Sex in eighteenth-century Edo (Tokyo)
- Author
- Angelika Koch (UGent)
- Organization
- Project
- Abstract
- By the early eighteenth century Edo (present-day Tokyo) was one of the largest cities in the world. Sex and erotic allure could be found in many guises in this commercialized urban setting, both in the city’s streets and in print. This chapter sets out to argue that sex assumed a multiplicity of meanings in this context that ranged from pleasure and procreation to potential pathology. To this purpose, it begins by tracing various discourses surrounding the three phenomena that have arguably received the most sustained attention in research to date, namely the sex trade, male same-sex desire, and the erotically explicit materials known as ‘spring pictures’ (Japanese shunga 春画/ shunpon 春本). The final sections aim to move beyond the standard narrative of the Edo period’s flourishing erotic culture by focusing on the female reproductive body, as well as medical and health discourses, thus aspiring to unsettle the paradigmatic character of this (male) pleasure-centred mode of sex and repudiate the monolithic view of early modern Japanese sexuality as unregulated.
- Keywords
- sexuality, Edo, early modern Japan, prostitution, erotica, shunga, same-sex, health, sex
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01HYMXJ30VVMDSQW0QB3GSJJKQ
- MLA
- Koch, Angelika. “Sex in Eighteenth-Century Edo (Tokyo).” The Cambridge World History of Sexualities, Volume 3 : Sites of Knowledge and Practice, edited by Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks and Mathew Kuefler, Cambridge University Press, 2024, pp. 232–60, doi:10.1017/9781108896030.013.
- APA
- Koch, A. (2024). Sex in eighteenth-century Edo (Tokyo). In M. E. Wiesner-Hanks & M. Kuefler (Eds.), The Cambridge world history of sexualities, volume 3 : sites of knowledge and practice (pp. 232–260). https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108896030.013
- Chicago author-date
- Koch, Angelika. 2024. “Sex in Eighteenth-Century Edo (Tokyo).” In The Cambridge World History of Sexualities, Volume 3 : Sites of Knowledge and Practice, edited by Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks and Mathew Kuefler, 232–60. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108896030.013.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Koch, Angelika. 2024. “Sex in Eighteenth-Century Edo (Tokyo).” In The Cambridge World History of Sexualities, Volume 3 : Sites of Knowledge and Practice, ed by. Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks and Mathew Kuefler, 232–260. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108896030.013.
- Vancouver
- 1.Koch A. Sex in eighteenth-century Edo (Tokyo). In: Wiesner-Hanks ME, Kuefler M, editors. The Cambridge world history of sexualities, volume 3 : sites of knowledge and practice. Cambridge University Press; 2024. p. 232–60.
- IEEE
- [1]A. Koch, “Sex in eighteenth-century Edo (Tokyo),” in The Cambridge world history of sexualities, volume 3 : sites of knowledge and practice, M. E. Wiesner-Hanks and M. Kuefler, Eds. Cambridge University Press, 2024, pp. 232–260.
@incollection{01HYMXJ30VVMDSQW0QB3GSJJKQ,
abstract = {{By the early eighteenth century Edo (present-day Tokyo) was one of the largest cities in the world. Sex and erotic allure could be found in many guises in this commercialized urban setting, both in the city’s streets and in print. This chapter sets out to argue that sex assumed a multiplicity of meanings in this context that ranged from pleasure and procreation to potential pathology. To this purpose, it begins by tracing various discourses surrounding the three phenomena that have arguably received the most sustained attention in research to date, namely the sex trade, male same-sex desire, and the erotically explicit materials known as ‘spring pictures’ (Japanese shunga 春画/ shunpon 春本). The final sections aim to move beyond the standard narrative of the Edo period’s flourishing erotic culture by focusing on the female reproductive body, as well as medical and health discourses, thus aspiring to unsettle the paradigmatic character of this (male) pleasure-centred mode of sex and repudiate the monolithic view of early modern Japanese sexuality as unregulated.}},
author = {{Koch, Angelika}},
booktitle = {{The Cambridge world history of sexualities, volume 3 : sites of knowledge and practice}},
editor = {{Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E. and Kuefler, Mathew}},
isbn = {{9781108842105}},
keywords = {{sexuality,Edo,early modern Japan,prostitution,erotica,shunga,same-sex,health,sex}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{232--260}},
publisher = {{Cambridge University Press}},
title = {{Sex in eighteenth-century Edo (Tokyo)}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.1017/9781108896030.013}},
year = {{2024}},
}
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