Nyotaimori: The Japanese Art Of Eating Food Off A Naked Body

Sometime around the 18th-century, Japan was fragmented into multiple states which left the samurai [Japaneses warriors] defending their respective regions. When the warriors returned from defeating their enemies, they would celebrate their wins in geisha houses that hosted Nyotaimoris.

Now considered an art form, Nyotaimori is eating sushi off a perfectly still, naked woman’s body! A marriage of food and sensuality.

The nude woman’s body serves as a food plate. The woman is generally expected to lie still at all times and not talk with guests. The sushi is placed on sanitized leaves on the model’s body to prevent skin-to-fish contact and on sufficiently flat areas of the body, off which the sushi will not roll.

A Las Vegas-based sushi chef, Mark Scharaga, who has been offering the dinner experience for over a decade and has branded it as a form of art told Vice that; “We’re not selling sex—we’re selling an experience with a beautiful woman or man”.

The less common male variant is called Nantaimori.

It has become an increasingly popular bachelor party trend. The sushi chef said they mostly end up in bachelor or bachelorette parties, corporate events, birthday parties and private dinners, producing up to four to eight events a month.

The meal is usually expensive and served at exclusive locations, hence it is considered a dinner for the rich.

In popular culture, Samantha covered herself in sushi and waited for her lover in the 2008 “Sex and the City” film.

However, the practice has and drawn criticism from those who label the event as objectifying, degrading and anti-feminist. It has been outlawed in some countries, due health and moral concerns.