EroGuro
Encyclopedia
is a wasei-eigo
term that describes a literary and artistic movement from 1920s and '30s Japan. Ero guro puts its focus on eroticism, sexual corruption and decadence. While ero guro is a specific movement, many of its components can be found throughout Japanese history and culture.
The term is often used incorrectly by western audiences to mean "gore"—depictions of horror, blood, and guts. In actuality the "grotesque" term implies malformed, unnatural or horrific. Items that are pornographic and bloody are not necessarily ero guro, and ero-guro is not necessarily pornographic or bloody.
Tokyo during the 1920s. Writer Ian Buruma
describes the social atmosphere of the time as "a skittish, sometimes nihilistic hedonism that brings Weimar
Berlin to mind." Its roots go back to artists like Yoshitoshi
, who, besides erotic shunga
, also produced, in the mid-1860s, woodblock printings showing decapitations and acts of violence from Japanese history. Ukiyo-e
artists such as Utagawa Kuniyoshi presented similar themes with bondage, rape, and erotic crucifixion
.
Ero guro's first distinct appearance began in 1920s and 1930s Japanese literature
. The Sada Abe Incident
of 1936, where a woman choked
and castrated
her lover, struck a chord with the ero guro movement, and came to represent that genre for years to come. This and other activities and movements were generally suppressed in Japan during World War II
, but re-emerged in the postwar period, especially in manga
and music
.
Over time, the ero guro movement's influence expanded into parts of Japanese theatre
, art
, manga
, and eventually film and music.
's Shogun's Joys of Torture
(1968
) and Horrors of Malformed Men
(1969
) and Yasuzo Masumura
's Blind Beast (1969
), the latter two based on the works of Edogawa Rampo
. A more recent example of ero guro in cinema is Sion Sono
's Strange Circus
(2005
).
There are modern guro artists, some of whom cite Erotic Grotesque Nonsense as an influence on their work. These artists explore the macabre intermingled with sexual overtones. Often the erotic element, even when not explicit, is merged with grotesque themes and features similar to the works of H. R. Giger
. Others produce ero guro as a genre of Japanese pornography
and hentai
involving blood
, gore
, disfiguration, violence
, mutilation
, urine
, enemas
, or feces
.
Well-known guro manga artists
include Suehiro Maruo
, Shintaro Kago
, Jun Hayami, Toshio Maeda
, Henmaru Machino
, Horihone Saizō, and Waita Uziga.
The modern genre of tentacle rape
began within the category of ero guro (although it has much older roots in Japanese art; see The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife
), but was so popular that it is now usually considered separately.
bands have a concept or theme relating to ero guro, most notably Cali Gari
. Western visual kei fans assumed their theme was a subgenre of visual kei and linked it with other similar bands.
Wasei-eigo
are Japanese pseudo-Anglicisms: English constructions not used in the English-speaking world or by native English speakers, but that appear in Japanese. This should not be confused for foreign words gairaigo, which generally refer to words from European languages, especially American English...
term that describes a literary and artistic movement from 1920s and '30s Japan. Ero guro puts its focus on eroticism, sexual corruption and decadence. While ero guro is a specific movement, many of its components can be found throughout Japanese history and culture.
The term is often used incorrectly by western audiences to mean "gore"—depictions of horror, blood, and guts. In actuality the "grotesque" term implies malformed, unnatural or horrific. Items that are pornographic and bloody are not necessarily ero guro, and ero-guro is not necessarily pornographic or bloody.
History
Ero guro nansensu, characterized as a "prewar, bourgeois cultural phenomenon that devoted itself to explorations of the deviant, the bizarre, and the ridiculous," manifested in the popular culture of TaishōTaisho period
The , or Taishō era, is a period in the history of Japan dating from July 30, 1912 to December 25, 1926, coinciding with the reign of the Taishō Emperor. The health of the new emperor was weak, which prompted the shift in political power from the old oligarchic group of elder statesmen to the Diet...
Tokyo during the 1920s. Writer Ian Buruma
Ian Buruma
Buruma is a nephew of the English film director John Schlesinger, a series of interviews with whom he published in book form.-Works:*The Japanese Tattoo with Donald Richie ISBN 978-0-8348-0228-5...
describes the social atmosphere of the time as "a skittish, sometimes nihilistic hedonism that brings Weimar
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
Berlin to mind." Its roots go back to artists like Yoshitoshi
Yoshitoshi
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi was a Japanese artist.He is widely recognized as the last great master of Ukiyo-e, a type of Japanese woodblock printing. He is additionally regarded as one of the form's greatest innovators. His career spanned two eras – the last years of feudal Japan, and the first years of...
, who, besides erotic shunga
Shunga
' is a Japanese term for erotic art. Most shunga are a type of ukiyo-e, usually executed in woodblock print format. While rare, there are extant erotic painted handscrolls which predate the Ukiyo-e movement...
