Artist: Kitagawa Utamaro [喜多川歌麿] (Japanese, c. 1753–1806)
Title: Ehon koi no nō nyōbukan (會本戀濃男婦巻) – Picture Book of Deep Love between Men and Women
Date: 1799 (Kansei 11)
Media: Woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and colour on paper; Medium-format book (chūhon 中本); two book pages joined (186 × 260 mm); backed
Signed: Not signed on image; annotated in brush on the backing by a previous owner as 歌川歌麿筆 (Utagawa Utamaro hitsu)
Reference: Cited in Hayashi Miichi. Kitagawa Utamaro Tadashi (Edo Makuraeshi Shūsei). — Tokyo: Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 1990, pp. 133-8. [LIB-3439.2025]
Three double-page compositions from a rare erotic picture book (shunga ehon), attributed to Utamaro. Erotic content involving intimacy in indoor settings, with cursive inscriptions. Elegant settings and accessories are typical of Utamaro’s refined shunga style.
Print SVJP-0142-2.2014-1 (man under the bench)
| Japanese | Romaji | English |
|---|---|---|
| こふくんがくれて これで ふんもあらしのとりこに なるなりけり つとめてまいり候 | kofukun ga kurete kore de fun mo arashi no toriko ni naru narikeri tsutomete mairi sōrō | "As dusk falls, even the fart becomes a prisoner of the storm. I humbly attend to you." |
| いましのしや ねがわくは いづへの かののひらの かののひらの ののひらの | imashi no sha negawaku wa izue no kano no hira no kano no hira no no no hira no | "You, who are here, I wish to know — toward which plain shall we go, across the endless fields..." (poetic, metaphorical) |
| えんができて ついにおもい とけて としごろの つらさも うすらぐ | en ga dekite tsui ni omoi tokete toshigoro no tsurasa mo usuragu | "Now that fate has bound us, my feelings have finally melted, and even the hardships of these years are fading." |
| (faint writing under the table — fragmentary) | oku no hō ni... imashi... kuchi no naka ni... | "Toward the back... being here... inside the mouth..." (fragment, erotic innuendo implied) |
Additional Information
| Collection | Erotica , Japanese prints and drawings |
|---|---|
| Type / Purpose | Book illustration , Woodblock print |
| Period | 18 AD , Edo period [江戸時代] (1603–1868) , Kansei era [寛政] (1789–1801) , Late 18th century |
| Country | Japan |
| Media/Technique | Woodblock print , Woodblock print (nishiki-e) |
| Size | Chūhon (medium-format) |
| Subject | 18th century , Erotica , Japan , Japanese woodblock prints , Love , Man , Sex , Sexual behavior and attitudes , Sexual life , Sexuality , Shunga , Woman |
| Creation / Publishing year | 1799 |
| Acquisition year | 2013 |
