Pederasty in Japanese culture
- Japan (NG Article Text)
Japan has a long rich history of Wakashudou (boylove), homosexuality, and bisexuality that was influenced by the history of Shinto and Buddist cultural traditions. In the modern era Japan has several genres of art that feature the sexual exploration of characters with youthful and/or child-like features including #Shota, #lolicon, #bishōnen, boys love, and shounen'ai.
- Buddism
Japan's tradition Buddhist tradition includes the practice of #nanshouku where "an older Buddhist monk called the **_nenja_** would take on a prepubescent boy, called the **_chigo_**, as his acolyte." Later, the samurai brought this tradition out of the monasteries and into the public where it was known as #Wakashudou: The "Way of Adolescent Boys". In _wakashudō_, prepubescent boys would be apprenticed to an older man. He would learn martial arts, life skills, and, if the boy agreed, be the man's lover until he became an adult.
Recently Japan has wrestled with it's relationship to minor attraction, torn between it's own traditions and modern western efforts to criminalize minor attraction. In 2023, Japan has "the lowest age of consent in developed countries, and the lowest in the G7 group."^[1] There is a proposal to raise the age of consent to 16 to align more closely with modern western laws.
- Shinto Influences Traditional Perspective on Sexuality
Japan's oldest major religion, #Shinto puts sex before creation^[2] when 2 _kami_^[3] decide to have sex then which forms Japan:
>At this time Izanagi-no-Mikoto asked his spouse Izanami-no-Mikoto, saying: "How is your body formed?" > She replied, saying: "My body, formed though it be formed, has one place which is formed insufficiently." > Then Izanagi-no-Mikoto said: "My body, formed though it be formed, has one place which is formed to excess. Therefore, I would like to take that place in my body which is formed to excess and insert it into that place in your body which is formed insufficiently, and thus give birth to the land. How would this be?" > Izanami-no-Mikoto replied, saying: "That will be good."
In Shinto belief all "all sexual love is unconditional good,"^[4] sharply contrasting the Judeo-Christian association of sex with impurity and punishment. Japan's largest religion is fundamentally sex-positive which affects all aspects of Japanese relationship to sexuality.
- Apprenticeships
Wakashu was a term from the Edo period referring to a Japanese young person who was a male beyond early childhood, but wasn't considered a man. Wakashu aged 7 to 17 wore their hair partially shaven. The boys could begin formal education, become an apprentice, or find a job.
In the 12th century sons of the ruling class Samauri would be sent to Buddist monasteries for education. As acolytes, the sons were introduced to the nanshuko tradition by older monks. The samurai expanded nanshuoku out of the monasteries and into the cities.
[ Young love: A woodblock print by Ishikawa Toyonobu (circa 1740) shows two actors portraying a relationship between a wakashū (adolescent male) and an adult man (right). | PUBLIC DOMAIN
- Wakashddo
The samauri version was called Wakashudo. Boys would be apprenticed to an older man who taught them life skills, martial arts, and social skills. The pair would formalize a "brotherhood contract"
>"The idea was that this wakashudō relationship should have a 'mutually ennobling effect' on the pair. They were expected to 'assist each other in feudal duties in honor-driven obligations such as duels and vendettas. Although sex between the couple was expected to end when the boy came of age, the relationship would, ideally, develop into a lifelong bond of friendship. At the same time, sexual activity with women was not barred (for either party), and once the boy came of age, both were free to seek other wakashū lovers." -[Gregory Pflugfelder](https://www.tofugu.com/japan/gay-samurai/)
The tradition and it's reception as a cultural institution echoes [greek love] in that it was considered a high-class behavior which eventually expanded to the merchant class who took on servant boys and apprenticices.
- Modern Age of Consent Policy Changes
Japan's age of consent is currently 13 years old as of 2023. A Japanese Justice Ministry panel recently proposed to raise that age to 16^[5]. Hiranao Honda has objected to raising Japan’s age of consent from 13 to 16 arguing that "12- and 20-year-olds can have serious relationships,” and "Japan’s age of consent is not that low compared to other nations." Acoording to hiim raising the age of consent in unnecessary.
