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is a type of
pornography most commonly found in Japan which integrates traditional pornography with elements of
bestiality and a
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
,
horror, or
science-fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univers ...
theme. It is found in some
horror or
hentai
Hentai is anime and manga pornography. A loanword from Japanese, the original term ( ) does not describe a genre of media, but rather an abnormal sexual desire or act, as an abbreviation of . In addition to anime and manga, hentai works exis ...
titles, with tentacled creatures (usually fictional monsters) having sexual intercourse, predominantly with females, or to lesser extent, males. Tentacle erotica can be consensual but mostly contains elements of rape.
The genre is popular in Japan to the point of it reaching the status of
parody
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...
. In the 21st century, Japanese films of this genre have become recognized in the United States and Europe, although it remains a small, fetish-oriented part of the adult film industry. While most tentacle erotica is animated, there are also a few live-action films that depict it.
History
Some of the earliest examples of tentacle erotica were
woodblock prints
Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper. Each page or image is create ...
depicting women being violated by octopuses, such as
Kitao Shigemasa
was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist from Edo. He was one of the leading printmakers of his day, but his works have been slightly obscure. He is noted for images of beautiful women ('' bijinga''). He was taught by Shigenaga and has been referred to a ...
's ''Programme of Erotic Noh Plays'' (1781) and
Shunshō Katsukawa's ''Lust of Many Women on One Thousand Nights'' (1786).
Among the most famous of the early instances is an illustration from the 1814
Hokusai
, known simply as Hokusai, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. He is best known for the woodblock printing in Japan, woodblock print series ''Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'', which includes the ...
book , known as ''
The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife
, also known as ''Girl Diver and Octopi'', ''Diver and Two Octopi'', etc., is a woodblock-printed design by the Japanese artist Hokusai. It is included in ('Young Pines'), a three-volume book of erotica first published in 1814, and has become ...
''. It is an example of
shunga
is a type of Japanese erotic art typically executed as a kind of ukiyo-e, often in woodblock print format. While rare, there are also extant erotic painted handscrolls which predate ukiyo-e. Translated literally, the Japanese word ''shunga' ...
(Japanese erotic woodblock art) and has been reworked by a number of artists, such as
Masami Teraoka
Masami Teraoka (born 1936) is an American contemporary artist. His work includes ''Ukiyo-e''-influenced woodcut prints and paintings in watercolor and oil. He is known for work that merges traditional Edo-style aesthetics with icons of American cul ...
, who 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 showed that although western audiences often interpret Hokusai's famous design as rape, Japanese audiences of the Edo period would have viewed it as consensual. They would have recognized the print as depicting the legend of the female
abalone
Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any of a group of small to very large marine gastropod molluscs in the family (biology), family Haliotidae. Other common name
In biology, a common name of a taxon o ...
diver Tamatori. In the story, Tamatori steals a jewel from the Dragon King. As she runs away, she's pursued by the Dragon King and his sea-life minions, including octopuses. The dialogue in the illustration shows the diver and two octopuses expressing mutual enjoyment.
This type of pornography was heavily censored in Japan after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, when the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
imposed a number of reforms onto the Japanese government, including censorship laws (see
censorship in Japan
Censorship in Japan has taken many forms throughout the history of the country. While Article 21 of the Constitution of Japan guarantees freedom of expression and prohibits formal censorship, effective censorship of obscene content does exist and ...
). Thus, the legal proscriptions against pornography date back to the
Meiji period
The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912.
The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...
.
Presently, "obscenity" is still prohibited. How this term is interpreted, however, has not remained constant. While exposed genitalia (and, until recently, pubic hair) are illegal, the diversity of permissible sexual acts is now wide compared with other liberal democracies.
Leaders within the tentacle porn industry have stated that much of their work was initially directed at circumventing this policy. According to the mangaka
Toshio Maeda
is an erotic manga artist who was prolific in the 1980s and '90s. Several of Maeda's works have been used as a basis for original video animations (OVA) including ''La Blue Girl'', ''Adventure Kid'', '' Demon Beast Invasion'', ''Demon Warrior ...
:
Culture
Animation
The earliest animated form of tentacle erotica was in the 1985
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
hentai
Hentai is anime and manga pornography. A loanword from Japanese, the original term ( ) does not describe a genre of media, but rather an abnormal sexual desire or act, as an abbreviation of . In addition to anime and manga, hentai works exis ...
OVA ''
Dream Hunter Rem
is a Japanese OVA series released from 1985 to 1992. Rem Ayanokōji is a "dream hunter", a person capable of entering the dreams of sleeping people and fighting the demons causing nightmares. The stories have their base in supernatural and ...
