Utagawa Kuninao (歌川国直) (artist mid 1790s - early 1850s)
Ehon (絵本): shunga (春画) from the series Hoshi-zukiyo ito no shirabe
ca 1830
6 in x 8.5 in (Overall dimensions) color woodblock print
A shunga book attributed to Kuninao containing four double pages and one single page of illustrations including an actor making love in a Green Room. This comes from a set of three volumes. The first couple in this volume show a man pulling a bijin's hand toward his crotch where one can see that he is aroused under his garments. Nearby them, to the left, in the background is a display of giant chrysanthemums to which poem slips have been attached. The image on page 5 shows a sumo wrestler having sex with a bijin.
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The front part of page 4, the two heads and upper part of the torsos, appears on the cover of a contemporary book of shunga. That title is 江戸好色本に見る: Hのいろは.
picture book (ehon - 絵本) (genre)
erotic prints (shunga - 春画) (genre)
sumō (相撲) (genre)