Bukkake: Food and Punishment
If you’ve ever visited a porn site (which is kind of a rare thing, I know), chances are you’ve seen the word bukkake pop up (pun intended) as a popular search term.
There’s a lot of weird shit in porn. Was bukkake an invention of a demented but genius filmmaker, or has it always been a “thing” throughout history? There’s not really much information about this, ahem, touchy subject.
But inquiring minds want to know. So Reddit user nil_clinton actually asked the academics over at Reddit’s Ask Historians community about the origin ofbukkake, hinting at the myth that the act was reserved as retribution for infidelity:
“Does this bizarre (and pretty nasty) supposed custom actually have any link to feudal Japan? I’m trying to find if ‘bukkake’ actually has its rumoured basis as a punishment for unfaithful wives…”
Another user, TakoyakiBoxGuy, who studied East Asian history at Georgetown University, responded that there wasn’t really any one standard form of discipline for adultery during the Edo period (1603-1869), referencing 19th century author Akiko Yosano, who documented various punishments for adultery in his writing.
And guess what? None of them were sexual in nature. So, no information on the bukkake origin story there, unfortunately.
But the actual punishments for unfaithful wives were, however, pretty damn gruesome. Sometimes, samurai husbands murdered their cheating spouses (and, okay, the wife’s lover). Other times, they’d just shave her head to shame her (insert your mandatory Cersei reference here). Sometimes, the wives were simply exiled from their communities.
But of course, the Reddit community came through with a real answer on just where bukkake originated: It turns out that the word bukkake does have its origins in the Edo period—it just doesn’t mean what you think it means.
User fiplefip, a Japanese translator, referenced 18th century writer Shikitei Sanba, who was one of the earliest known authors to ever use the wordbukkake. Sanba once wrote, “I want to eat bukkake since it’s so cold.”
And as fiplefip put it:
“In Japan, if one mentions ぶっかけ, the immediate thought would be that you are talking about food. It literally means to ‘shower with.’ One would eat bukkake-udon, which is where a bunch of spices, cut up chives, roasted meats, and a broth is ‘bukkaked’ onto a bowl of udon.”
The pornographic meaning of bukkake was a recent shift, explains Fipleflip. In fact, it was trademarked by the adult video company Shuttle Japan in 2002.
Which are you more interested in trying: bukkake the porn or bukkake the delicious dish?