A History of Ecchi Part 1: Japanese Erotica, Where It All Started
Hello, my name is Otakun3000, Otakun or simply “Ota”. I’m a new writer here at AniTAY and hope to entertain you with all kinds of subjects.
First of all, I want to warmly welcome you to this series of articles, about a genre so controversial and problematic for some, yet so enticing and interesting for others: ecchi.
This series is focused on ecchi, but since there are so many ecchi works, it would require really lengthy articles in order to discuss them all, so, I will focus on those I know best, those that had an impact and some of the most important ones.
“Ecchi” is a slang term in Japanese for “playfully sexual actions” — basically the pronunciation of the letter “H” (from the word “Hentai”, meaning “pervert”). The word “ecchi” was adopted in the West to refer to a genre comprising sexually suggestive content, prominent sexuality and softcore teasing, without ever approaching hardcore 18+ material. In Japan, the word ecchi instead refers to an individual’s perverted conduct. As we in the West understand it, ecchi anime and manga are works loaded with fanservice. While in mainstream titles sexual fanservice is usually a random audience-pleasing occurrence, sexual fanservice is the main focus of an ecchi work.
In this series’ first article, we will explore where it all began — the start of Japanese erotica.
Let’s start digging (pun intended)!
Handscrolls, Ukiyo-e and Shunga
The first human habitation of the Japanese archipelago can be dated to around 30,000 BC. Japanese soil doesn’t preserve fossils well, so we have no written record from this era. Despite existing through several historical periods (prehistoric, paleolithic, Jomon, Yayoi, Kofun, Asuka and Nara, encompassing 30,000 BC to around 700 AD) Japan left little trace of erotic art. Thus, it is usually considered that the earliest Japanese erotic art can be dated to the Heian Period (794 to 1185), through the usage of narrative handscrolls. This era’s traditional Japanese handscrolls illustrated aspects of contemporary life, usually preserving tales of nobles and heroes. Handscrolls themselves were likely invented in India around 4th BC, appearing in China around 1 A.D, before their introduction to Japan centuries later, thanks to the spread of buddhism.
Japanese erotic art was already evident in handscrolls, although usually as depictions of erotic scandals inside courts or monasteries. Around the 17th century, ukiyo-e was developed. Art was painted in woodblock prints: the image drawn on Japanese paper was glued to a plank of wood, which was then chiseled around the drawing outlines and the block was inked, with Paper pressed against the woodblock to print the drawing itself. It didn’t take long for the ukiyo-e art and the woodblock print technique to be utilized for erotic drawings, called shunga.
During the Edo period (1603–1867), shunga increased in popularity, admired by men and women of all classes. Housewives, merchants and samurai were among its most avid consumers, despite government attempts at suppression with acts blocking its commercialization and production. Shunga was forced underground as it was considered lewd and explicit forbidden material. Ukiyo-e was already a well-known Japanese art form and shunga benefitted from this popularity.
Scholars debate why shunga was popular specifically among certain classes. Some research shows very weird customs and superstitions surrounding shunga. It was considered a lucky charm for samurai to carry shunga and merchants believed it could protect their stores against fire. Housewives bought shunga as a gift for their sons and daughters, as a sexual guidance, a habit originating in wealthy families that spread to the common people.
Other research posits a simpler explanation. The primary consumers — merchants, housewives and samurai all had something in common: separation of sex. While merchants travelled long distances to trade goods, samurai lived part of their lives in Edo (Japan’s old capital, currently Tokyo) and housewives were often alone due to their husband’s employment. The reason they collected them wasn’t due to cultural or superstitious reasons (that could have been made up to cover up the true intentions of the buyers themselves), but for the same reason some people consume erotic work nowadays. Simple biological, physical, and psychological necessity.
Experts believe shunga was popular because it mostly depicted sexual adventures of common people (the aforementioned housewives, workers, farmers, fishers), instead of the more scandalous gossip art of the older handscrolls. Even taboo themes at the time, such as homoerotic art, appeared on shunga, although it was rarer.
