Isoda Koryusai, Violation of a Seamstress

Isoda Koryusai, fl. ca. 1764-1789

Violation of a Seamstress

from an untitled series (with some sheets signed); a young girl has been interrupted by a swarthy older man who forces himself on her as she struggles in vain under his weight, ca. 1770-71

chuban yoko-e 8 3/8 by 11 in., 21.2 by 27.9 cm

Koryusai depicted the aggressor with features associated with persons of a lowly or evil nature—having a large head, broad face, wide lips and nose, and a hairy, swarthy appearance. There are many images in shunga that address questions of impropriety concerning class, status, age and gender. Artists explored a seemingly limitless combination of masters (or mistresses) with servants, patrons and entertainers, teachers and students, and a myriad of ranks or types of courtesans, geisha, waitresses, prostitutes, streetwalkers, young male attendants, and apprentices. Sometimes these pairings are presented without comment, other times with humor. In the Mane'emon series the small-sized protagonist takes an accusatory tone in disapproval of a calligraphy instructor's advances (and points out his wide nose, plate 2) in his very first encounter. Likewise, Koryusai revisits the same theme of the dishonorable shamisen instructor with the first shunga sheet of the Shikido torikumi juniban (Twelve Bouts in the Way of Love) series. But depictions of blatant, violent rape are not as common, especially in the 18th century, although into the 19th century the compositions in general are increasingly more aggressive and explicit.

This impression published:
Klompmakers, Japanese Erotic Prints, 2001, p. 91, cat. C.6

Reference:
Higuchi, Violence in Shunga, in Shunga: Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art, 2013, pp. 378-381

$3,000

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