Gessai Gabimaru Presents a Dutchman Copulating a Horny Japanese Courtesan

12 maart 2020

2 min. read

Gessai Gabimaru Presents a Dutchman Copulating a Horny Japanese Courtesan

This composition by Gessai Gabimaru (1789-1834) represents Western men coupling with Japanese women, and is similar to other such scenes produced by Chokyosai Eiri, Keisai Eisen, and Kitagawa Utamaro.

Aphrodisiac

Here, a woman from Kyoto and a Dutchman from Dejima are absorbed in their lovemaking (Fig.1). He has offered her an aphrodisiac like the Dutchman in Eisen’s A Picture Book of the Many Beautiful Ways to Mess Up.

Gessai Gabimaru

Fig.1. ‘Dutchman and Japanese courtesan‘ (c.1800) from the series ‘Picture Book: The Laughable Erotic Shellfish (Ehon warai gai)‘ by Gessai Gabimaru

Nonsensically

The woman here cries out,’This Dutch

One of my personal favorite themes within shunga is that of the depiction of Westerners (maybe because I am a Dutchman myself). The former residents of Japan (in particular those of Nagasaki) including artists could..

aphrodisiac works as a charm! I’ll come like a fool! If I have your child, I’ll have to show off this son of a foreigner

The arresting shunga designs below are by the rather unknown artist from the Utagawa school named Ikkokai Meshimori (act. 19th C.). The book series is called ‘ Embarking at the Harbor of Love (Shunshoku minato..

in Kyoto.’ Between a string of onomatopoeic utterances, Gabimaru attempts to imitate, albeit nonsensically, the Dutch words spoken by man during orgasm: “Kinniyou kinniyou, hekereke hekereke, gucha, gucha, gucha!”

Vaginal Secretions

The following scene* (Fig.2) examines the supposedly European

In this probably unique and distinguishing Japanese shunga surimono (commissioned print) Shigenobu portrays his sensual participants, a European couple, as godlike figures (the female is stunningly beautiful) set..

custom of having a bowl to hand to catch vaginal

Designs featuring vagina close-ups in shunga are among the collector’s favorite subjects. Normally these kind of images were added in the beginning and/or the end of shunga books ( ehon ) to emphasize its..

secretions for medicinal use. The artist Keisai Eisen

After Hokusai , undoubtedly the most striking figure among the later shunga artists is Keisai Eisen (1790-1848). Eisen was to prove one of the most prolific (together with Kunisada ) of all ukiyo-e shunga masters...

referred to this in his Pillow Library (Makuro bunko), announcing a ‘Method For Producing the European Life-Prolonging Ointment’.

gessai gabimaru: Dutchman collecting vaginal fluids

Fig.2. ‘Dutchman collecting vaginal fluids‘ ( c.1810s) from the series ‘Rakuto furyu suagata-kurabe (Comparisons of Elegances in West Raku)‘ by Urakusai Nagahide (act.1804-1848) (Source: ‘Shunga. Explicit art of Japan‘, 2016. Authors: A. E. Pushakova, K. G. Danelya) *

Onto the Glans

The cost of ingredients was about five small coins. He wrote: ‘…smear it onto the glans about one hour before intercourse; certainly apply it when becoming flaccid; works miracles.’

There is also a senryu (poem) of 1791:

The foreigner
Plants a vase
By the woman’s behind.

Click HERE and check out how Gessai Gabimaru inspired the Betty Woodman….!!

Or HERE for some crazy encounters between Japanese geisha and various exotic Westerners

Following the article from last Friday we were approached by the owner of the Hosoda Eishi scroll that was displayed at the British Museum exhibition in 2013/14. The collector prefers to remain anonymous but he was..

…!!

Sources: ‘Erotic Japonisme: The Influence of Japanese Sexual Imagery on Western Art‘ by Ricard Bru
‘Sex

Betty Dodson (born 1929) was trained as a fine artist in the 1950s, and in 1968 had her first show of erotic art at the Wickersham Gallery in New York City. In the 1970s, she quitted her art career and began studying..

and the Floating World: Erotic Images in Japan 1700-1820‘ by Timon Screech

If you come across other enticing examples of shunga

Shunga, a genre within ukiyo-e displaying the erotic secrets of ancient Japan. These prints where commonly created by using woodblock printing.

portraying Westerners please let us know in the comment box below or through our contact form…!!

* photo provided by the devoted producer Darya

Marijn is the founder of shungagallery.com. With more than 20 years of experience within the sensual and erotic art of shunga he is an authority in the genre. During this time he served many customers with complementing their art collection.

By

Darya

on 13 Mar 2020

Utamaro's design from 'Hoshi tsuki yo' depicting sex of http://www.akantiek.eu/shunga/Shunga%20Utamaro%20p724.jpg" rel="nofollow">geisha and foreigner is also beautiful!

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By

Marijn

on 13 Mar 2020

Wow, your reference book contains a lot of new images. If you have a pic of that Utamaro piece I will gladly add it to this post!

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By

Darya

on 13 Mar 2020

As for dutchmen, are you familiar with Shunsho's piece depicting a dutchman who's collecting vaginal fluids?

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By

Marijn

on 13 Mar 2020

Yes, if I am right it's the one with the Dutchman sporting a moustache from Ehon kanameishi (c.1782), isn't it?

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By

Darya

on 13 Mar 2020

I'll send you a scan, because the series is undefined here.

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By

Marijn

on 13 Mar 2020

Please do. I have a picture of it somewhere but can't find it at this time! There's a b&w and color version of that one.

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By

Darya

on 13 Mar 2020

Thank you for the correction!

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By

Darya

on 14 Mar 2020

Europeans are depicted with remarkably long nails… Were they really wearing such ‘manicure’?

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By

Marijn

on 14 Mar 2020

Thanks Darya, in pre-1800 ukiyo-e print designs depicting Europeans (mainly Dutch) you often see them sporting a large hat, long hair and beard, and talon-like nails. This was mostly because of the artists lack of resources at the time. At that time, they could only observe these Red-haired Strangers from a distance and had only limited access to European art...etc.In Japan, longer finger-nails were associated with the elite, and the first Europeans known to the Japanese were the elite. In the depiction of Westerners in https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?assetid=512221001&objectid=783184&partid=1" rel="nofollow">post-1800 prints these longer finger nails "disappeared".

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By

Darya

on 14 Mar 2020

Thank you for the answer, Marijn! Aristocrats didn't do common labor, so they could be supposed to wear long nails.

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