Editing Shunga (section)

== History ==
[[File:Couple in Winter Shunga by Suzuki Harunobu c1770.jpg|thumb|Couple in Winter shunga by [[Suzuki Harunobu]], {{Circa|1770}}]]

Shunga was heavily influenced by illustrations in [[Chinese medicine]] manuals beginning in the [[Muromachi]] era (1336 to 1573). [[Zhou Fang (Tang Dynasty)|Zhou Fang]], a notable [[Tang dynasty|Tang-dynasty]] Chinese painter, is also thought to have been influential. He, like many artists of his time, tended to draw genital organs in an oversized manner, similar to a common shunga [[literary topos|topos]].  Besides "''shunga''" literally meaning a picture of spring (sex), the word is also a contraction of ''shunkyū-higi-ga'' (春宮秘戯画), the [[Onyomi|Japanese pronunciation]] for a Chinese set of twelve scrolls depicting the twelve sexual acts that the [[crown prince]] would perform as an expression of [[yin yang]].<ref name=Helsinki />

The Japanese influences of shunga date back to the [[Heian period]] (794 to 1185).<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/259482/Heian-period "Heian period"]. ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''. Retrieved 2007-04-24.</ref>  At this point, it was found among the [[courtier]] class. Through the medium of narrative [[handscrolls]], sexual scandals from the [[Imperial Court of Japan|imperial court]] or the [[Buddhism in Japan|monasteries]] were depicted, and the characters tended to be limited to courtiers and [[Buddhist monk|monk]]s.<ref name=Helsinki />

The style reached its height in the [[Edo period]] (1603 to 1867).  Thanks to [[woodblock printing]] techniques, the quantity and quality increased dramatically.<ref name=Helsinki />  There were repeated governmental attempts to suppress shunga, the first of which was an edict issued by the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] in 1661 banning, among other things, erotic books known as {{nihongo|''kōshokubon''|好色本}} (literally "lewdness books").  While other genres covered by the edict, such as works criticising ''[[daimyō]]s'' or [[samurai]], were driven underground by this edict, shunga continued to be produced with little difficulty.

[[File:1703 Torii Kiyonobu I Woodblock Shunga.jpg|thumb|[[Torii Kiyonobu I]]. Woodblock. Shunga. 1703.]]
The [[Kyōhō Reforms]], a 1722 edict, were much more strict, banning the production of all new books unless the city commissioner gave permission. After this edict, shunga went underground.  However, since for several decades following this edict, publishing [[guild]]s saw fit to send their members repeated reminders not to sell [[erotica]], it seems probable that production and sales continued to flourish.<ref name=Kornicki>{{cite book | title=The Book in Japan: A Cultural History from the Beginnings to the Nineteenth Century | author=Kornicki, Peter F. | date=December 2000 |location=Honolulu | publisher=University of Hawaii Press | isbn=0-8248-2337-0| pages=331–353}}</ref> Further attempts to prevent the production of shunga were made with the Kansei Reforms under  [[Emperor Kōkaku]] in the 1790s.<ref name=Screech />{{failed verification|date=April 2013}}
 	
According to Monta Hayakawa and C. Andrew Gerstle, westerners during the nineteenth century were less appreciative of shunga because of its erotic nature.<ref name="auto">{{cite journal|last1=Hayakawa|first1=Monta|author2=C. Andrew Gerstle |title=Who Were the Audiences for "Shunga"|journal=Japan Review|date=2013|issue=26|page=26|jstor=41959815}}</ref> In the journal of [[Francis Hall (Japan)|Francis Hall]], an American businessperson who arrived in Yokohama in 1859, he described shunga as "vile pictures executed in the best style Japanese art."<ref name="auto"/> Hayakawa stated that Hall was shocked and disgusted when on two occasions his Japanese acquaintances and their wives showed him shunga at their homes.<ref name="auto"/> Shunga also faced problems in Western museums in the twentieth century; Peter Webb reported that while engaged in research for a 1975 publication, he was initially informed that no relevant material existed in the [[British Museum]], and when finally allowed access to it, he was told that it "could not possibly be exhibited to the public" and had not been catalogued. In 2014 he revisited the museum, which had an exhibition entirely of shunga "proudly displayed".<ref>{{Cite news|title=Japanese erotica is unveiled 40 years on|last=Shakespeare|first=Sebastian|date=25 October 2013|work=[[London Evening Standard]]|page=17}}</ref>
[[File:Shunga uniform 1905.jpg|thumb|A soldier of the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] has relations with a Russian woman while a soldier of the same nationality watches from the ground, alluding to the [[Russo-Japanese War]]. 1905.]]
The introduction of Western culture and technologies at the beginning of the [[Meiji period|Meiji]] era (1868–1912), particularly the importation of photo-reproduction techniques, had serious consequences for shunga. For a time, [[woodblock printing]] continued to be used, but figures began to appear in prints wearing Western clothing and hairstyles.<ref>Munro, Majella. ''Understanding Shunga'', ER Books, 2008, p92, {{ISBN|978-1-904989-54-7}}</ref> Eventually, shunga could no longer compete with erotic photography, leading to its decline.

The art of shunga provided an inspiration for the [[Shōwa period|Shōwa]] (1926–1989) and [[Heisei]] (1989–2019) art in [[video gaming in Japan|Japanese video games]], [[anime]] and [[manga]] known in the Western world as [[hentai]] and known formally in Japan as ''jū hachi kin'' (adult-only, literally "18-restricted"). Like shunga, hentai is sexually explicit in its imagery.