Many people consider tentacle hentai to be one of the most bizarre forms of hentai/ecchi out there. Some people think that’s what all hentai is and cite it as their reasons for hating all henti.
Regardless of whether you like hentai or hate it, there does seem to be something about tentacle sex that people do love and that motivates them to see every episode (and live action movie) of cult classics like La Blue Girl and Injukoshi.
It may surprise you to learn Tentacle porn is not a new thing. No really – it’s been around at least since the Edo Period in Japan (1603 to 1867).
Around this time Katsushika Hokusai, a famous Japanese artist, made a woodcut called “The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife“ (pictured here).
This celebrated piece depicting a woman making out with a small octopus while a bigger one gives her oral sex so is well loved that in Japan one can buy key-chains and other trinkets featuring this image! Other artists have even created their own versions of this peice as an homage to Hokusai.
During the Edo period and afterwards, many things were happening, culturally, in Japan that may have contributed to this “birth” of tentacle sex.
For one, the Edo period saw an increase in the number of people practicing the Shinto religion. Shinto is a very friendly religion with the worshipping of many gods and spirits connected to nature – gods and spirits who sometimes had sex with humans in animal form or semi-animal. (see also Kitsune)
“Japanese mythology and folk tales are full of wild creatures that act upon ‘their’ desires; much in the way that Greek mythology is full of bulls and swans that fornicate with people. These critters are the archetypal representations of human desires. While the octopus in western imagery is the dark monster of the ocean that brings down ships, the octopus in Japan is often the undersea comic or the clever little prankster. The undersea world for the Japanese is not a dark, watery hell, but rather it’s a wondrous world full of glittering castles and partying immortal women” – Midori, EroZine
A second big factor was the popularity of shunga art [Shunga means "pictures of spring" - a euphemism for sex]. Hokusai was one of the many artists who painted these popular pornographic scrolls, books, and woodcuts. Shunga was not seen as dirty and wasn’t illegal in Japanese culture; often shunga books were given to the young adult children of the wealthy and to newly weds to serve as instruction manuals and suggestion books for sexual play.
As I mentioned above, Hokusai’s “The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife” and his other erotic artworks were and still are considered to be beautiful examples of shunga work, but tentacle sex was not destined to be wildly popular until many decades later.
It wasn’t until after World War II that tentacle porn re-surfaced and soon became extremely popular in Japan. The occupying forces (with their western ingrained sex = guilt value system) put laws in place banning the representation of genitalia in sex acts. This put a damper on the erotic art being produced at this time.
If artists, like Toshio Maeda, couldn’t legally draw a penis in their images, what could they possibly use to simulate sex acts? Let’s see here, they would need something long and firm and… phallic – hmm, what do we know of that’s pretty darn phallic? Hey! How about a tentacle?
The tentacle could deflower young (and horny) women (or possibly young men) and if anyone asked, the artists could safely assert that the tentacle wasn’t genitalia – just a monster limb that happens to look phallic!
Toshio says: “At that time [pre-Urotsuki Doji], it was illegal to create a sensual scene in bed. I thought I should do something to avoid drawing such a normal sensual scene. So I just created a creature. [His tentacle] is not a [penis] as a pretext. I could say, as an excuse, this is not a [penis], this is just a part of the creature. You know, the creatures, they don’t have a gender. A creature is a creature. So it is not obscene – not illegal.“
And so tentacle sex took off partly because it was the only kind of sex people were allowed to see at the time. Penises were not allowed to be seen in vaginas (or asses and mouths) but the tentacle had free reign. *insert evil laugh*
Even though we now have fairly easy access to “regular” hentai, many people still enjoy images of tentacle sex (and sometimes tentacle rape).
For some it’s the power play – the dominant tentacle beast taking the submissive girl or young man and having their way with them.
For others it’s the bondage – when you have sex with a tentacle beast, they have enough limbs to hold your arms and legs in any position they want and still penetrate you.
And for still others, it’s the multiple penetration that they enjoy. Because of the nature of tentacles, their “victim’s” body can be further away. The penetrated characters — what I like to call “fuckees” – can be depicted in ways that would be impossible if the artist had to draw bodies to go with every penetrating tool; thus, there can be more penetrating tentacles than there ever could have been penises.
And for many it’s a little of all three.
Men and women can look at tentacle sex and see it as symbolic of satisfying and being satisfied by a lover in every possible way (all at once).
In fact, a lot of women do enjoy tentacle hentai because it is a way to indulge in rape fantasy, bondage fantasies, power play fantasies, and/or multiple penetration fantasies while staying completely safe – since none of it is or ever can be real (
much to Kiki’s dismay).
