Samurai Fart Art of Japan | 10 Min History

About this episode

This episode explores the bizarre and humorous world of Edo-period fart art in Japan, focusing on a 34-foot scroll that reveals cultural insights and political commentary.

Japan gave us The Great Wave. It also gave us 34 feet of fart scroll! 💨 When archivists at Waseda University unrolled a 34-foot Edo-period scroll, they expected samurai, landscapes, or elegant courtly scenes. What they got was 10 meters of pure, unhinged fart battle art, and it's one of the most fascinating windows into feudal Japanese culture you'll ever find. In this episode: The 34-foot Waseda hēgassen scroll and what's actually in it How fart art dates back to 12th-century Japanese monks Why the Edo period (1603–1868) became a golden age of gag art How flatulence scrolls were used as political satire and anti-government commentary The fart scroll of Toba and its surprisingly pointed critique of Japan's civil war Why sometimes… a fart joke is just a fart joke For the Love of History is a history podcast covering world history, women's history, and weird history hosted by TK. New episodes regularly!! ✨ Want more untold stories like this? Support the podcast and unlock bonus content over on Patreon. Website (⁠⁠⁠📕 Find resources here!!📕 ⁠⁠⁠) ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Merch Store⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠ Learn more about your ad…

People in this episode

Host: Tehya N.

Topics covered

• Edo-period art
• Japanese culture
• political satire
• gag art
• fart humor

Keywords

• fart art
• Edo period
• Japanese history
• political satire
• gag art
• Waseda University
• cultural commentary

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Waseda University

Books & works: The Great Wave, hēgassen scroll, fart scroll of Toba

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