These eight scans are taken from a story contained in a book-length "manga" (Japanese comic book) that seems to be devoted to the perils of traveling women in old Japan. The book contains many episodes, and in each episode one or both of the heroines are captured and subjected to some sort of S&M-like ordeal. Clearly a vehicle for presenting an encyclopedia of damsel-in-distress themes, but very entertaining. The first scan is a title page, with artwork that contains a lot of shading. The remaining pages are the typical black line comic type art.
In the episode from which these pages are taken the two women have been captured by a small town sheriff who believes that they have stolen a large sum of money. He has brought them to a secluded storehouse for interrogation.
When neither woman is willing to divulge the location of the money the sheriff subjects one of them to tickling torture. He begins with a "fude" (writing brush), starting with her nipples and ending up at her cunt. When that fails to make her talk he pulls out a feather and repeats the exercise. The last frame is a picture of a flower with drops of water on it. This represents "The dew in the peony," a Japanese expression meaning orgasm. The episode ends soon after, in a manner that suggests that he is about to have sex with the woman he has been tickling while proclaiming that their ordeal will continue all night.
This series is a good beginning in that it includes several major themes of Japanese S&M tickling artwork. Note that there is no fingertip tickling, nor any foot tickling. The favorite Japanese tickling tool is the "fude," followed by a group of feathers bunched up to look something like a bird's wing, and finally the second tool we see here, a single feather. Perhaps the most striking difference between the depiction of tickling in Japan and America is the fact that Japanese tickling focuses on the genitals, while American tickling focuses on everywhere but the genitals. "A Man with a Maid" is one exception, and there are others, but in general the distinction holds.
Another thing readily apparent from this series is all the contortions the artist must go through to depict a sexual encounter without displaying the genitals. Note in the very first scan the way the lamp is positioned. Japanese censorship rules forbid the display of genitals, even in drawings.
The Japanese seem to prefer that the person being tickled react with expressions of agony rather than laughter. In this series the woman never admits that what the man is doing feels ticklish, although his lines make it clear that this is his intention. The most common vocal utterances by someone being tickled are "ah" and "hi" (pron. "he"). The sound "hi" is written like a lower case t with an exaggerated tail, and you'll find that, prolonged by a horizontal line, in several of her text balloons.
Sandy Beach
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