Shunga or “spring pictures” (also known in the past as makurae-e or “pillow pictures” and warai-e or “laughing pictures”) represent an important genre that was by no means secondary in ukiyo production and explored the full range of eroticism, in Sharp contrast to the licentious, tertiary role of similar themes in Western art.

​

The anthropological roots of old Japanese culture grew from the ancient subsoil of early Shinto phallic rituals, which originated in agricultural communities to promote procreation and fertility. A case in point is the god Dōsojin, a divinity as well as an ancient symbol of the land and the street, represented by a stone carved in the shape of a copulating couple.

​

“Spring pictures” were essentially functional for the prevailing hedonistic spirit, in contrast with the rigid Neo-Confucian culture advocated by the Tokugawa administration. Ranked among the works of the great masters at the pinnacle of Japanese art, they reveal a subtly psychological notion of eroticism. They contain a kind of symbolic encryption of life and, therefore, of sexual activities, with a distinctively “expressionistic” emphasis and even an element of caricature.

​

The social and cultural life of the capital was de‑ned by patently sexist customs. In addition, Edo was a city with a predominance of single men, particularly soldiers and servants in the retinues of the daimyo or feudal lords who came to the city for their obligatory biennial visits to the shogun’s court (sankin kōtai) and lodged in barracks. These men, far from their families and plunged into a profoundly hedonistic world unlike anything they might ‑nd at home, hadsalaries too meagre to ‑nd solace in the arms of a Yoshiwara courtesan. However, the obstacles were not just ‑nancial; they were also psychologically incapable of approaching a woman in the midst of the city’s chaotic bustle. In such circumstances, bijin prints provided a welcome.

​