''He-gassen'' (
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
: 屁合戦, ), or ''Hōhi-gassen'' (放屁合戦, ), are titles given to a
Japanese art
Japanese art consists of a wide range of art styles and media that includes Jōmon pottery, ancient pottery, Japanese sculpture, sculpture, Ink wash painting, ink painting and Japanese calligraphy, calligraphy on silk and paper, Ukiyo-e, paint ...
scroll, created during the
Edo period
The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...
(1603–1868) by an
unknown artist or several unknown artists depicting
flatulence humor
Flatulence humor (more commonly known as fart jokes) is a form of toilet humor that refers to flatulence. It can take the form of to any type of joke, practical joke device, or other off-color humor .
History
Although it is likely that flatulen ...
.
He-gassen is a subject occasionally depicted in Japanese art, first attested at the end of the
Heian Period
The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...
(794–1185).
Toba Sōjō
(1053–1140), also known as in his priesthood, was a Japanese artist-monk, and the son of Minamoto no Takakuni.
Biography
Kakuyū was a high priest of Tendai Buddhism. He was advanced to in 1132 and then in 1134.
In 1138, he became the ...
(1053–1140), in addition to his famous
Scrolls of Frolicking Animals, is also mentioned as having painted
scrolls
A scroll (from the Old French ''escroe'' or ''escroue''), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing.
Structure
A scroll is usually partitioned into pages, which are sometimes separate sheets of papyru ...
on themes such as "
Phallic
A phallus (: phalli or phalluses) is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history, a figure with an erect penis is described as ''ithyphallic''.
Any object that symbo ...
Contest" and "He-gassen."
Notable examples
* ''Kachie Emaki'' (勝得絵巻) (scroll), anonymous (15th century, copy of earlier work),
Mitsui Memorial Museum.
* ''Hōhi Gassen Emaki'' (放屁合戦絵巻) (scroll; 1449, copy of earlier work)
Suntory Museum of Art
The is an arts museum located in Tokyo Midtown, Roppongi, Tokyo. It is owned by the Suntory corporation. The collection theme of the art works is "Art in life" and they mainly have Japanese antiques. The museum houses more than 3,000 cultural ob ...
.
* ''Hōhi Gassen Zu'' (放屁合戦図) (sliding screen)
The Museum of Art, Kōchi.
* ''Hōhi Gassen Emaki'' (放屁合戦絵巻) (two scrolls) by
Kawanabe Kyōsai
was a Japanese painter and caricaturist. In the words of art historian Timothy Clark, "an individualist and an independent, perhaps the last virtuoso in traditional Japanese painting".
Biography
Living through the Edo period to the Meiji pe ...
(1867), Kawanabe Kyosai Memorial Museum (in
Warabi, Saitama
is a Cities of Japan, city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 75,614 in 41,025 households and a population density of 15,000 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Warabi has the smallest are ...
). Separately, a parody by Kyōsai from 1876, bearing the title ''Fart Contest as Japan Adopts Western Culture Illustrated Scroll'' (開化放屁合戦絵巻), is in a private collection.
* ''Onara Gassen'' (於那羅合戦) by Ogawa Usen (1921),
Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art.
Waseda University scroll
One scroll in the possession of the
Waseda University Library
The collections of Waseda University Library (早稲田大学図書館; ''Waseda Daigaku Toshokan'') form one of the largest libraries in Japan. Established in 1882, they currently hold some 5.6 million volumes and 46,000 serials.
History
The W ...
has been digitized.
The Waseda University scroll ends on the far left with a
colophon, stating that this is a 1846 work by a 69 year old
Fukuyama Fukuyama may refer to:
People
* Francis Fukuyama, Japanese-American philosopher and political economist
* Fukuyama (surname), other people with the name
Places
*Fukuyama, Hiroshima, city in Japan
*Fukuyama, Kagoshima was a town located in Aira D ...
painter called Airan , being a copy of a 1680 original painted by
Hishikawa Moronobu
Hishikawa Moronobu (; 1618 – 25 July 1694) was a Japanese artist known for popularizing the ukiyo-e genre of woodblock prints and paintings in the late 17th century. He consolidated the works of scattered Japanese art styles and forged ...
. The artist is possibly Murakata Airan (1778–c.1846).
The scroll begins at the far right, with a scene of men of various ranks (the
lacquered black caps indicate
court ranks, the others are commoners) spreading news of a fart contest, scenes of men passing along the news and carrying baskets of
taro
Taro (; ''Colocasia esculenta'') is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, stems and Petiole (botany), petioles. Taro corms are a ...
, and a cooking scene where the food is being prepared and eaten.
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
Japanese-fart-scrollsJapanese fart scrolls prove that human art peaked centuries ago
Edo-period works
Flatulence in popular culture
Japanese paintings
Works of unknown authorship
History of art in Japan
{{Japan-art-stub