Short answer
In Japan, “gravure” (グラビア, gurabia) means glamour photography: the swimsuit and fashion photo pages in magazines, and the models who appear in them. The word puzzles English speakers because it comes from printing. Here is what it means, where it came from and how it differs from adult content.
From a printing process to a genre
The word started as a technical term. Japanese dictionaries define グラビア first as photogravure: an intaglio printing method in which the depth of tiny recesses in the plate reproduces the light and shade of a photograph. It was well suited to printing photographs.
The second meaning is the magazine page itself: the photo pages printed that way. 巻頭グラビア (kantō gurabia) means the colour photo pages at the front of a magazine. The 精選版 日本国語大辞典 dictionary records this page sense in a magazine as early as 1943.
Over time, “gravure” came to mean the kind of photos those pages carried, and especially photos of models. English-language Wikipedia notes that “gurabia” is wasei-eigo, Japanese-made English, and that the term can be loosely translated as “magazine model”.
Magazine culture
Gravure grew up in Japan’s weekly magazines. Japanese Wikipedia traces it through men’s weeklies such as 平凡パンチ (Heibon Punch, launched 1964) and 週刊プレイボーイ (Weekly Playboy, launched 1966), and GORO (Shogakukan, 1974), which put gravure at the centre of its content.
Manga magazines aimed at young men also carry gravure sections, often on the opening pages before the comics. That’s why gravure models are familiar faces in Japan rather than a niche.
| Format | What it is |
|---|---|
| Magazine gravure pages | Photo spreads in weekly and manga magazines; the original home of gravure |
| Photobooks (写真集, shashinshū) | A whole book devoted to one model; a major outlet since the 1990s |
| Image DVDs (イメージビデオ) | Non-explicit gravure videos; became common after the shift to DVD in the early 2000s |
| Digital photobooks | Released in large numbers by publishers from 2020 on |
Gravure has also been a career route. Japanese Wikipedia notes that many gravure models moved into TV variety work or acting, and that careers once short have lengthened, with models in their 30s and older more common since the 2000s.
How gravure differs from adult content
English-language Wikipedia describes gravure photos as suggestive and playful rather than aggressively sexual, and notes that gravure idols seldom appear fully nude. Japanese Wikipedia describes swimwear as gravure’s main format. Adult video is a different industry, with explicit content that Japanese law requires to be mosaicked.
| Gravure | Adult video | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical content | Swimwear, fashion and lingerie photos; suggestive, not explicit | Explicit |
| Where it’s sold | Mainstream magazines, bookshops, photobooks | Adult-only channels |
| Censorship | Usually nothing to censor | Mosaicked, because of Japan’s obscenity law |
The line isn’t always neat. Japanese Wikipedia describes a more revealing middle category that sits between swimwear gravure and adult video, and notes that some models later moved into adult work. For the legal side, see why Japanese adult content is mosaicked.
Gravure has also faced criticism over very young models. Japanese Wikipedia notes that after Japan amended its child pornography law in 2014, Amazon and DMM voluntarily limited their offerings to works featuring people aged 18 or over.
Gravure on MyFans
MyFans’ own content rules use the word directly. Its all-ages guidelines say “sexy” and “gravure” style content is allowed in the all-ages section, but nudity and sexual acts are not. Anything beyond that has to be posted as adult content, under MyFans’ separate rules.
As a fan, you choose what you see with MyFans’ 指向 (orientation) setting. Setting it to 全年齢 (all ages) shows only all-ages content and hides adult posts, including ones you’ve bought. Our guide to finding Japanese creators on MyFans explains search and tags such as グラビア.
MyFans bars anyone under 18 from using the service, and 18-year-olds still in high school too. On JapanCreatorFind we list only adult creators. You can browse the creators we cover, and for the words used on their profiles, see our Japanese terms glossary.
Creators to start with
Quick answers
Why is it called “gravure”?
After photogravure, the intaglio printing process once used for magazine photo pages. The name moved from the printing method to the pages, and then to the photos and models.
Is gravure the same as adult content?
No. Gravure is suggestive glamour photography, usually in swimwear, sold in mainstream magazines and photobooks. Adult video is a separate, explicit industry.
What does グラドル mean?
It’s short for グラビアアイドル (gravure idol): a model who appears mainly in gravure magazines, photobooks and DVDs.
Keep reading
- グラビア, in デジタル大辞泉, 精選版 日本国語大辞典 and 世界大百科事典 (Kotobank) (Japanese)
- Gravure idol (Wikipedia) (English)
- グラビアアイドル (Wikipedia) (Japanese)
- All-ages content guidelines (MyFans help) (Japanese)
- About the orientation (指向) setting (MyFans help) (Japanese) · English version
- Can minors use MyFans? (MyFans help) (Japanese) · English version