A Brief History of Daki

You may have never heard of dakimakura, or maybe a smutty smile has just crossed your face.

To be honest, 6 months ago I'd never heard of them.

 

They're long pillows designed for hugging and are usually adorned with either semi-naked anime girls or lissom anime boys. Sometimes they have other stuff on them but more of that later. Most have an image printed on either side (one usually being more undressed than the other).

They started out innocently enough and in their native Japan they still are used as comfort pillows:

 

 

However, in the mid 1990's Japanese companies identified a potential market for selling anime-themed covers for dakimakuras in order to tap the rapidly growing otaku market.

And so it began...

Here's a selection covering a range of tastes:

 

 

There are also some 'different' daki's as well:

 

 

 

Some people can get a bit carried away with their attachment to their daki. One guy in Korea married his (so it seems, but it may have been a publicity stunt): 

 



  

 

 

There are a huge range of designs, many of them way too pornographic to show here; just Google dakimakura and you'll see what I mean. And just in case you were wondering, no I don't own one!

 

 



 

Update 24 July 2015!

I've just seen this on Crunchyroll and had to add it to the post - it's a 23 foot long Monster Musume daki

More information can be found here:

http://www.crunchyroll.com/forumtopic-911419/23ft-long-dakimakura?pg=0

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2015-07-22/monster-musume-23-foot-long-miia-will-slither-into-a-bed-near-you/.90762

http://www.monmusu.jp/news/837/


Credits:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakimakura
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dakimakuras
http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/pure-factory/item/r007423/
http://www.cospa.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cospa
http://www.ebay.com/
https://warosu.org/jp/thread/12224381
http://xaxor.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Japanese-Dakimakura-love-pillows1.jpg
http://forums.megatokyo.com/index.php?showtopic=1705225&view=all
http://i.imgur.com/tCKkzpf.jpg
http://ozandcerulli.tumblr.com/post/108236757648/i-got-my-daki-well-actually-its-for-oz-but-hes
http://fampar.livejournal.com/91279.html?thread=603279
http://imgbuddy.com/sebastian-michaelis-full-body-pillow.asp
http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/10/01/three-reasons-to-sleep-with-a-huggy-pillow-that-have-nothing-to-do-with-an-anime-crush/
http://metro.co.uk/2010/03/09/man-marries-pillow-154906/
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1035238
https://poweredbysugar.wordpress.com/category/random-rambling/
http://www.himeuta.net/archive/index.php/t-775-p-28.html
http://animeyourway.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/your-level-of-anime-fandom.html
http://store.steampowered.com/news/posts/?feed=kotaku&enddate=1306901699
http://disown.dismagazine.com/products/emma-dakimakura
http://knowyourmeme.com/
http://www.aliexpress.com/
http://www.ebay.com/

 

tags:
#dakimakura
#daki
#hugging
#pillow
#otaku
#echi