The two face each other, and one lowers their hips onto the other’s lap. Except for the single point that there is penetration, it is the posture of an embrace itself. The arrangement that love-making literature long called the position of intimacy aligns the body in the direction of maximising contact area rather than amount of movement.

Taimen-za (対面座位, “face-to-face sitting position”; English face-to-face sitting position) is the form of coital position belonging to the sitting series in which the two sit facing each other. The receiving side straddles the lap of the inserting side, and the upper bodies of both stand upright while confronting each other from the front. Gaze, lips, and chest all cross at close range, and the upper limbs of both pass around each other’s back to compose the posture of an embrace. It is described in the ancient Indian Kāmasūtra, Chinese arts-of-the-bedchamber texts, the Heian-period Ishinpō, and the Edo forty-eight hands alike, positioned from the oldest stratum of love-making literature as the position of intimacy.

Overview

In taimen-za the inserting side takes one of several sitting postures, cross-legged, formal kneeling, long-sitting (legs extended), or chair-sitting, and the receiving side straddles their hips and sits facing them. The hips of both come close along the vertical axis, and the upper bodies stand upright facing each other. Because the weight of each is supported by their own seat and thighs, the burden of movement on the limbs is smaller than in the missionary or cowgirl positions, and long maintenance is possible.

Kinetically, taimen-za is sorted as a position with an intermediate character between the cowgirl and the missionary. The lead in the up-and-down motion can be entrusted either to the thigh muscles and pelvic movement of the receiving side or to the hip movement of the inserting side, so the distribution of movement between the two can be flexibly recombined within the position. Because the upper limbs of both pass around each other’s back to compose an embrace, the sense of psychological closeness is maximised even within the sitting series. In love-making guides it is recommended as “the position in which a couple exchanges feeling” and “the position in which one can join in silence.” citation needed

The point that insertion depth can be adjusted by the inclination of the receiving side’s upper body is also a feature: leaning back makes insertion shallow, leaning forward makes it deep. Because the lips and foreheads of both are placed opposite at the front, kissing, forehead contact, and conversation by the ear are all possible in parallel with the joining movement.

Etymology

The word “taimen-za” is a compound of “taimen” (facing) and “za-i” (sitting posture). After “sitting position” was introduced as one category of position classification in Meiji and Taisho sex-education literature, the words “taimen-za” (face-to-face) and “haimen-za” (rear-facing) are thought to have differentiated from the need to distinguish the two great derivations of the sitting position. citation needed In Edo-period erotic books the position corresponding to taimen-za was called individually by the names i-jausu (seated tea-mill) or i-chū-bashira (seated centre-pillar), and the general term “taimen-za” did not yet exist.

The etymon of i-jausu is taken to be a figurative expression overlaying the up-and-down motion of taimen-za onto the rotating motion of the tea-mill that grinds tea leaves. Prefixing “i” (to sit) is a coinage method emphasising that one joins seated, not standing. Likewise the tachi-jausu (standing tea-mill) that appears in Edo erotic books refers to the face-to-face standing position, while jausu alone often refers to the cowgirl; the tea-mill series of words functioned as a basic-position figurative vocabulary crossing the sitting, standing, and woman-on-top positions.

In the English-speaking world face-to-face sitting position or simply sitting face-to-face is general; in the Sanskrit Kāmasūtra it corresponds to upaviṣṭa (seated within). The derivative form taking the lotus posture is the lotus position, and in yoga and tantric contexts yab-yum (the posture of the dual-bodied icon of Tibetan Buddhism) is used as a word for a bodily arrangement resembling taimen-za.

Anatomical features

The first anatomical feature of taimen-za converges on the point that insertion depth is moderate. Because the pelvises of both are placed close on the vertical axis, the angle of approach of the joining is roughly vertical, and depth varies widely with the receiving side’s weight shift and upper-body inclination. The capacity to reach the deepest part is inferior to the missionary and the rear-entry, but if the receiving side actively entrusts their weight, deep insertion can be induced.

The second feature is the point that the area of bodily contact between the two surpasses that of other positions. Chest to chest, belly to belly, thigh to thigh, and the upper limbs of both with each other’s backs: it is a four-point-contact structure, and the total contact area is among the largest in the sitting series. The third feature is the compatibility of kissing and embrace. Because the lips of both are placed opposite on the same horizontal plane, kissing can be sustained in parallel with the joining movement; that the three layers of joining, kissing, and embracing hold simultaneously is a structural feature not seen in other major positions, and is the element that determines the psychological sign-value of taimen-za.

