[UPDATE 5/9/2016] Megumi Igarashi was found guilty in court today for violating Japanese obscenity laws after distributing 3D data of her genitals. She was fined 400K yen (about $3700). She was, however, cleared of another charge relating to displaying a kayak modeled after her vagina.
Japanese artist Megumi Igarashi was arrested on Monday for sending 3D modeling data of her vagina. She’s accused of distribution of obscene material electronically, but has denied all charges saying “I do not acknowledge that (the work) is an obscenity.” A petition has already been set up to protest the charges, which represent a double-standard in a country which sanctions an annual penis festival and is also disturbingly behind by almost any international pornography standard.
Jon Stewart weighs in on the debate: “Japan, you arrested a woman for 3D-printing her vagina, but you gave dicks their own holiday”
To date, the 42-year old artist, who goes by the pseudonym rokudenashi-ko ( “good-for-nothing kid”) was most well known for a crowd-funded project to create a kayak based on 3D modeling data of her own vagina. In an interview last year Igarashi explained that the project was in response to her own self doubt. In a country where the female anatomy is “overly hidden,” she “did not know what a pussy should look like.”
In order to demystify the vagina, Igarashi has embarked upon various other artworks she calls “Deco-Man.” “Man,” is short for the Japanese word that equates to vagina (manko) while “deco” is an abbreviation of “decorated.” “The goal is to make “pussy more casual and pop.”
“Fukushiman” (2014). A vaginal miniature diorama of the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant. It’s “taboo on top of taboo,” the artist explained.
“Gundaman” (2014)
a diorama of an all-girl’s school
vaginal iPhone covers
Vaginal battle-scene diorama “senjo-man”
Detail of vaginal battle-scene diorama “senjo-man”
Igarashi, posing with her very own kawaii mascot “manko-chan”
July 14, 2014 at 4:13 pm
And now we’ve heard of her. It’s all good.
July 14, 2014 at 8:39 pm
NOT a vagina. This is her labia. Good grief – dont be anatomically ignorant, please. No wonder we despair of people ever finding our clitorises (clitori?) if you can’t even get it right. A vagina is just a hole surrounded by muscle – so not 3D printable like this.
July 15, 2014 at 1:17 am
Jasmine, not all the people will understand what are labia majora and labia minora. You cannot possibly expect everyone studied Anatomy. Please don’t act like you are some sort of genius. I bet you don’t even know what are the muscles and ligaments help to support the vagina and uterus without look it up on the internet.
July 15, 2014 at 1:35 am
I agree that the word vagina is not the most accurate description, but it is the one most used (and misused) lately. The vagina is the internal organ. Therefore, I might suggest calling this part of the anatomy the vulva, which includes all the external parts.
BTW, I LOVE that this Japanese woman is pushing the boundaries of the culture…. especially since they already have a penis festival…. LOL!
July 15, 2014 at 2:45 am
@Jasmine — It’s not just her labia, it’s her Vulva.
July 15, 2014 at 3:12 am
@Jasmine: If someone asks you where the church is, and you point to the doorway of the church, and say “it’s there”, only a very annoying person – whom nobody would want to have around – would correct you and say “actually, that’s the doorway to the church, not the church itself”.
July 15, 2014 at 3:29 am
Japan is so much closer now. やんなさい yannasai!
Merci Rokudenashiko
July 15, 2014 at 4:05 am
Jasmine, you sound like you know your stuff. Want to get together sometime?
July 15, 2014 at 6:31 am
Whats a clitoris ?
July 15, 2014 at 7:25 am
The church doorway / vagina analogy is brilliant.
July 15, 2014 at 8:56 am
“Vulva” is the correct word.
July 15, 2014 at 9:46 am
@Nupuso except you’ve got it the wrong way round, because this is a case of someone calling a whole church “door”, even when they’re actually talking about the battlements and steeple.
July 15, 2014 at 10:35 am
The boat is brilliant. I would like to ride in it then I could be the man in the boat.
July 15, 2014 at 12:42 pm
Sam, its like that button on the lawnmower to get it started.. only this time flooding is a good thing.
July 15, 2014 at 2:14 pm
@Philia,
pointing out common-senses is Nothing genius at all.
I d never study anatomy(okay, and I looked google to know what is “anatomy”)
But to a Chinese guy I obvious learnt what a vagina is.
it is the passage where males dick-heads stimulating ladies. am I right?
July 15, 2014 at 2:43 pm
as the creator of the (wondrous) vulva puppet, I applaud Megumi! more vulvas please.
July 15, 2014 at 2:49 pm
You’d get that boat (kayak) so wet! I appreciate everyone shutting down Jasmine. She had a point, but it was lost in her self-glorified approach!
July 15, 2014 at 3:45 pm
Wow, what a great artist, inspiring works and i love her kawai mascot.
But I do want to note that Manga and drawing of CP is by no means “behind” international standards, but rather much much more progressive then the double standards of conservatives western countries.
July 15, 2014 at 3:51 pm
That penis festival had been traditionally celebrated for CENTURIES.
THERE IS NO DOUBLE STANDARD.
July 15, 2014 at 4:49 pm
Jizo, it doesn’t matter how old it is. The fact that there isn’t an equivalent vulva festival, and that female genitals are considered more vulgar in Japanese (and other) society, means that there definitely is a double standard.
July 15, 2014 at 7:18 pm
This is a vulva, not a vagina.
July 15, 2014 at 7:23 pm
actually you call it penis festival as it is known outside of Japan, but in Japan it is called fertility festival. I won’t argue on the difference between how japanese ppl see male and female anatomy because I don’t know enough about that. But I went to this festival last May, and it was clearly not about penis only. Of course the mobile shrine was a penis, but I think it is mostly because it is easier to see than a vulva. Because otherwise the shops and activities were about both sex.
