Megumi Igarashi, internationally known as Rokudenashiko, is a Japanese contemporary artist and 3D CG creator who works from the motif of her own vagina — which she calls manko. Her practice opposes the discriminatory and ignorant treatment of the vagina and turns a hidden subject into pop, humorous, and public art. In 2013 she 3D-scanned her own manko and used the data to build Manko Boat (Vagina Boat), a two-meter kayak she rowed herself. In July and December 2014 she was arrested on obscenity charges related to her manko art and to 3D data sent to crowdfunding supporters. In court, the Deco-Man exhibition was found not guilty, while the electronic distribution of the 3D data was ultimately found guilty by the Supreme Court in July 2020. After her release, Rokudenashiko wrote manga and books about the detention, trial, and public debate around obscenity and freedom of expression. Her manga “What Is Obscenity?” has been published in English, French, Spanish, and German. She also appears in Barbara Miller's documentary “Female Pleasure,” which received the Premio Zonta Club Locarno 2018.
Representative Works
Best-known projects include Manko Boat (Vagina Boat) — a kayak modeled on Megumi Igarashi's own 3D-scanned manko — the Deco-Man sculpture series, the Manko-chan (Mankochan) character and accessories, manga, and the interactive 3D virtual museum hosted on this site.
What Is Manko-chan?
Manko-chan — sometimes written Mankochan — is Rokudenashiko's signature pop character: a humorous, public face for manko (vagina) as artistic motif. Through sculpture, illustration, video, and interactive 3D pages, the character turns a long-taboo subject into approachable contemporary art.
Trial, Books, and International Recognition
In 2014 Megumi Igarashi was arrested twice on obscenity charges over a 3D scan of her own manko. The Tokyo District Court acquitted her on the Deco-Man exhibition, and the case eventually reached the Supreme Court in 2020. She wrote about the arrests, detention, and trial in the manga “What Is Obscenity?,” now translated into English, French, Spanish, and German. She also appears in Barbara Miller's documentary “Female Pleasure,” which received the Premio Zonta Club Locarno 2018.