, also produced, in the mid-1860s, woodblock printings showing decapitations and acts of violence from Japanese history. Ukiyo-e
Ukiyo-e
' is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints and paintings produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries, featuring motifs of landscapes, tales from history, the theatre, and pleasure quarters...
artists such as Utagawa Kuniyoshi presented similar themes with bondage, rape, and erotic crucifixion
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is an ancient method of painful execution in which the condemned person is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang until dead...
.
Ero guro's first distinct appearance began in 1920s and 1930s Japanese literature
Japanese literature
Early works of Japanese literature were heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, often written in Classical Chinese. Indian literature also had an influence through the diffusion of Buddhism in Japan...
. The Sada Abe Incident
Sada Abe
is remembered in Japan for erotically asphyxiating her lover, , on May 18, 1936, and then cutting off his penis and testicles and carrying them around with her in her handbag...
of 1936, where a woman choked
Erotic asphyxiation
Erotic asphyxiation or breath control play is the intentional restriction of oxygen to the brain for sexual arousal. The sexual preference for that behavior is variously called asphyxiophilia, autoerotic asphyxia, hypoxyphilia. Colloquially, a person engaging in the activity is sometimes called a...
and castrated
Castration
Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which a male loses the functions of the testicles or a female loses the functions of the ovaries.-Humans:...
her lover, struck a chord with the ero guro movement, and came to represent that genre for years to come. This and other activities and movements were generally suppressed in Japan during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, but re-emerged in the postwar period, especially in manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
and music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
.
Over time, the ero guro movement's influence expanded into parts of Japanese theatre
Theatre of Japan
Traditional Japanese theatre includes kabuki, noh and bunraku.-Traditional form of theater:There are four major forms of traditional Japanese theater that are famous around the world. These are Noh, Kyogen, Kabuki, and Bunraku, or puppet theater....
, art
Japanese art
Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture in wood and bronze, ink painting on silk and paper and more recently manga, cartoon, along with a myriad of other types of works of art...
, manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
, and eventually film and music.
Later influences
Ero guro is also an element of many Japanese horror films and pinku eiga, particularly of the 1960s and 1970s. Examples include Teruo IshiiTeruo Ishii
was a Japanese film director best known in the West for his early films in the Super Giant series, and for his films in the Ero guro subgenre of pinku eiga such as Shogun's Joys of Torture . He also directed the 1965 film, Abashiri Prison, which helped to make Ken Takakura a major star in Japan...
's Shogun's Joys of Torture
Shogun's Joys of Torture
is a 1968 Japanese film in the Ero guro sub-genre of Toei's style of Pink film. Directed by Teruo Ishii, the film is considered a precursor to Toei's ventures into the "Pinky violent" style in the early 1970s.-Availability:...
(1968
1968 in film
The year 1968 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 30 - The film The Lion in Winter, starring Katharine Hepburn, debuts.* November 1 - The MPAA's film rating system is introduced.-Top grossing films :- Awards :...
) and Horrors of Malformed Men
Horrors of Malformed Men
is a 1969 Japanese film in the Ero guro sub-genre of Toei's style of Pink film. Directed by Teruo Ishii, the film is considered a precursor to Toei's ventures into the "Pinky violent" style in the early 1970s.-Critical appraisal:...
(1969
1969 in film
The year 1969 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Last year for prize giving at the Venice Film Festival until it is revived in 1980...
) and Yasuzo Masumura
Yasuzo Masumura
was a Japanese film director.Masumura was born in Kōfu on Honshū. After dropping out of a law course at the University of Tokyo he worked as an assistant director at the Daiei studio, later returning to university to study philosophy; he graduated in 1949...
's Blind Beast (1969
1969 in film
The year 1969 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Last year for prize giving at the Venice Film Festival until it is revived in 1980...
), the latter two based on the works of Edogawa Rampo
Edogawa Rampo
, better known by the pseudonym , was a Japanese author and critic who played a major role in the development of Japanese mystery fiction. Many of his novels involve the detective hero Kogorō Akechi, who in later books was the leader of a group of boy detectives known as the .Rampo was an admirer...
. A more recent example of ero guro in cinema is Sion Sono
Sion Sono
is a controversial Japanese filmmaker and poet. He was born in Toyokawa, Aichi, Japan, and is best known for his films as well as avant-garde poetry performances.-Early career:...
's Strange Circus
Strange Circus
-Plot:School principal Ozawa Gozo rapes his daughter, Mitsuko, after she sees her parents having sex. Her mother Sayuri witnesses the rape. Gozo now rapes both of them as he pleases, while his family is undermined by incest, suicide, and murder... such is the erotic novel wheel-bound novelist Taeko...
(2005
2005 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...
).
There are modern guro artists, some of whom cite Erotic Grotesque Nonsense as an influence on their work. These artists explore the macabre intermingled with sexual overtones. Often the erotic element, even when not explicit, is merged with grotesque themes and features similar to the works of H. R. Giger
H. R. Giger
Hans Rudolf "Ruedi" Giger is a Swiss surrealist painter, sculptor, and set designer. He won an Academy Award for Best Achievement for Visual Effects for his design work on the film Alien.-Early life:...
