Bugger Budo and the Samurai.

[John Lindsey]

If you read this article, it appears that the Japanese of old were having a gay old time in the castle. They even hint about Musashi being inclined to dabble with a youth...

Is this just gay propaganda or what?

Complete article:

http://www.androphile.org/preview/Culture/Japan/japan.htm



Toshiro Mifune, the popular actor famed for his characterizations of quick-witted, taciturn samurai, never uttered a word about it. Akira Kurosawa, the well-known movie director, kept inscrutably mum. Not one of the many hundreds of samurai movies made in the past century even as much as hinted at it nanshoku, the “love of the samurai”*. From its pivotal position in the education, code of honor, and erotic life of the samurai class, the love of youths has sunk below the level of the untouchable to the level of the unmentionable, truly “the love that dare not speak its name”. But the indelible fact remains that one of the fundamental aspects of samurai life was the emotional and sexual bond cultivated between an older warrior and a younger apprentice, a love for which the Japanese have many names, as many perhaps as the Eskimo have for snow.

The samurai often called it bi-do, “the beautiful way”, and guarded the tradition jealously. Ijiri Chusuke, in 1482 argued:


“In our empire of Japan this way flourished from the time of the great master Kobo. In the abbeys of Kyoto and Kamakura, and in the world of the nobles and the warriors, lovers would swear perfect and eternal love relying on no more than their mutual good will. Whether their partners were noble or common, rich or poor, was absolutely of no importance… In all these case they were greatly moved by the spirit of this way. This way must be truly respected, and it must never be permitted to disappear.”(1)

Known also as wakashudo, “the way of the youth”, it was a practice engaged in by all members of the samurai class, from lowliest warrior to highest lord. Indeed it has been said that it would never have been asked of a daimyo, “lord”, why he took boys as lovers, but why he didn’t. This last is not a question that would have troubled, for example, the three great shoguns who unified Japan, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, or Tokugawa Ieyasu, nor for that matter Miyamoto Musashi, the author of “The Book of Five Rings.”

[John J. Montes]

boy, oh boy...I just don't know....could this be true?...and in the HagaKure???...I've got a lot of rereading to do...

[P Goldsbury]

Originally posted by John J. Montes
boy, oh boy...I just don't know....could this be true?...and in the HagaKure???...I've got a lot of rereading to do...

Well, I suggest you start with Tsuneo Watanabe & Junichi Iwata's, "The Love of the Samurai: A Thousand Years of Japanese Homosexuality" (GMP Publishers, 1987), and follow it up with Gary P Leupp's "Male Colors: The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan" (U of California Press, 1995.

Both have some intriguing illustrations.

Best regards,

[RayCorrea]

Originally posted by John Lindsey
Not one of the many hundreds of samurai movies made in the past century even as much as hinted at it nanshoku, the “love of the samurai”*.


Realeased from Japan in 1999...

Taboo

Starring Beat Takeshi

Directed by Nagisa Oshima

It won both the Offical Selection at the 2000 Toronto Film Festival and the In Competition Palme D'Or at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.

[Earl Hartman]

I hope this isn't a surprise to anyone.

This sort of thing is simply the Way Things Are Done in manly and masculine male military societies made up of masculine manly men. I mean, we've all heard of Sparta and Thebes, right? Men in Sparta were so unfamiliar with women that when a Spartan man got married for the purposes of procreation (usually around the age of <30, after more than 20 years living in an all-male military barracks), his wife waited for him in a darkened room dressed as a man.

I have heard that some people believe that the real cause of the argument between Kira and Asano was their competing claims on the affections of a pretty page-boy.

[AlexM]

Let us not forget the Mujadeen (spel?) in Afghanistan were rumored to be "close" with there fellow fighters... And this dates back to the British expeditions in the 19th century.

Also, the British Navy had or has a bit of a reputation for being a haven for homosexuality... The breeding ground for this kind of behaviour being the "public school" system (which of course refers to posh private schools for the upper classes).

Go figure, when there are no women around, more men than usual tend to resort to homosexuality... Which makes the reasonings for excluding women in the first place seem somewhat silly (they'll weaken the men after all!). :D

[Earl Hartman]

Well, after all, Winston Chruchill did say that the British Navy was "rum, buggery, and the lash".

[Mekugi]

This is old news of a sort. I mean, in "The Tale of Genji" this was going on to an extent, not graphic as today would expect, but there were several hints at homosexuality in court life and unusal talk between to men. I guess that is not the way "they" (whoever "they" are, I dunno) wanted Japan portrayed in the west.

There was a huge "expose" on Teevee over here a while back talking about the role of various young boys that were kept as "confidants" in Osoka Castle. There is really no different than what the Spartans were doing, the Ancient Greeks, the Etruscians and eventually the Romans.

