Nyotaimori nude body sushi fine art photography

Depending on our personal views, social conditioning and life experiences, we can see the Japanese tradition of Nyotaimori sushi (女体盛り) of serving food on a naked female body, in multiple ways. Some of us may see it as an objectification of a woman's body, some as a curious experience, some see it as fine art and a visual delight, others as an insight into the human psyche. It's obvious that with millions of different personal views on it, none of them becomes more important than the other. Good or bad, to like or not to like? To pretend to be indifferent and not to express anything because others may not agree? How do we judge?


And, do we really need to judge? Perhaps we seek safety and security in our judgement. If we don’t want to have a particular experience, whether because of our contradicting personal views or trying to avoid judgement of others, then we openly express our disagreement. If it’s a generally approved and safe practice, or an experience we’d like to go through regardless of the views of others, we approve and support it. Do we see the division and unfairness of our approach to life? Can we appreciate experiences for what they are, dive into their essence, without the conditioned judgement and acquired prejudices?

For the person participating in this tradition, whether this is actually happening in a restaurant or it’s a model participating in a photoshoot, the experience, too, might have been brought by different causes. Perhaps she has a beautiful body and is free of shame and she can enjoy the experience of others appreciating her healthy skin and beautiful curves for their appearance, or perhaps she needs money and this is a gig that she got out of the blue, maybe that’s the only thing she wants to do in her life, or maybe she is a philosopher and a creative person and she want to express a particular concept, or perhaps she is a feminist and is participating in this photo shoot in order to use the images in an anti-woman-objectification campaign? What makes the difference? Which of these experiences can we judge as right and which is wrong?

The difference is in the spirit a particular experience is approached with. Can we accept our lives and what they bring with open hearts and minds, without judgements based on our memories and past experiences of others with their resulting fixed views and prejudices that shape our own views? Can we accept every new experience with passion, fully and directly for what it is without fears? Or do we always have to discard and reject everything that has been classified as potentially unsafe or frown upon and try to repeat those experiences that bring us comfort and security? Can we live from our open awareness and not base our preferences and choices in life according to the inventory built by our education, conditioning and social views? I really want to hope that we can.

Having said that, Nyotaimori, is an unusual form of art and a visually intricate Japanese tradition of serving sushi or sashimi from a naked woman's body with clean bamboo, banana or other tree leaves between the skin and the food. The model lies still in a meditative state, while the visitors eat the meal from her body in full respect for the model and admiration of the artistic refinement of the served meal, beauty of female body and uniqueness of the experience. There is no other but visual interaction with the model. The meal is encouraged to be eaten in mindful, nonjudging silence.

For someone with suppressed sexuality, disconnection from their body or accumulated shame, an experience like this can be truly liberating and empowering.