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. Translated literally, the Japanese word shunga means picture of spring; “spring” is a common euphemism for sex.

The ukiyo-e movement as a whole sought to express an idealisation of contemporary urban life. Following the aesthetics of everyday life, Edo period shunga sought to express the sexual mores of the chonin in the widest variety of forms possible, and therefore depicted heterosexual and homosexual, old and young alike, as well as a wide range of fetishes. In the Edo period it was enjoyed by rich and poor, men and women, and despite being out of favour with the shogunate, carried very little stigma. Almost all ukiyo-e artists made shunga at some point in their careers, and it did not detract from their prestige as artists. Classifying shunga as a kind of medieval pornography can be misleading in this respect.

In Japan, Shunga goes back to the Heian period. At this point it was the reserve of the courtier class. Through the medium of narrative handscrolls, sexual scandals from the imperial court or the monasteries were depicted, and the characters tended to be limited to courtiers and monks.

The style reached its apex in the Edo period (1603 to 1867). Thanks to woodblock printing techniques, the quantity and quality increased dramatically. There were repeated governmental attempts to suppress shunga, the first of which was an edict issued by the Tokugawa shogunate in 1661 banning, among other things, erotic books known as kōshokubon. While other genres covered by the edict, such as works criticising daimyo or samurai, were driven underground by this edict, Shunga continued to be produced with little difficulty. The 1722 edict was much more strict, banning the production of all new books unless the city commissioner gave permission, and after this edict Shunga went underground. However, since for several decades following this edict publisher’s guilds saw fit to send their members repeated reminders not to sell erotica, it seems probable that production and sale continued to flourish.
A man with a Western-style haircut makes love to a woman in traditional Japanese dress in this Meiji period Shunga print

The introduction of Western culture and technologies at the beginning of the Meiji era (1868–1912), particularly the importation of photoreproduction techniques, had serious consequences for Shunga. For a time, woodblock printing continued to be used, but figures began to appear in prints wearing Western clothing and hairstyles. Eventually, Shunga could no longer compete with erotic photography, leading to its decline.

The art of shunga provided an inspiration for the Shōwa and Heisei, or modern, period art known in the Western world as hentai, and known (formally) in Japan as ‘jū hachi kin’ (literally, “18-restricted”, or adult-only) anime and manga. Like shunga, hentai is sexually explicit in its imagery.

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春画（しゅんが）とは、江戸時代に流行した性風俗（特に異性間・同性間の性交場面）を描いた浮世絵の一種。笑い絵や枕絵、枕草紙、秘画、ワ印とも呼ばれ る。また、それほど露骨な描写でない絵は危絵（あぶなえ）とも呼ばれた。その描写は必ずしも写実的でなく、性器が大きく描かれることが多い。

春画の始まりは中国の医学書とともに伝えられた房中術の解説図だと思われる。日本では平安時代初期から偃息図（えんそくず、おそくず）、またはおそくずの絵（おそくづのゑ）と呼ばれる性的題材を描いた絵画があったとされているが（『古今著聞集』十一など）、もともと「偃息図」という言葉自体が中国からきたものである（「偃息」（えんそく）とは、横に寝転んで休むこと、男女が同衾することである）。 なお、『嬉遊笑覧』は「おそはたはれたること、くづは屑なるべし、陽物をいふに似たり」と解釈する。

それが庶民に、室町時代から江戸時代にかけて広がり、絵師たちによって描かれるようになった。災難よけの一種のお守りとして使われるようになったり、特に枕絵の絵巻は花嫁の性教育のテキストとして使われた。ただ、この時代は肉筆のため一部の上流階級のためのものであった。

桃山時代、明から春宮秘戯図が伝来し出版された。それに影響され日本でさかんに春画が描かれるようになった。 初期の絵師としては菱川師宣が代表的であり、彼の作品の大半が春画である。 また、井原西鶴の浮世草子、好色一代男が大流行し、好色物と呼ばれるジャンルが流行る。それにより、春画の需要が増える。

しかし享保7年（1722年）享保の改革により好色本が禁止される。それでも需要があるためこれより非公開で販売されることとなる。そして、錦絵の開発により、多色刷りの春画が寛政のころから本格的に登場しだした。

江戸幕府の規定を守る必要がない春画は、通常では出版できない極彩色の作品が作られた。そのため、浮世絵の最高の技術が使われているものは春画とも言われている。有名な絵師のほとんどがこれを手がけ、狩野派・土佐派の絵師達までもが描いた。

Via [wikipedia]