[Joseph Svinth]

You might try the Google search for "submission wrestling." Yes, some sites link you to MMA or the Gracies, but most of them are probably not suitable for the workplace. All those nearly naked hot bods submitting, you know. You will find similar homoeroticism in bodybuilding sites. This is not new; remember, Eugen Sandow wasn't posing for women's magazines. See also http://www.keithboykin.com/arch/000465.html and http://www.stanford.edu/group/SHR/6-2/html/guttmann.html .

[Brian Owens]

Although it was passed over in the TV series, in Clavell's book Shogun the subject was broached in a rather matter-of-fact manner.

If I recall (and I may be a little off. I read it a long time ago.)the narrator mentions how Blackthorne had been tempted on occasion to seek the comfort of the "cabin boys" as others often did, but restrained himself.

Then theres the scene where Mariko asks Blackthorne, after he turns down a "comfort" woman, if he would like a boy. When Blackthorne gets angry and insulted, she says something to the effect that in Japan such matters are accepted as natural and nothing to get upset about.

And the daimyo of the village Blackthorne first lands in (can't remember the names) has a vividly described scene in which a woman instructs a boy in what the daimyo likes.

Of course Clavell isn't exactly a model of historical accuracy, but it does ring true, especially when taken with all the other examples mentioned above.

[Michael Wert]

The best book on the subject by far is "Cartographies of Desire: Male-Male Sexuality in Japanese Discourse 1600-1950" by Pflugfelder UC Press published in 1999. This made "Male Colors" obsolete and is required reading for most graduate students on Tokugawa Japan.

[don]

FWIW, am currently reading Ivan Morris' The Nobility of Failure. The chapter on Saigo relates that he wanted to commit suicide after his liege unexpectedly died, but was talked out of it by the loyalist priest Gessho. Then, a little later, we find them both on a boat off from shore while evading Bakufu constables and attempting to commit suicide by drowning--they leap from the boat in the embrace of each other, a manner of death I'd heard was associated with lovers (novelist Dazai Osamu, e.g., committed suicide this way with his lover). The priest dies, Saito survives to pen poetry "with tears in his eyes" upon the anniversary of the event...

[MarkF]

Originally posted by AlexM
Let us not forget the Mujadeen (spel?) in Afghanistan were rumored to be "close" with there fellow fighters... And this dates back to the British expeditions in the 19th century.

Also, the British Navy had or has a bit of a reputation for being a haven for homosexuality... The breeding ground for this kind of behaviour being the "public school" system (which of course refers to posh private schools for the upper classes).

Go figure, when there are no women around, more men than usual tend to resort to homosexuality... Which makes the reasonings for excluding women in the first place seem somewhat silly (they'll weaken the men after all!). :D


In any given society in which companionship for long periods of life, if not for life, itself, this is very common, no matter the name you give it nor the reasons for it. Homosexuality simply becomes sexuality and is as normal in such situations as it is common.

Mark

[Michael Wert]

What we all need to understand, and what Pflugfelder's book I mentioned previously discusses, is the problem with taking a concept like 'homosexuality', which is a very much a modern concept that is tied up with forms of modern identity, and then try to apply it backwards in time (and in other cutlures as well). This is one of the problems with the book "Male Colors" that tries to talk about homosexuality in Tokugawa period when there really wasn't "homosexuality" (as we know it in modern Euro-American culture).

Pflugfelder talks about how yes, samurai had young boy 'lovers' that were more their apprentices if you will, and there was an unequal relationship that sometimes involved sexual activity. But the sexual activity wasn't the focus of the relationship.

Indeed, the proper manners, etiquette, etc. of having a boy lover, called "wakashu" turned into a "way" called "shudo"--this became the focus of the relationship. And there were texts written about how to pursue the path of shudo correctly. Wealthy towsnmen and merchants started imitating the samurai and spent big money in the pursuit of shudo.

Does this mean that they were homosexual? Not at all. They were visiting female prostitutes, and had wives (and no, you can't say "oh, well then they were bisexual"). Were there men who sexually attracted only to men. Sure, but the majority of shudo exponents and samurai didn't fall into this category.

[Tripitaka of AA]

A lady I know, is a Script Supervisor on Movies, and worked on a production filmed in the Phillipines which starred a well known Japanese actor.

The actor had a young man who was his apprentice. It was widely assumed among the predominantly Western Crew, that this was more than just a "close personal friend". The actor is not thought to be "gay", but simply has enjoyed the company of a young boy, on occasion. The habit of taking a young man as a ward (thinking Bruce Wayne and Robin), is apparently still flourishing. And yes, it is not the same as being homosexual as we currently understand it.

[Tri-ring]

In Japan the red light district has been well and flourishing for
centuries. Yoshiwara has exsisted since the opening of the edo period and Oiran have been serving samuraies and chonin alike.
Homosexual were called "Danshoku" (color of male) and were known but not that likely. It was more commonly practised within the buddist ward.