Erotic Book: Embon futamigata (Last Volume)

This sheet, catalogued by the Harvard Art Museums as Erotic Book: Embon futamigata (Last Volume), is associated with Kitagawa Utamaro's tradition of shunga, the explicit prints and illustrated books that formed a significant portion of his output. Shunga circulated as printed albums and as bound erotic ehon throughout the late Edo period, produced by the same workshops, publishers and designers responsible for the public ukiyo-e of the Yoshiwara. Utamaro's shunga albums, including Utamakura and other celebrated titles, are widely regarded as the high point of the genre for their tenderness, observational accuracy and refined draftsmanship. The 'last volume' designation suggests that this Embon futamigata is part of a multi-volume set, of which only the closing portion is documented in this Harvard record. The catalogue date of 1867 reflects archival processing rather than the original publication of the design, since Utamaro himself died in 1806. The work's preservation in a major institutional collection illustrates the growing scholarly acceptance of shunga as a serious branch of ukiyo-e, of central importance to understanding Edo sexuality, gender and the print economy. As an extension of his Edo bijin-ga practice, the print demonstrates the continuity between Utamaro's public and private bodies of work.