Graphic depictions of enormous phalluses and acrobatic sex positions have long rendered centuries-old Japanese “shunga” art taboo, but a rare exhibition aims to prove the genre is a world apart from male-centred porn.

Female pleasure instead takes centre stage at the Tokyo exhibition showcasing around 150 pieces of shunga — an erotic form of “ukiyo-e” drawings and woodblock prints that flourished in Japan’s Edo period, which began in 1603.

But so explicit is the art form in its depictions of nudity, genitals and sex that it was suppressed under Japan’s post-shogunate westernisation drive in the late 19th century.

That stigma around shunga lingers more than a century on, with the genre often lumped together with commercial porn that objectifies women.

It is this misconception that the l

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