'', though the scene in question was excised when the OVA was re-released in a non-hentai form. The first purely non-hentai anime portraying a tentacle assault would be 1986 anime OVA ''
Guyver: Out of Control'', where a female Chronos soldier named Valcuria is enshrouded by the second (damaged) Guyver unit that surrounds her in tentacle form and assaults her.
Numerous animated tentacle erotica films followed the next couple decades. Popular titles like 1986's ''
Urotsukidoji'', 1992's ''
La Blue Girl
is an Erotic fiction, erotic anime and manga series by Toshio Maeda. Like Maeda's other hentai series (''e.g.'', ''Urotsukidōji''), ''La Blue Girl'' features a large amount of tentacle rape. It departs somewhat from its predecessors, how ...
'' and 1995's ''
Demon Beast Resurrection
is a manga series written and illustrated by Toshio Maeda, published by Wani Magazine. The series was adapted into a six-part original video animation of the same name in 1990, followed by in 1995.
Plot
Millions of years ago, Earth was ...
'' became common sights in large video store chains in the United States and elsewhere. The volume of films in this genre has slowed since the peak years in the 1990s but continue to be produced to the present day.
Manga
While manga has often featured stories of heroes being attacked by monsters with tentacles since its early period, the earliest examples of tentacle erotica in manga belong to "real life" erotic comedy manga magazines, which predate
''ero-gekiga''. Multiple scenes were found in the issue of ''Weekly Manga Q'' of March 12, 1968, where several creatures with tentacles attack women. An early example belonged to
Osamu Tezuka
Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu''; – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, and animator. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such ...
's sci-fi story ''The Returnees'' (1973), where a scene depicts a woman being assaulted and impregnated by a space creature.
Toshio Maeda
is an erotic manga artist who was prolific in the 1980s and '90s. Several of Maeda's works have been used as a basis for original video animations (OVA) including ''La Blue Girl'', ''Adventure Kid'', '' Demon Beast Invasion'', ''Demon Warrior ...
's ''
Urotsukidōji
is a Japanese erotic horror manga series written and illustrated by Toshio Maeda.
First serialized in ''Manga Erotopia'' from 1985 to 1986, ''Urotsukidōji'' marked a departure from Maeda's earlier works, with its focus on erotica, dark hu ...
'' was a pioneer in the tentacle rape genre with its mix of sex, ''
bishōjo
In Japanese popular culture, a , also romanized as ''bishojo'' or ''bishoujo'', is a cute girl character. ''Bishōjo'' characters appear ubiquitously in media including manga, anime, and computer games (especially in the ''bishojo'' game genre) ...
'' and tentacles. Maeda's depiction of tentacles was more creature-like and possessed at will, imitating male genitalia. However, six years prior to ''Urotsukidōji'' in 1976, Maeda created his first tentacle work in an experimental short story called ''SEX Tearing'', which is considered the origin for ''Urotsukidōji'' as well as the earliest work depicting sex between women and tentacles.
In 1989, Maeda's manga ''
Demon Beast Invasion'' created what could be considered the modern Japanese 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
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
regulations, which prohibit the depiction of the
penis
A penis (plural ''penises'' or ''penes'' () is the primary sexual organ that male animals use to inseminate females (or hermaphrodites) during copulation. Such organs occur in many animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, but males do n ...
but did not prohibit showing sexual penetration by a tentacle or similar appendages.
Live action
The use of sexualized tentacles in live action films, while much rarer, started in American
B-movie
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...
horror films and has since migrated to Japan. B-movie producer
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...
used the concept of tentacle rape in a brief scene in his 1970 film ''
The Dunwich Horror
"The Dunwich Horror" is a horror novella by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written in 1928, it was first published in the April 1929 issue of '' Weird Tales'' (pp. 481–508). It takes place in Dunwich, a fictional town in Massachusett ...
'', a film adaptation of the
H. P. Lovecraft short story of the same name. ''
Vice
A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...
'' magazine identifies this as "perhaps cinema history's first tentacle-rape scene".
A decade later, Corman would again use tentacle rape while producing ''
Galaxy of Terror
''Galaxy of Terror'' is a 1981 science fiction horror film produced by Roger Corman through New World Pictures and directed by Bruce D. Clark. It was distributed by United Artists. It stars Edward Albert, Erin Moran, Ray Walston and Taaffe O'C ...
'', released in 1980. Arguably the most notorious example of tentacle rape to date, Corman directed a scene in which actress
Taaffe O'Connell
Taaffe O'Connell (born May 14, 1951) is an American actress and publisher, best known by her fans for her performance in cult-classic sci-fi horror film '' Galaxy of Terror''. Her acting career began in the late 1970s and continued uninterru ...
, playing an astronaut on a future space mission, is captured, raped, and killed by a giant, tentacled worm. The film borrows the concept of the "id monster" from the 1950s film ''
Forbidden Planet
''Forbidden Planet'' is a 1956 American science fiction film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, produced by Nicholas Nayfack, and directed by Fred M. Wilcox (director), Fred M. Wilcox from a script by Cyril Hume that was based on an original film story ...
