ART FAIR TOKYO 2016
Tour of the Adult Country 2016

Contributed by Kengo Yamanoi, Institute of Ethnology, Seijo University

Shinichi Kaneko's "Tour of the Adult Country 2016" is a work composed of sculptures and accompanying texts, where viewers place themselves in the space and the narrative concludes through evocation. The motif is derived from the second volume of the erotic book "Shunga" titled "Tour of the Adult Country," with illustrations by the prolific ukiyo-e artist, Nidaime Utagawa Kunisada (Sandai Utagawa Toyokuni), and written by Naniyorimo Sanegasukinari, also known as Jujitei Sanku.

The synopsis is as follows: One day, Shin'nosuke, a retainer, receives an order from his lord to take their ancestral golden Buddha for a hot spring cure in Atami. While enjoying the hot springs with a beautiful woman he met in Atami, the golden Buddha is swept away by the overflowing hot water and carried out to sea through the sewer. Feeling responsible, they both throw themselves into the sea. Transitioning to the Sumida River, saved by a large woman involved in an incident on a boat, the two inexplicably find themselves transformed into dwarfs. Shin'nosuke, upon seeing the shining secret parts of the large woman, believes that the lord's golden Buddha is within her body and resolves to enter her secret parts. After searching through her internal organs, he finally discovers the golden Buddha that had been swept away in Atami deep within her lungs.

With events like last year's Shunga exhibition at the Eisei Bunko Museum, there has been significant attention directed towards Shunga. Kaneko discovered in Shunga a method to depict mingling humans as a "mass" and the expression of "delicate limbs." Through these two contrasting expressions, he captured a broad world beyond pornography. The "WAGO Series," created in 2015, was the first work to delve into this aspect.

Fingers are a place where humans are constantly in contact with the external world, leading to the realization of self and others. There are numerous gestures associated with fingers, such as intertwining pinkies to make a promise or "pinky swear." When hands are joined, it becomes a prayer, and when gestures are formed, a Buddha appears. In Shunga, while clues to the social relationships of depicted individuals, such as clothing, locations, and hairstyles, are plentiful, clues to emotional relationships are surprisingly scarce. If there is accompanying text, it often supplements the emotions expressed through words, but the places where emotions appear in the images are limited to the movements of limbs, serving as a mechanism for viewers to immerse themselves in the world of the image.

Where did the artists learn the expression of limbs? It is natural to assume that it came from Kabuki or dance. Demonstrating the differences between men and women through the turning of the upper arms, expressing the age and emotions of people through movements such as bending and twisting limbs—these are all expressions that can be described as a language of the body. For the artists who were exposed to theater, they effectively adapted the expressive methods performed by actors on stage to be conveyed within the frame. In other words, the movements of limbs have been cultivated through the local customs and practices, and Kaneko has sculpted these accumulated expressions into sculptures, accompanied by texts to craft narratives.

However, the story does not end there. This narrative acts as a catalyst, shaping a different story within the experiences and histories of the viewers who see the sculptures, completing the work only when another story is formed. Beyond the sculpture as an object, it is the relationship between the artist and the viewer that constitutes the work "Tour of the Adult Country 2016."