Dream Spectres: Extreme Ukiyo-e: Sex, Blood & the Supernatural [Paperback]

Jack Hunter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 26, 2010

UKIYO-E images from the floating world were the most popular art-form of 19th century Japan. Like modern-day manga, these prints could be mass-produced and were admired by people from all sectors of society; and as in manga, the art of ukiyo-e included significant sub-genres dealing in violence. erotica and horror. With unflinching images of weird sex, bloody carnage and grotesque, demonic ghosts, DREAM SPECTRES is a powerful collection of the extremes of ukiyo-e, featuring the work of such artists as Yoshitoshi, Ekin, Kunichika, Yoshiiku, Kunisada, Hokusai, Kuniyoshi, Yoshitsuya, Hiroshige, and Chikanobu. DREAM SPECTRES features over 250 amazing full-colour images, including the complete Eimei Nijuhasshuku ( 28 Blood Atrocities ) of Yoshitoshi and Yoshiiku, and ranging in content from bondage and bestiality to decapitations, demons, dragons and designs for classic irezumi (body tattoos). This is Japanese art not only at its extremes of imagination, but often at its most highly accomplished and innovative. No comparable collection has previously been published in the English language. With text by Jack Hunter, author of the acclaimed and influential Eros In Hell. Here are the original images of female ghosts which inspired huge movie hits like The Ring and The Grudge; here are the gruesome samurai pictures, the demons, the panoramas of Hell, the mythical beasts and dragons, the blood-soaked scenes from kabuki theatre; here are the most explicit and exaggerated pornographic images of shunga; here are the legendary atrocity prints of Yoshitoshi; here are the amazing tattoo designs which were taken up by Japan's yakuza and now serve as inspiration for tattoo designers worldwide. And here is a compendium of some of the most innovative and dazzling works in the history of art.

Editorial Reviews

Review

It's a little early for year end lists but I declare that with "Dream Spectres" Shinbaku has released one of the best art books of 2010. This incredible collection of images smashes open the floodgates of extreme ukiyo e for Western audiences, presenting more than 250 colour reproductions, most of which would be impossible to find otherwise. The book even reproduces the Eimei Nijuhasshuku ( 28 Scenes of Murder and Verse"), the most infamous series of Japanese muzan e (atrocity prints"), in its entirety. Hunter's achievement here is in presenting overwhelming evidence that the breadth and depth of Japanese mass produced genre painting rivals anything going on in film or literature today. Even if you're already a fan of bloody ukiyo e, there are works here that will have you collecting your eyeballs off the table. --Rue Morgue, March 2010

This mind-roasting volume is without question one of the standout books of 2010. The book, as its subtitle makes clear, deals with the darker regions of the ukiyo-e movement, specifically the gory, perverse and horrific aspects. The grossness and outrage of the pornographic illustrations on display here, nearly all featuring absurdly oversized genital organs, are undeniably striking (to say the least!). So too the spirited bloodletting of Yoshitoshi Tsukioka, who specialized in insanely gory scenes of reality-based carnage (including a man ripping another s face from his skull), and the near-psychedelic palettes of Kuniteru Utagawa and Shuntei Katsukawa, who pictured brave warriors battling dragons and giant sea turtles. There s far more to this book, of course, which can only be classified as a crowning achievement. DREAM SPECTRES is the first-ever English language book on extreme ukiyo-e, and may well end up the definitive one. --fright.com

About the Author

Jack Hunter is the acclaimed author and editor of over 20 books on the history of cult cinema, freakshows, and other cultural diversions. His innovative book on Japanese cult cinema EROS IN HELL became a bible for the new generation of US DVD producers who are still steadily releasing the films detailed in its pages. Other books include: MOONCHILD, FREAK BABYLON, and SEARCH & DESTROY. He lives in Tokyo in a constant state of cultural research.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Shinbaku Books (April 26, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1840683015
• ISBN-13: 978-1840683011
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 8.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #94,586 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #13 in Books > Arts & Photography > Other Media > Prints

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Weird but ruined, May 26, 2010

By 

Nick - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dream Spectres: Extreme Ukiyo-e: Sex, Blood & the Supernatural (Paperback)

This fairly small and thin book is replete with some of the rarer imagery from the ukiyo-e output. Fortunately, or so it might have been, they have focused on the depictions of the imagery, which take centre stage over any discussions surrounding them. However, unfortunately, the 'graphics department' have all but ruined virtually every single one of the reproductions of the same, making this book all but worthless beyond a passing squint.

The larger, postcard-sized reproductions are almost universally very blurry (more blurry, due to the reduced size, than the first scan uploaded by David suggests), presumably from their source photography, though who knows if they thought to artificially add some extra blur - it would not now surprise me. This really does wreck the book and makes you wish Hotei publications had managed such a project. Nb For those who have not seen many ukiyo-e, they are not blurry in the slightest in real life (even the very early ones, and these are mainly very late period prints) - they are prints from precision-sculpted, hand-carved hard woods, although their block colours do degrade at different rates if they have been light-exposed. In other words, the buck stops at the reproduction not the source.

Bizarrely, the smaller, matchbox-sized reproductions of works are as universally over-processed to an opposite ridiculous degree! They are sharpened and colour and contrast boosted to the extent that all detail is lost, as if in Photoshop they had repeatedly applied the same filter without looking at the distorted results (as previous reviewer speculated, this is to indicate the colours before their light-exposed fading over the years). The smaller, reduced images would have required much less to no processing, whilst the blurry larger ones were crying out for some careful work. In both cases throughout this book, they have done the exact opposite to what was needed for clear viewing, and in neither case are we seeing anything like what the artist intended for us to enjoy.

The range of material is excellent, occasionally much too small and typically weird and wonderful from the Japanese of yesteryear but given their abysmal sub-amateur photographic and reproduction treatment it only adds to the disappointment.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful collection of prints - just wish they were larger, May 18, 2010

By 

David Held (Bridgewater, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dream Spectres: Extreme Ukiyo-e: Sex, Blood & the Supernatural (Paperback)

I echo the previous reviewer's comments. When I first flipped thru the pages, I was very surprised by how small the images were and how many were squeezed onto a page. This book contains a wonderful collection of prints - it's a shame they aren't reproduced at a size that would be more accessible. I uploaded an image of a page with FIVE prints squeezed on it so that you can see what I mean. I too would have been happy to pay much more for a larger volume - probably twice the height would be necessary.

I was somewhat confused by the presentation of the Eimei Nijuhasshuku series (one of the main reasons that I purchased the book). The prints are shown one to a page, with a large image occupying most of the page and a smaller, usually more vibrantly colored, identical image next to it. There is no explanation given as to why there are two images of each print. Is the larger one a true image of an actual print? Is the small one a retouched version that is supposed to show what the print colors would have looked like when first printed? I uploaded an image of one of the pages to show you.

I also found the use of the "F" word in print descriptions to be a bit gratuitous. I liberally use it myself in exclamations and retorts, but I think some other word would have sufficed here in many cases.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too small to be appreciated, May 14, 2010

By 

S. Dondershine (SF, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dream Spectres: Extreme Ukiyo-e: Sex, Blood & the Supernatural (Paperback)

Excellent assortment of images and insightful commentary, but the images are often so small you'll need a magnifying glass to see the details. I would gladly have paid more to see the images at a decent size and some fold outs for the tryptychs. But for the price, the book is still a good value.