. Others produce ero guro as a genre of Japanese pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
and hentai
Hentai
is a Japanese word that, in the West, is used when referring to sexually explicit or pornographic comics and animation, particularly those of Japanese origin such as anime, manga, and computer games. The word hentai is a kanji compound of 変 and 態...
involving blood
Blood
Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
, gore
Disembowelment
Disembowelment is the removal of some or all of the organs of the gastrointestinal tract , usually through a horizontal incision made across the abdominal area. Disembowelment may result from an accident, but has also been used as a method of torture and execution...
, disfiguration, violence
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
, mutilation
Body integrity identity disorder
Body Integrity Identity Disorder , formerly known as Amputee Identity Disorder, is a psychological disorder wherein sufferers feel they would be happier living as an amputee...
, urine
Urolagnia
Urolagnia is a paraphilia in which sexual excitement is associated with the sight or thought of urine or urination. The term has origins in the Greek Language .Those who enjoy urolagnia may enjoy urinating on another person or persons, or being urinated upon...
, enemas
Klismaphilia
The term Klismaphilia refers to the receiving of sexual arousal from introducing liquids into the rectum and colon via the anus. This paraphilia often involves the use of enemas. The term klismaphilia was coined in 1973 by Dr...
, or feces
Coprophilia
Coprophilia , also called scatophilia or scat, is the paraphilia involving sexual pleasure from feces...
.
Well-known guro manga artists
Mangaka
is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...
include Suehiro Maruo
Suehiro Maruo
, is a Japanese manga artist, illustrator, and painter.-Biography:Maruo graduated from junior high school in March 1972 but dropped out of senior high school. At the age of 15 he moved to Tokyo and began working for a bookbinder...
, Shintaro Kago
Shintaro Kago
, is a Japanese guro manga artist. He debuted in 1988 on the magazine COMIC BOX.-Style:Shintaro Kago's style has been called "fashionable paranoia". He has been published in several adult manga magazines, gaining him considerable popularity...
, Jun Hayami, Toshio Maeda
Toshio Maeda
is a controversial erotic manga artist who was most prolific in the 1980s and 90s. Several of Maeda's works have been used as a basis for Original Video Animations including the well known La Blue Girl, Adventure Kid, Demon Beast Invasion, Demon Warrior Koji and his most famous work, Urotsukidōji...
, Henmaru Machino
Henmaru Machino
Henmaru Machino is a Japanese artist, described as the Magritte of the ero manga world, whose works prominently feature themes of dysmorphic hermaphrodism and body transformation, as well as dozens of other sexual paraphilia...
, Horihone Saizō, and Waita Uziga.
The modern genre of tentacle rape
Tentacle rape
is found in some horror or hentai titles, with tentacled creatures having sexual intercourse with female characters. The genre is popular enough in Japan that its occasionally even the subject of parody. In recent years, Japanese and Asian films of this genre have become more common in the United...
began within the category of ero guro (although it has much older roots in Japanese art; see The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife
The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife
, also known as Girl Diver and Octopi, Diver and Two Octopi, etc., is an erotic woodcut of the ukiyo-e genre by the Japanese artist Hokusai. It is from the book Kinoe no Komatsu , a three-volume collection of shunga erotic prints first published in 1814, and is the most famous shunga Hokusai ever...
), but was so popular that it is now usually considered separately.
In music
Some visual keiVisual Kei
is a movement among Japanese musicians, that is characterized by the use of make-up, elaborate hair styles and flamboyant costumes, often, but not always, coupled with androgynous aesthetics. Some sources state that visual kei refers to a music genre, or to a sub-genre of Japanese rock, with its...
bands have a concept or theme relating to ero guro, most notably Cali Gari
Cali Gari
Cali Gari is a Japanese visual kei band formed with the concept erotic grotesque. It was founded in 1992 and named after the horror film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The band's debut single came out in 1994 and their first major single was "Dai 7 Jikkenshitsu Yokokuban -Maguro-" released April...
. Western visual kei fans assumed their theme was a subgenre of visual kei and linked it with other similar bands.
See also
- Mnemosyne (anime)Mnemosyne (anime)is a six-episode Japanese anime television series produced by Xebec and Genco, featuring grotesque and erotic visuals. The anime was produced to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the AT-X network, which it originally aired on. Funimation Entertainment licensed the series in North America...
- Tokyo Red HoodTokyo Red Hoodis a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Benkyo Tamaoki. Its serialization began in the monthly Comic BIRZ in 2003. The manga is popular for its young main character and the different sex acts she partakes in...
- Muzan-eMuzan-eThe Muzan-e, also known as the 'Bloody Prints' or the 'Twenty Famous Eight Murders with Verse', is a collection a of Japanese ukiyo-e by artist Yoshitoshi from the 1860s, which depicted several gruesome acts of murder or torture based on historical events or scenes in Kabuki plays...
- Histoire de l'oeilHistoire de l'oeilStory of the Eye is a novella written by Georges Bataille and published in 1928 that details the increasingly bizarre sexual perversions of a pair of teenage lovers...
- List of genres