'', with the worm being a manifestation of O'Connell's character's fears. The scene was graphic enough that the film's director, B. D. Clark, refused to helm it, and O'Connell refused to do the full nudity required by Corman, so Corman directed the scene himself and used a body double for some of the more graphic shots. Initially given an X-rating by the Motion Picture Association of America, small cuts were made to the scene which changed the film's rating to "R".
Sam Raimi
Samuel M. Raimi ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the Spider-Man (2002 film series), ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007) and the ''Evil Dead'' franchise (1981–present). He also directed the 1 ...
's ''
The Evil Dead
''The Evil Dead'' is a 1981 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Sam Raimi, produced by Robert Tapert and executive produced by Raimi, Tapert, and Bruce Campbell, who also starred alongside Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeMan ...
'' includes a scene where actress
Ellen Sandweiss
Ellen Sandweiss is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Cheryl Williams in ''The Evil Dead'' franchise.
Career
Sandweiss was born in Detroit, Michigan and is a graduate of the University of Michigan.. She went to Groves High ...
' character is attacked by the possessed woods she walks through. The evil spirit inhabiting the woods uses tree limbs and branches to ensnare, strip, and rape her, possessing her through the sexual act in a way reminiscent to that in which tentacles are depicted in other pieces of media.
The scene was repeated in a shorter version in the sequel, ''
Evil Dead II
''Evil Dead II'' (also known in publicity materials as ''Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn'') is a 1987 American comedy horror film directed by Sam Raimi. It is considered both a remake and sequel (or "re-quel") to the 1981 film ''The Evil Dead'', and wa ...
'', released in 1987. Another film, about the life of artist
Katsushika Hokusai
, known simply as Hokusai, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. He is best known for the woodblock print series '' Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'', which includes the iconic print ''The Great W ...
, was the Japanese made 1981 film ''
Edo Porn
''Edo Porn'' ( ja, 北斎漫画, Hokusai manga) is a 1981 Japanese biographical drama film written and directed by Kaneto Shindō. It is based on Seiichi Yashiro's stage play on the life of Japanese artist Hokusai.
Plot
Tetsuzō is an unsuccess ...
'', which featured the ''
Dream of the Fisherman's Wife'' painting in a live action depiction. In the film ''
Possession
Possession may refer to:
Law
* Dependent territory, an area of land over which another country exercises sovereignty, but which does not have the full right of participation in that country's governance
* Drug possession, a crime
* Ownership
* ...
'' a woman copulates with a tentacled creature, although the tentacles themselves are never explicitly shown to penetrate her.
The popularity of these films has led to the subsequent production of numerous live action tentacle films in Japan from the 1990s to the present day. The theme rarely appears in adult American cinema and art; one example is American artist
Zak Smith
Zak Smith (born July 16, 1976), also known as Zak Sabbath, is an American artist, role-playing game author, and adult actor.
Early life and education
Smith was born in Syracuse, New York and grew up in Washington, D.C. After receiving a BFA ...
, who painted several works featuring octopuses and porn stars in various stages of intercourse. In 2016,
Amat Escalante
Amat Escalante (born 28 February 1979) is a Mexican film director, producer and screenwriter. He is most well known for directing the controversial Mexican crime thriller ''Heli'' for which he was awarded the best director prize award at the 201 ...
directed the art house film ''
The Untamed'', which depicts a live-action scene between the female protagonist and a tentacled space alien.
See also
*
Censorship in Japan
Censorship in Japan has taken many forms throughout the history of the country. While Article 21 of the Constitution of Japan guarantees freedom of expression and prohibits formal censorship, effective censorship of obscene content does exist and ...
*
Monster erotica
Monster erotica, also referred to as monster porn or cryptozoological erotica is a subgenre of erotic literature that involves sexual encounters between humans and monsters. It sometimes crosses over with erotic horror.
Themes
The monsters featur ...
*
Pornography in Japan
Pornography in Japan has unique characteristics that readily distinguish it from western pornography. Pornographic films are known as "adult videos" (AV) in Japan, so Japanese adult videos are "JAV", referring to the Japanese pornographic f ...
References
External links
Manga Artist Interview SeriesPart I, Sake-Drenched Postcards—interview with
Toshio Maeda
is an erotic manga artist who was prolific in the 1980s and '90s. Several of Maeda's works have been used as a basis for original video animations (OVA) including ''La Blue Girl'', ''Adventure Kid'', '' Demon Beast Invasion'', ''Demon Warrior ...
.
{{Film genres
Fictional octopuses
Hentai
Japanese pornography
Japanese sex terms
Rape in fiction
Sexuality in Japan
Zoophilia in culture