Ihara Saikaku
These activities were the subject of countless literary works, most of which have yet to be translated. However, English translations are available for Ihara Saikaku who created a bisexual main character in "The Life of An Amorous Man" (1682), Jippensha Ikku who created an initial gay relationship in the post-publication "Preface" to "Shank's Mare" (1802 et seq), and Ueda Akinari who had a homosexual Buddhist monk in "Tales of Moonlight and Rain" (1776). Likewise, many of the greatest artists of the period, such as Hokusai and Hiroshige, prided themselves in documenting such loves in their prints, known as ukiyo-e "pictures of the floating world", and where they had an erotic tone, shunga "pictures of spring."