Tentacle erotica

The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife, a design by Hokusai of 1814 depicting a woman engaging in sex with a pair of octopuses.

Tamatori steals the Dragon King's jewel, by Utagawa Kuniyoshi.

Tentacle erotica describes a type of adult pornography most common in Japan and Asian countries, but not limited to them. It typically integrates elements of traditional pornography with horror or science-fiction themes. Tentacle erotica can be of a consensual nature, but frequently has elements of non-consensual sex. Tentacle rape or shokushu goukan (触手強姦^?) is a concept found in some horror or hentai titles, with tentacled creatures (usually fictional monsters) having sexual intercourse with female characters. The genre is quite popular in Japanese erotica, and is even the subject of much parody. In recent years, Japanese and Asian films featuring this genre have become more common in the United States and Europe, as have the presence of many websites, which has expanded the audience globally, although it still remains a fairly small, fetish-oriented segment of the adult film industry. While most tentacle erotica is animated, there are also a smaller number of live-action movies featuring this phenomenon. ^[1]

History

Tentacled creatures appeared in Japanese erotica long before animated pornography. Among the most famous of the early instances is an illustration from the novel Kinoe no komatsu of 1814 by Katsushika Hokusai. It is an example of shunga (Japanese erotic art) and has been reworked by a number of artists. Australian artist David Laity reworked the design into a painting of the same name, and Masami Teraoka brought the image up to date with his 2001 work "Sarah and Octopus/Seventh Heaven", part of his Waves and Plagues collection.

A scholarly paper by Danielle Talerico^[2] showed that although western audiences have often interpreted Hokusai’s famous design as rape, Japanese audiences of the Edo period would have associated it with consensual sex. Edo audiences would recognize the print as depicting the legend of the female abalone diver Tamatori. In the story, Tamatori steals a jewel from the Dragon King. However, during her egress, the Dragon King and his sea-life minions (including octopodes) pursue her. Furthermore, within the dialogue in the illustration itself, the diver and two octopi express mutual enjoyment.

Culture

In 1990, Toshio Maeda's Manga Demon Beast Invasion created what might be called the modern paradigm of tentacle porn, in which the elements of sexual assault are emphasized. Maeda explained that he invented the practice to get around strict Japanese censorship regulations, which prohibit the depiction of the penis but apparently do not prohibit showing sexual penetration by a tentacle or similar (often robotic) appendage.

The use of sexualized tentacles has also appeared in American and European films, although with far less frequency. While the historical context of tentacle erotica as a Japanese phenomenon cannot be denied, it has appeared in modern American films, either in B-movie's or adult-oriented erotica. The two most noted examples of this are Roger Corman's Galaxy of Terror, released in 1980, and Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead, released in 1981. Galaxy of Terror's release and style were influenced by the success of Alien (film) by Ridley Scott, but the film borrowed the "id monster" concept from the 1950s film Forbidden Planet to make explicit the sexual undertones that were implicit within Alien. A female astronaut, played by Taaffe O'Connell, is captured, raped and killed by a giant worm. The worm uses its many tentacles to first strip the astronaut naked, then penetrate and climax her, killing her in the process. In Raimi's The Evil Dead, the character played by actress Ellen Sandweiss is attacked by the woods she is walking in. An evil spirit within the woods using limbs and branches to ensnare, strip, and rape her, "entering" (i.e. possessing) her through the sexual act in a way very similar to that in which tentacles are normally depicted.

American artist Zak Smith has various painted works featuring octopuses and porn stars, in various stages of intercourse.

References

1. ^ Ortega-Brena, Mariana (2009). "Peek-a-boo, I See You: Watching Japanese Hard-core Animation". Sexuality & Culture (New York: Springer New York) 13 (1): 17–31. doi:10.1007/s12119-008-9039-5. ISSN 1095-5143. http://www.springerlink.com/content/r1267467784j8710/fulltext.html. 
2. ^ Talerico, Danielle. “Interpreting Sexual Imagery in Japanese Prints: A Fresh Approach to Hokusai’s Diver and Two Octopi”, in Impressions, The Journal of the Ukiyo-e Society of America, Vol. 23 (2001).

External links

• Japan SAQ—“Seldom Asked Questions” about Japan.
• Manga Artist Interview Series Part I, Sake-Drenched Postcards—interview with Toshio Maeda.