July 15, 2014 at 8:47 pm
@Jasmine
It’s clitorises. You’ll be fine.
July 15, 2014 at 9:21 pm
I prefer Yoni to Vagina, but the vagina can be considered more than just a hole surrounded by muscle. The labia minora and majora as well as the clitoris can be considered a part of the vagina.
Jasmine, I hope this restores your hope in humanity.
This art is wonderful
July 15, 2014 at 9:59 pm
you dirty switch, you’re on again
July 15, 2014 at 10:16 pm
Cannot believe that people in Japan will go around eating penis food and wearing penis hats and men stand openly in front of you at bookstores and gawk at vaginas all day long….and yet a benign sculpture of a vagina or a kayak that is vagina/vulva esque is suddenly arrestable? We have to hide our birth canals as if it is something to be ashamed of and we have to remain pure and chaste….and yet men view incredibly pornographic images behind closed doors and a artistic vagina scares them? It is called….keeping women in their place. I would start an uprising. This is unacceptable to punish this woman.
July 15, 2014 at 10:22 pm
This is just as bad as men who shun and harass women who breastfeed in public and yet behind closed doors or peepers on trains who try and look down your shirt are so happ They to exploit the female breast in that context making it super sexual and dirty to the point that showing a breast in public feels uncomfortable yet guys wave their dicks around in the public toilet and that is A OK. Well, probably not wave them around, but guys piss in front of one another. This just ticks me off so bad and women buy into it trying to please men with fake tits and the like. Geez women…stop trying to please men…stand up for your right to be a human being and let them suck it up. This is also just as bad as the notion that women would not get raped if they only dressed more conservatively. you could be ugly and wear a potato sack and still get raped because a man’s world is pure fantasy behind closed doors and that already fuels these violent acts along with seeing women as different somehow and or a hostility towards women. Some good men out there, but some very warped men out there who need to be told along with the women who support their attitudes, that they are not Eve’s creator.
July 16, 2014 at 1:04 am
As others have pointed out it is a vulva, not a vagina or labia.
It does not require someone to be a genius or to take anatomy to understand basic female anatomy – I would expect a child to know the term vulva, certainly by the time you’re an adult you should know the terms vulva and labia!
The church doorway / vagina analogy is not brilliant, considering the meaning of the word vagina and the involvement of the vulva in sex it’s pretty damn offensive. We don’t call the lips on our face our throat, do we?
July 16, 2014 at 2:29 am
Kanamara Matsuri, Giant Steel Penis´Party… Is in… JAPAN!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpJVGlZvAiQ
July 16, 2014 at 4:22 am
Come on, this is not an anatomy or biology class. The artist describes her work as a 3D of her vagina, so that’s it! The point here is, a female in Japan decides to make a statement in a country where men nudity is accepted and female nudity is seen as pornographic. Living in Japan for over 10 years, I applaud her bravery! Lets give her our support (instead of meaningless criticism). Thanks.
July 16, 2014 at 8:01 am
I wonder if she’s considered doing a diorama on fracking.
July 16, 2014 at 8:56 am
Valla chochete tiene la japonesita
July 16, 2014 at 10:51 am
So, why is this labeled NSFW, and the penis festival isn’t? Oops. Your sexism is showing.
July 16, 2014 at 11:10 am
@Leslie – we didn’t write that post. It’s a link to a different site.
July 16, 2014 at 10:52 am
This is just way too funny, but think of the possibilities, throw a grill party with penis handled grill accessories, pin the tail on the clit, real knockers on the front door…woohoo! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!!!
July 16, 2014 at 12:29 pm
How anyone can POSSIBLY consider the human reproductive organs to be obscene is beyond me.
July 16, 2014 at 3:51 pm
The true tragedy is, in the US, this is still marked “NSFW”.
July 16, 2014 at 5:49 pm
I bet it wouldn’t be labeled obscene if it had an octopus coming out or going into it. Silly Japanese.
July 18, 2014 at 3:40 pm
lol wtf
July 20, 2014 at 7:57 pm
Does this woman create any art that doesn’t reference a vagina?
July 21, 2014 at 3:12 pm
I have read other articles about this woman and understand what (in addition to her seeking notoriety) may have been her motivation. As a girl growing up in the US in the 1950’s, I had no clue about female anatomy. My mom, influenced by her and my dad’s immigrant parents, taught us that we call that area our “garbage.” Perception: Something stinky and ugly that must be covered. So many women, particularly from my era, wonder if there is such thing as a ‘perfect’ (vagina;vulva;blah,blah)
Some women fear their opening is too large; their lips are too long; the color is wrong. This has led to the very lucrative ‘vaginal rejuvenation’ business. Here in Miami Beach, they advertise that operation on the radio. Just check the ‘before’ and ‘after’ pics on the Internet. They are not considered pornographic but medical. I read that megumi-igarashi underwent vaginal reconstruction. One of the reasons we have such a thriving business for body alteration in Miami is that we are right up there with the world’s capitals of pornography. When a camera has to do a close-up shot of a woman’s ‘private parts’ the porn bosses want to see a ‘Barbie taco.’
July 21, 2014 at 11:22 pm
I would have thought Japan would be less hung up on “decency” than the USA.
July 26, 2014 at 11:37 pm
I am not ignorant of the female anatomy. In fact, i have an advanced degree on the subject. I have a major in labia and a minor in labia.
August 3, 2014 at 11:40 pm
Nupuso: It’s definitely the doorway to my church!