This paper sheds light on the discrepancy between the presentation of Ikumen, a popularized Japanese buzzword used for fathers who are involved with childrearing, in government-backed media and the...Show moreThis paper sheds light on the discrepancy between the presentation of Ikumen, a popularized Japanese buzzword used for fathers who are involved with childrearing, in government-backed media and the way it is perceived mostly in a negative light by the target audience. An analysis of survey data of an online survey conducted by the Asahi Shinbun revealed five major reasons as to why respondents take issue with the buzzword. An analysis of ‘Family Harmony’, the Ikumen Project’s Official song, revealed that most, however not all, of these gripes are in fact being reflected in pieces of government-backed media.Show less
This thesis will examine illustrations of female masturbation in early 19th-century shunga (erotic art), produced by artists Katsushika Hokusai and Chokyosai Eiri. Shunga works reflected a ...Show moreThis thesis will examine illustrations of female masturbation in early 19th-century shunga (erotic art), produced by artists Katsushika Hokusai and Chokyosai Eiri. Shunga works reflected a ‘shungatopia’ that featured all kinds of sexual behavior. Within these works, women are known to be subjected to erotic fantasies imposed by a domineering male gaze in such depictions. In this thesis, I will analyze two erotic books from the late Edo period and utilize earlier academic publications that offer varying perspectives on the central issue of reality versus male-produced erotic discourse in the Edo period. This essay asks what shunga works expose about female masturbatory practices, and what this implies for the role of women within the erotic culture of early modern Japan.Show less
Ono no Komachi was a recognized Japanese waka poet known for her literary achievements and her seductive beauty. She lived a peaceful life as a court woman during the Heian period (794 – 1185)....Show moreOno no Komachi was a recognized Japanese waka poet known for her literary achievements and her seductive beauty. She lived a peaceful life as a court woman during the Heian period (794 – 1185). Court women were commonly expected to be treated with respect, but little did she know, that she was used as a subject for kusōzu centuries after her death. Her kusōzu depicts her deceased body deserted in nature as it faces the ravishes of time and natural decomposition. In her life she may have enjoyed a noble existence, but in death, her female body has been degraded to an object of observation. As an aspect within medieval Buddhist art, kusōzu, are paintings that typically depict a female corpse in the process of the nine stages of decay. The nine stages include: newly deceased, distension, rupture, exudation of blood, putrefaction, discoloration and desiccation, consumption by birds and animals, skeleton and disjointing . The function behind these paintings was to aid men in the process of meditation by evoking feelings of disgust and releasing the viewer from sexual desires and any delusional attachments to the physical body . Buddhist monks believed that gazing at impure things would purify the mind of impure thoughts, thus paving the way towards enlightenment.Show less
