This is a metaphor for the vagina: warm, soft, and grinding. The seasonal reference to March (三月) ties into the traditional time of drinking shirozake for the Hinamatsuri (Girls’ Day), adding a layer of seasonality and innuendo.

• マラ (mara) – a slang term for penis. Its use by the woman suggests role-play, gender fluidity, or comic exaggeration — a common feature in shunga humor.

• The phrase “don’t actually do it” (本当にしてくんなよ) plays off the man’s invitation to “do it for real” — turning his serious intent into a punchline.

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References:

[LIB-1478.2013] Gian Carlo Calza, Stefania Piotti. Poem of the pillow and other stories by Utamaro, Hokusai, Kuniyoshi and other artists of the floating world. — London; New York: Phaidon Press, 2010; p. 233.

[LIB-1473.2014] Shunga: Sex and pleasure in Japanese art / Edited by Timothy Clark, et al. — London: British Museum Press; Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2013; pp. 190-3.

[LIB-2971.2022] Chris Uhlenbeck, Margarita Winkel. Japanese erotic fantasies: sexual imagery of the Edo period. — Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2005; pp. 124-5.