When shunga and ecchi are compared, they are quite similar. Not all shunga were explicit and mostly depicted clothed people, because seeing people nude was common and tame, due to the widespread use of communal baths at the time. Clothes helped to make the images more kinky and communicated the characters’ professions or roles. Ecchi fanservice on anime and manga also works using the same premise. Most ecchi does not depict nudes, instead shows characters in sexually suggestive clothing.
During the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate (the feudal military government of Japan) zealously enforced censorship laws, especially against anything considered indecent. They seized printing blocks of erotic literature, artworks, novels and shunga, of course. After law reforms, any publication required pre-approval by a city commissioner, meaning much stricter censorship.
During three whole centuries, from the 1600s to the 1800s, erotic art censorship was the norm and its production, while reduced, (mostly due to the city commissioner laws), was still popular, despite being driven underground.
Eventually, by the 19th century, with Japan’s increased openess to the West, the western world gained exposure to ukiyo-e and shunga. Many Westerners considered Japanese erotic art to be vile and offensive. Japanese People still displayed shunga in their homes and it was still on sale, despite the laws banning indecent works. Public interest in shunga and erotic art deteriorated in Japan overall, due to the combination of even stricter laws and cultural change driven by contact with the west.
At the end of the 19th century, shunga declined to the status of mere curiosity, with few artists still working with it. Works known as Ju Hachi Kin (adult only) or Seijin, referred in the west as “hentai”, drank the fountain of shunga dry, similarly with sexual fanservice and what we call “ecchi”. These modern media owe their existence to the first drawn handscrolls about noble sexual scandals and the lasting popularity of shunga.
The 20th century: Seijin, Oiroke and the birth of a non-genre
In the early 20th century, the word “hentai” originally used as a term for “transformation” slowly changed to mean “non-standard” or “abnormal”. Adult works flourished despite censorship laws, and the Japanese began to refer to erotic work as just “H”, pronounced as “Ecchi”. At that time, there was no distinction between harder or softer content, everything was classed as porn.
Before the 60s, fanservice in manga and anime already existed in some form, but it was rare and not recognized as such. Around 1960, the first works defined as “ecchi”, that scandalized Japan were released: Harenchi Gakuen in 1968 and the success Cutie Honey (both manga and anime from 1973), both from Go Nagai. Both works will be covered in greater depth in a subsequent article.
As time progressed, more works incorporated fanservice content and terminology became VERY complicated, as the differences between Western and Japanese naming conventions evolved.
As summarized earlier, ecchi is not a “genre” in Japan, in contrast to the West. No such definition exists there. Shonen (boys’ manga) works that feature light, playful softerotica themes are called “Oiroke”, while “Seijin” is the term for what here we would call “hentai”. Some names are terms, others are genres, while others are used in the West, but not in Japan.
If you are feeling confused, let’s explain this in a easier way:
So, what we call ecchi in the West actually has no name, nor is it defined as a genre in Japan, while other terms such as Oiroke are clearly defined there, but not here.
As confusing as all that sounds, it is the result of culture clash and misunderstandings between Japanese content and the western world’s definitions of erotic, sexual and explicit material. What is considered erotic is not the same in the West and Japan.
From the 60s onwards, works we refer to as “ecchi” dramatically increased in production, when authors realized that they could circumvent Japanese censorship laws by showing as much as possible, while still hiding as much as they could. Practically every work from this time that implemented this trick was aimed at young men. Strikingly beautiful girls would show their panties, breasts and voluptuous bodies to be seen and admired. “Ecchi for girls’’ only showed up much later.
What began as erotic art to tease nobles became erotic art to arouse its costumers and evolved into what we know today, as two distinct branches: what we call hentai, the explicit Japanese-drawn porn, and what we call ecchi, the lewd and sexually provocative anime and manga that overloads on fanservice with the main aim to be softerotica and to please fans with eyecandy pictures and scenes. It was a long ride that started in the 8th to 9th century and still continues.
Coming next!
In the next article of this series, we will explore the first works to be released in Japan that were recognized as ecchi by the western world, and their impact on Japan’s society!
Stay tuned (this catchphrase…damn I’m old)!