- Artistic Genres featuring child romance
[Shota]() features romantic drawings of pubescent and prebusescent boys and [Lolicon]() is similar art involving girls. This includes manga, anime, and other media representations.
!Pasted image 20230520201642.jpg
The term "shotacon" is a [Japanese contraction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_abbreviated_and_contracted_words "Japanese abbreviated and contracted words") of _Shōtarō complex_ (正太郎コンプレックス, _Shōtarō konpurekkusu_), a reference to the young male character Shōtarō (正太郎) from _[Tetsujin 28-go](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetsujin_28-go "Tetsujin 28-go")_.3(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotacon#cite_note-Otaku_Sexuality_p.236-3) who is considered a beautiful young boy or bishounen.
!Pasted image 20230520201836.jpg
!Bishounen.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishōnen
- Japanese Background & Collected Research
https://www.tofugu.com/japan/gay-samurai/
- Japan's pre-modern society was one that not only tolerated homosexuality and bisexuality, but celebrated and even idealized it. In fact, it appeared to be the rule, rather than the exception, for a majority of Japan's pre-modern history.**
> At this time Izanagi-no-Mikoto asked his spouse Izanami-no-Mikoto, saying: "How is your body formed?" > > She replied, saying: "My body, formed though it be formed, has one place which is formed insufficiently." > > Then Izanagi-no-Mikoto said: "My body, formed though it be formed, has one place which is formed to excess. Therefore, I would like to take that place in my body which is formed to excess and insert it into that place in your body which is formed insufficiently, and thus give birth to the land. How would this be?" > > Izanami-no-Mikoto replied, saying: "That will be good."
- In the Shinto creation story, sex precedes the birth of a nation and her people.** In Judeo-Christian religions, the acknowledgement of human sexuality and their banishment went hand in hand. It's not surprising, I suppose, that nearly every mention of the word "sex" in the Christian bible is accompanied by ideas of punishment or shame.
Shintoism's general message that "all sexual love is unconditional good," helps to set the tone (on this issue) for Japan's second main religion, Buddhism.
Basically, the attitude was one of "**If you can't figure out the whole celibacy thing in this lifetime, well, there's always the next one!" Ascension to nirvana is much less of a one-time shot than admittance into heaven, after all.**
Buddhist texts do not go into great detail explicating exactly what the 'wrong' and 'right' ways regarding sexual pleasure actually are. As with other actions, they are subject to the application of the **golden mean: '[t]he deed which causes remorse afterward and results in weeping is ill-done. The deed which causes no remorse afterwards and results in joy and happiness is well done.'"**
Although present, Tantric sexual imagery which involved the unification of male and female was of marginal influence in Japan. **Far more pervasive in male Buddhist institutions was the influence of homoerotic and even homosexual imagery where beautiful acolytes were understood to embody the feminine principle.** The degree to which Buddhism tolerated same-sex sexual activity even among its ordained practitioners is clear from the popular myth that the founder of the Shingon school, Kooboo Daishi (Kuukai), introduced homosexual acts upon his return from study in China in the early ninth century. This myth was so well known that even the Portuguese traveler, Gaspar Vilela had heard it.
J**esuit records of the Catholic mission to Japan are full of rants about the ubiquity of pederastic passion among the Buddhist clergy. What particularly riled the missionaries was the widespread acceptance these practices met with among the general populace.**
the homosexual activities of Buddhist monks weren't a sex cult secret. In fact, they were very public, and the Japanese people of that time didn't care. *It made visiting westerners pretty upset, though.*
Through these debates, stories, and guides, we see samurai and monks depicted as having male lovers, female lovers, boy lovers, and cross-dressing lovers
Wakashudō was seen as a high-class thing to do, so it's only natural that we begin to see non-samurai emulating this behavior in big cities. Although technically of the lowest class, this trickle-down effect began with the merchants, as their wealth allowed them to take on servant boys and apprentices without worrying too much about the financial burden.
- Becoming "Modern"
The shift from homosexual acceptance to homosexual condemnation happened in-step with the Meiji Restoration, foreign influence being a key factor. The ruling elite of this time agreed that they must emulate the West as much as possible. In doing so, they hoped to avoid the fate of China and India, modernize, and become equals with the Western powers.