Book contents
- The Cambridge World History of Sexualities
- The Cambridge World History of Sexualities
- The Cambridge World History of Sexualities
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures in Volume III
- Tables in Volume III
- Contributors to Volume III
- Editors’ Preface to the Series
- 1 Sex in Athens in the Fifth and Fourth Centuries bce
- 2 Sex in Rome in the First Century bce and the First Century ce
- 3 Sex in Constantinople in the Sixth Century ce
- 4 Sex in Chang’an in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries ce
- 5 Sexuality in Baghdad in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries ce
- 6 Sex in Heian-kyō (Kyoto) in the Tenth through Twelfth Centuries ce
- 7 Sex in Iceland in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries ce
- 8 Sex in Florence in the Fifteenth Century
- 9 Sexuality in Tenochtitlan in the Early Sixteenth Century
- 10 Sex in Sixteenth-Century Istanbul
- 11 Sex in Geneva in the Sixteenth Century
- 12 Sex in Eighteenth-Century Edo (Tokyo)
- 13 Sex in Eighteenth-Century Paris
- 14 Sex and Sexuality in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia
- 15 Sex in Nineteenth-Century Cairo
- 16 Sexual Pleasures and Perils in Nineteenth-Century London
- 17 Sex in Manila in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
- 18 Sex in Lagos from the Mid-Nineteenth to the Mid-Twentieth Century
- 19 Sex in Bombay in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
- 20 Sexuality in a Distant Metropolis: Buenos Aires from the Late Nineteenth to the Mid-Twentieth Century
- 21 Sex in Early Twentieth-Century Berlin
- 22 Sex in Sydney in the Twentieth Century
- 23 Toronto the Good, Toronto the Gay: Sex and Morality in the Twentieth Century
- 24 Sex in Shanghai in the Twentieth Century: Intimate Negotiations
- 25 Sex in Twentieth-Century Rio de Janeiro
- Index
- CONTENTS TO VOLUMES I, II, AND IV
- References
12 - Sex in Eighteenth-Century Edo (Tokyo)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 April 2024
Book contents
- The Cambridge World History of Sexualities
- The Cambridge World History of Sexualities
- The Cambridge World History of Sexualities
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures in Volume III
- Tables in Volume III
- Contributors to Volume III
- Editors’ Preface to the Series
- 1 Sex in Athens in the Fifth and Fourth Centuries bce
- 2 Sex in Rome in the First Century bce and the First Century ce
- 3 Sex in Constantinople in the Sixth Century ce
- 4 Sex in Chang’an in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries ce
- 5 Sexuality in Baghdad in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries ce
- 6 Sex in Heian-kyō (Kyoto) in the Tenth through Twelfth Centuries ce
- 7 Sex in Iceland in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries ce
- 8 Sex in Florence in the Fifteenth Century
- 9 Sexuality in Tenochtitlan in the Early Sixteenth Century
- 10 Sex in Sixteenth-Century Istanbul
- 11 Sex in Geneva in the Sixteenth Century
- 12 Sex in Eighteenth-Century Edo (Tokyo)
- 13 Sex in Eighteenth-Century Paris
- 14 Sex and Sexuality in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia
- 15 Sex in Nineteenth-Century Cairo
- 16 Sexual Pleasures and Perils in Nineteenth-Century London
- 17 Sex in Manila in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
- 18 Sex in Lagos from the Mid-Nineteenth to the Mid-Twentieth Century
- 19 Sex in Bombay in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
- 20 Sexuality in a Distant Metropolis: Buenos Aires from the Late Nineteenth to the Mid-Twentieth Century
- 21 Sex in Early Twentieth-Century Berlin
- 22 Sex in Sydney in the Twentieth Century
- 23 Toronto the Good, Toronto the Gay: Sex and Morality in the Twentieth Century
- 24 Sex in Shanghai in the Twentieth Century: Intimate Negotiations
- 25 Sex in Twentieth-Century Rio de Janeiro
- Index
- CONTENTS TO VOLUMES I, II, AND IV
- References
Summary
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.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge World History of Sexualities , pp. 232 - 260Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024
References
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