Scaring Off the Youth – Utagawa School, c.1840s
 
In this wonderfully absurd and richly detailed shunga diptych, a young man’s amorous advances are met not with desire, but with outrageous mockery.  A group of women, clearly uninterested in his efforts, stage an elaborate joke: they decorate their vulvas with mask-like features, turning them into disturbing "faces" to scare him away.
 
The exaggerated eyes, lips, and expressions on the women’s genitals parody both erotic expectations and the naive enthusiasm of youth.  The young man recoils in shock, while the women laugh, smoke, and playfully carry out their prank — fully in control of the scene and its tone.
 
Measures 22.1 cm x 18.1 cm.  Condition is decent+ with some wear, soiling, creasing at top corners, couple of wormage holes.  Please see and judge from the photos provided.  
 
This rare print is attributed to the Utagawa school, most likely a work from the circle of Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III), and part of the same notorious mid-19th-century grotesque shunga series that includes:
The infamous "Attack of the Giant Vaginas"
The surreal "Giant Harigata" scene
Created during the Tenpō Reforms era, when censorship pushed erotic artists to new heights of surrealism and satire, this piece showcases the period’s taste for theatrical role reversal, visual puns, and comically exaggerated anatomy.
 
It is mentioned in discussions of shunga parody in:
Timon Screech’s Sex and Laughter in Edo Japan, exploring the ways humor and erotic art intersected
Japanese Erotic Fantasies (Uhlenbeck & Winkel), where genital personification is examined as both visual gag and cultural commentary
 
A favorite among collectors and scholars alike, this scene exemplifies how Edo-period shunga used absurdity and wit not just for titillation, but for bold commentary on gender, desire, and social play.