'Vagina kayak' artist found guilty of obscenity in Japan

Japanese artist, Megumi Igarashi, who made global headlines when she created a vagina-shaped kayak back in 2014 has been convicted in an obscenity trial that lasted almost two years.

On Monday, Tokyo District Court slapped the 44-year-old artist with a guilty verdict and a 400,000 yen ($3,670) fine. The penalty was half of what prosecutors demanded.

Igarashi, who uses the pseudonym "Rokude Nashiko," which stands for reprobate child, was arrested in July 2014 for distributing data that allowed users to make 3D prints of her vagina.

According to Igarashi, she was trying to raise funds to complete the kayak that was inspired by her own lady bits, which she endearingly named "pussy boat."

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Although she was released days after her first arrest following a petition signed by thousands demanding her release, the Tokyo police again put her behind bars several months later. Authorities claimed she was distributing "obscene" items by displaying plaster versions of the "pussy boat" in an adult sex shop.

In court appearances over the past year and a half, Igarashi maintained her innocence by insisting that her art was not obscene and even challenged attitudes towards female genitalia in Japan.

"I am innocent because neither the data for female genitals nor my artworks shaped like female genitals are obscene," she told the court last year.

Igarashi also wrote on her website: "The vagina has been such a taboo in Japanese society. It's been overly hidden although it's just a part of a woman's body."

Despite widespread criticism from Igarashi's supporters with regards to the government's double standards towards sexual imagery, the court ruled against the artist.

According to the Associated Press, judge Mihoko Tanabe, said the data distributed was a scan of Igarashi's vagina and its realistic shape could sexually arouse viewers and was therefore obscene.

However, the court cleared her of the charge of displaying the vagina ornaments.

Despite Japan's thriving pornographic industry, the country has tough obscenity laws that prohibit public displays of genitalia.

Interestingly, Japan plays host to an annual fertility festival in Kawasaki which sees revellers carrying giant phalluses through the streets.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.