More Hentai HERE
tags: sex, hentai, anime, manga, sex, fetish, ecchi, tentacle, tentacle sex, tentacle rape, tentacle hentai, tentacle beast, tentacle monster, octopus sex
I had always wondered how tenticle sex came about. That was a great informative post.
How i’d love to be fucked by ten cocks!!!
Shay dear, this is a fabulous post ! Beautiful and so well documented. I have often wondered about the tentacle sex images and their sources, and, frankly, found them a little strange at first. Thanks !! Your typical well written and informative style post ! – A
The Japanese are so weird.
I watched a series called “Angel of Darkness” once with a friend. It was kinda funny, with lotsa schoolgirls getting every imaginable orifice stuffed with 500inch long tentacle dicks.
Strange…
Your explaination was so interesting, and the pictures were equally so. Thank you.
First off, great Title! Second thanks for such an interesting and informative article!
Hey, Shay, I worship you. Awesome post!
Loved this post Shay!
“Blue Girl” is one of my favorites…Now, I know a little bit more about the Tentacle scene!!
Thanks!!
xx,adam.
Wow, that picture of the two octopussies/one girl is quite nightmareish.
From the few manga films that feature this oddness, the tentacle sex was always, always excessively violent and used to degrade the female characters (further). Pity you couldn’t have addressed this aspect of the culture and made a more balanced article, instead of just spinning a west=bad/Japan=good prejudice. Oh well.
Fuzz – I hope imformative doesn’t = dry. ^_~ hehe
Heather – Ahh, if only you were an anime character, then your dream would be possible!
Aragorn – Thank you so much sweety! You’re too kind.
Pornster – Meh, what ever gets you going (as long as it’s not hurting anyone)…
Rosie – Thank you so much.
Cipher – haha thanks! ^_^
Anon – awww that’s very sweet.
Adam – I think I am going to have to re-download my La Blue girl episodes, because after reading this post my roommate really wants to see them! haha
Dielo – Gosh, you certainly have strange nightmares! While I do admit that I find many sea creatures, like these octopi a little scary myself, the intention of the artist was to be playfully sensual – not frightening.
Luckily, the few manga films that you seem to be familiar with are not the only examples of tentacle sex out there – just like how in “regular” porn, things can be taken to extremes that can make many people uncomfortable, the same can happen in hentai. I don’t watch (or look at images of) violent tentacle sex, for the same reason that I don’t usually look at rough bdsm porn – it’s just not my kind of thing. The violent and degrading tentacle sex that you are talking about uses the power play and bdsm features of tentacle sex that I referred to in my post, but taken to a further extreme than, for example, you are comfortable with.
I’m sorry you feel that my post was prejudiced against western culture. However, it’s not my fault that various cultures have historically had fucked up views on sex. Even today, one could compare the attitudes about sexuality of Europe to the repressed attitudes of the US. Every culture has it’s pros and it’s cons which are in constant flux, but it would take me too long to hash out each positive and negative when I’m just trying to write a simple post on tentacle sex.
Wow! Now this is wild! Sounds like some sixth-grader’s fantasy . . . but it might be fun if it were to really happen!
a) I was wondering where you were getting all the fabulous erotic anime, and I found you’ve answered that, and
b) tentacle sex – wow. See, now I didn’t know any of that about the rich historical tradition and whatnot, but I was (furtively) drawing erotica of my own as far back as 16 years ago, and I loved tentacles in my art and nascent sexual imagination. Then about a decade ago I found a gorgeous (non-hentai) piece in a Heavy Metal magazine featuring an octopus/man. Just now I learned that it’s a well-explored theme (spearheaded by the Japanese, of course). Unknowingly, I’ve belonged to a group of tentacle sex fans and artists for years and years! But of course, we are all plugged into the worlds mass unconscious – nothing is original.
accident – I e-mailed you. :)
Where is that great animation at the top from? I gotta know! Could you put where to find it in somewhere? And this post was totally great. It was very informative, though I don’t know what to do with this information now. -_-
I don’t know what series that animation is from, sorry! I’m so glad that you enjoyed this post though. ^_~
shay i think it was an excellent post that is very well informed and equally balanced. thanks for all the info, you go girl!
“since none of it is or ever can be real”? Having seen pics of real women getting penetrated by latex-covered tentacles, I suspect it’s only a matter of time before someone like 4Woods comes up with a “tentacle monster” love doll
I,m a guy, and me getting fucked by a tentacle monster turns me on for some reason. I,m not gay tho…i wonder.