The fourth feature is the constraint on the amplitude of movement. Because the weight of both is distributed over their respective seats and thighs, adding vigorous up-and-down or horizontal motion requires synchronised hip movement of both. The absolute value of movement is inferior to the missionary, rear-entry, and cowgirl, and as a result it tends to be described as “a static position” or “a position that does not move.” Love-making guides express this property as “a conversion from amount of movement to amount of contact.”

Derivative forms

Sonkyo-i (squatting position)

A derivative in which the inserting side, instead of sitting, takes the sonkyo stance (the squatting posture seen in sumo and kendo) with both knees raised and crouched, and the receiving side straddles atop. Because the inserting side’s hips are fixed in a low position, the amplitude of the up-and-down motion is small and the gazes of both are placed almost completely horizontally opposite.

Face-to-face straddle-sitting

A derivative on the boundary of taimen-za and the cowgirl. It holds when the receiving side straddles the inserting side’s hips in a knee-standing state and the hip movement of both has a cowgirl-like amplitude. Whereas taimen-za is “both sitting,” in this form the receiving side takes a “half-standing” posture; in adult-video staging the boundary between this derivative and pure taimen-za tends to be handled vaguely.

Lotus position

A derivative in which the inserting side takes the lotus posture (the yoga meditation posture, each foot placed on the opposite thigh) and the receiving side straddles their hips. A variant tied to ancient Indian tantric and yoga philosophy, introduced as an independent category in modern sex-tantra guides.

Chair-type face-to-face sitting

A derivative in which the inserting side sits on a chair, sofa, or bed-edge, and the receiving side straddles their hips. Because the weight of both is entrusted to the chair, long maintenance is easy. In adult-video staging it is a basic composition appearing frequently in tie-in with situations such as “a company reception room,” “a household sofa,” or “a private room at an izakaya.”

Yab-yum position

A variant derived from the dual-bodied icon of Tibetan Buddhism (the seated image of a wrathful deity and consort embracing), in which the inserting side takes the full-lotus posture and the receiving side straddles atop, the two pressing their foreheads together. A position with a religious colour, against the background of the tantric-Buddhist ideal of the fusion of meditation and love-making, mentioned in modern spiritual-leaning love-making guides.

Staging in adult video

In adult-video expression, taimen-za, though it forms no independent genre name, has established itself as one of the basic positions bearing a peculiar function within the grammar of staging. Its most marked feature is the high frequency with which it is placed in scenes of the climax and reconciliation of the narrative’s final stage. Whereas the missionary, rear-entry, and cowgirl carry the staging of amount of movement, taimen-za tends to be placed as the position carrying the staging of emotion.

As concrete staging patterns, the first is the “romantic final scene.” After a succession of vigorous positions, the two move to a taimen-za in which they join embracing, reaching simultaneous climax accompanied by embrace, kiss, and whisper: this construction has taken hold as a certain convention in romance- and married-couple-type works. The second is the “first experience, first night, post-confession joining” scene; taimen-za functions as a sign expressing through bodily arrangement that the relationship of the two has entered a new stage. The third: in netorare works, taimen-za is depicted as a scene where the composition itself of “the two joining embracing” carries psychological destructive power. Because gaze-crossing and embrace occur simultaneously in the structure of the position, the visual sign-value of “an intimate relationship” is strong, and it is placed as the staging that shatters the psychology of the cuckolded spouse or lover. Taimen-za in adult video functions not as a position of movement but as a position of relationship.

Reception psychology and expression

The positioning of taimen-za in love-making guides has converged, since van de Velde’s Ideal Marriage (1926, translated 1948), on “the position of intimacy” and “the position of emotional exchange.” Comfort’s The Joy of Sex (1972) classifies taimen-za among the matrimonial positions and recommends it as a joining position for long-term relationships. Gentaro Mayama’s A System of Coital Positions (2002) positions taimen-za as “the position in which the conversion from amount of movement to amount of contact is complete,” placing it at the final stage of a model in which, toward the end of coital movement, amount of movement declines by stages while amount of contact increases.

The colloquialisms “hug sex” and “the act while embracing” in subculture have circulated, in derivative-work and SNS discourse, as concepts denoting the joining of taimen-za or a close posture analogous to it. These colloquialisms are based on an aesthetic concept different from the scholarly position classification, but they are vocabulary that reflects the fact that the psychological sign-value of taimen-za converges on “oneness with the embrace.”

See also

• Sitting position
• Rear-facing sitting position
• Cowgirl
• Sounyuu (insertion)
• Seppun (kissing)
• Shunga