Main Index Page

Last updated 20/8/2024

x

'Japanisches Geschlechtsleben' (Japanese Sexual Life) by Tamio Satow was published by Anthropophyteia Verlag für Urtriebkunde in Leipzig in 1931.

The information on this page is taken from a publication of the work by Verlag Karl Shustek Hanau in 1965 kindly supplied to me by Michel Grand.

Roughly translated the relevant passage reads: 'One of such harmless remedies is the Kami-no-Kawazu, the paper frog. In an erotic love letter writer (Endo Fumi-no-Shiori), which was published towards the end of the Yedo period, the following can be read: "At the time when you want to meet your lover, it is better to bind him to you by a spell. This spell is to be performed as follows: You fold a frog out of white paper, write the name of your lover on his back and stick a needle into the middle of this name. Then you put the frog under the tatami (floor mat) and recite this spell: 'If you will let me see it, I will give you a bowl of wine and set you free!' If you have succeeded, (ie once the spell has worked) you will take the paper frog out from under the mat, pull out the needle and let it float away in a river. after you have dipped it in wine."

A full copy of the work can also be found here.

**********

This work is mentioned in Gershon Legman's 'Bibliography of Paperfolding' which was published in 1952.

In his 'Toward a Motif-Index of Erotic Humour', published in 1962 in 'The Journal of American Folklore', Vol. 75, No. 297, Legman states that the original English ms is 'now unfortunately lost'

**********

**********

**********