Ero guro

Not to be confused withEro guro nansensu.

Ero guro(Japanese:エログロ)is an artistic genre that puts its focus oneroticism,sexual corruption, anddecadence.As a term, it is used to denote something that is both erotic andgrotesque.

The term itself is an example ofwasei-eigo,a Japanese combination of English words or abbreviated words:erofromeroticandgurofromgrotesque. The "grotesqueness" implied in the term refers to things that are malformed, unnatural, or horrific.Items that are pornographic and bloody are not necessarilyero guro,and vice versa. The term is often mistaken by Western audiences to mean "gore"– depictions of horror, blood, and guts.

History

Ero guroart experienced a boom whenero guro nansensu,asubculturecharacterized as a "prewar, bourgeois cultural phenomenon that devoted itself to explorations of the deviant, the bizarre, and the ridiculous",manifested in the popular culture ofTaishōTokyo during the 1920s.WriterIan Burumadescribes the social atmosphere of the time as "a skittish, sometimes nihilistic hedonism that bringsWeimarBerlin to mind. "Its roots go back to artists such asTsukioka Yoshitoshi,who, besides eroticshunga,also produced woodblock prints showingdecapitationsand acts of violence from Japanese history.Ukiyo-eartists such asUtagawa Kuniyoshipresented similar themes with bondage,rapeand eroticcrucifixion.

Ero guro nansensu's first distinct appearance began in the 1920s and 1930sJapanese literature.TheSada Abe Incidentof 1936, where a womanstrangledher lover to death andcastratedhis corpse, struck a chord with theero guro nansensumovement but shortly led to the censorship of related media.Other similar activities and movements were generally suppressed in Japan duringWorld War II,but re-emerged in the postwar period, especially inmangaandmusic.

Over time, theero guro nansensumovement's influence expanded into parts of Japanesetheatre,art,manga, and eventually into film and music.

Later influences

Ero gurois also an element of manyJapanese horrorfilms andpink films,particularly of the 1960s and 1970s. Examples includeTeruo Ishii'sShogun's Joy of Torture(1968) andHorrors of Malformed Men(1969) andYasuzo Masumura'sBlind Beast(1969), the latter two based on the works ofEdogawa Ranpo.A more recent example ofero guroin cinema isSion Sono'sStrange Circus(2005).

There are modernero guroartists, some of whom citeero guro nansensuas an influence on their work. These artists explore themacabreintermingled with sexual overtones. Often the erotic element, even when not explicit, is merged with grotesque themes and features similar to the works ofH. R. Giger.Others produceero guroas a Subgenre ofJapanese pornographyandhentaiinvolvingblood,gore,disfiguration,violence,mutilation,urine,enemas,orfeces.This Subgenre of pornography is colloquially known among internet circles simply as "guro".

Well-knownero guromanga artistsincludeSuehiro Maruo,Hajime Yamano,Jun Hayami,Go Nagai,Shintaro Kago,Toshio Maeda,Henmaru Machino,Yamamoto Takato,Horihone Saizō,Katsuhisa Kigitsu, Uziga Waita, andRei Mikamoto.

The modern genre oftentacle rapebegan within the category ofero guro(although it has much older roots in Japanese art; seeGirl Diver and Octopi) but became so popular that it is now usually considered separately.

In music

Somevisual keibands have a concept or theme relating toero guro,most notablyCali Gari.Western visual kei fans assumed their theme was a subgenre of visual kei and linked it with other similar bands.

The 2014Flying LotusalbumYou're Dead!prominently featuredero guroartwork from Japanese manga artist Shintaro Kago on the cover and inner sleeve, with further art being utilised in the accompanying live show. Much of the drawings featured men and women being disfigured and mutilated in unrealistic, hi-tech ways, with a significant amount of gore and nudity.

See also

• Erotic horror
• Grotesque
• Urotsukidoji
• L'histoire de l'œil
• Marquis de Sade
• Mnemosyne(TV series)
• Muzan-e
• Tokyo Red Hood
• List of genres
• Carnography
• Ryona
• Splatter film
• Snuff film

Further reading

• Aguilar, Carlos (editor).Bizarre Sinema! Japanese Ero Gro & Pinku Eiga 1956–1979.Firenze, Italy: Glittering Images, 2005.ISBN88-8275-065-5.
• McLelland, Mark."A Short History of 'Hentai' "Archived2017-06-22 at theWayback Machine(PDF version).Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context,issue 12 (January 2006).ISSN1440-9151.
• Silverberg, Miriam Rom.Galley copy of the table of contents and preface forErotic Grotesque Nonsense: The Mass Culture of Japanese Modern Times.December 12, 2005.
• Silverberg, Miriam Rom.Erotic Grotesque Nonsense: The Mass Culture of Japanese Modern TimesArchived2016-06-17 at theWayback Machine.Asia Pacific modern, 1. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.ISBN0-520-22273-3.