Homosexuality in Ancient Japanese Literature

choi

Damian Flanagan, The Shifting Sexual Norms in Japan's Literary History. Japan Times, Nov 19, 2016.
www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/201 ... s-literary-history/


Note:
(1) Japanese-English dictionary:
* wakashū 若衆 【わかしゅう】 (n): "(1) young man (in the Edo period, esp. one with forelocks who has not yet had his coming-of-age ceremony); (2) young male prostitute; young kabuki actor (who may also act as a homosexual prostitute); (3) (See 念者・ねんしゃ・2) younger partner in a homosexual relationship"  (The "waka" is Japanese pronunciation for 若.)
* kagami 鏡/ 鑑 【かがみ】 (n): "mirror; looking-glass"
* chigiri 契り 【ちぎり】 (n): "(1) pledge; vow; promise; (2) (of a man and woman) having sexual relations; having sexual intercourse"
* ugetsu 雨月 【うげつ】 (n): "(arch[aic]) being unable to see the (harvest) moon because of rain"

(2) painting caption: "Yound love: A woodblock print by ISHIKAWA Toyonobu 石川 豊信 (circa 1740) shows two actors portraying a relationship between a wakashū (adolescent male) and an adult man (right). | PUBLIC DOMAIN"

(3) "More than 3,000 women and 900 men — that's the number of lovers the main protagonist in Ihara Saikaku's 1682 novel 'Kōshoku 好色 Ichidai 一代 Otoko 男' ([English:] 'The Life of an Amorous Man') tallies up as he reminisces."
(a) IHARA Saikaku 井原 西鶴 (1642 – 1693)
(b) 好色 in Japan has the same meaning as in China, Japan also has the idiom 英雄好色.

(4) "Saikaku, born in Osaka in 1642, became a renowned poet who wrote about the fluid, open sexuality of Edo Period (1603-1868) pleasure quarters with a startling lack of inhibition: In the 1685 collection of stories 'Kōshoku 好色 Gonin 五人 Onna 女' ('Five Women Who Loved Love'), he explores the love lives of feisty females; in 'Kōshoku Ichidai 一代 Onna 女' ('The Life of an Amorous Woman'), published in 1686, he includes a brief lesbian scene; and then there is 'Nanshoku Okagami 男色大鑑' ('The Great Mirror of Male Love'), a 1687 collection that focuses exclusively on love between men."

(5) "Writers, stretching from Ihara to modern authors such as NATSUME Sōseki and Yukio MISHIMA [三島 由紀夫, pen name of 平岡 公威; 1925-1970], have often approached sexuality with curiosity.  When Mishima sat down to pen his iconic 1949 novel 'Kamen no Kokuhaku 仮面の告白' ('Confessions of a Mask'), he declared that he would be writing a novel that explored the taboo of homosexual desire like no other — and only faintly foreshadowed by the works of European writers such as Andre Gide and Jean Cocteau [1889 – 1963; French]. * * * Employing the analysis of European sexologists such as Havelock Ellis [1859 – 1939; English male] and Magnus Hirschfeld [1868 – 1935; Jewish German], Mishima claimed he was writing about something called 'sexual inversion [kanji is written the same as Chinese: 性倒錯; meaning the same in both: homosexuality]' "
(a) Natsume Sōseki  夏目漱石
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natsume_Sōseki
(1867 – 1916; born 夏目 金之助; "In 1887, Sōseki met MASAOKA Shiki 正岡 子規, a friend who would give him encouragement on the path to becoming a writer, which would ultimately be his career. * * * From this point on, he began signing his poems with the name Sōseki 漱石, which is a Chinese idiom meaning 'stubborn' ")

Following Chinese, Japanese also call cuckoo 杜鵑, 子規 (shiki), 不如帰 (pronunciation: fujoki), among other Chinese names.
(b) The 'koku-haku: is merely the Chinese pronunciation for kanji 告 and 白, respectively.
(c) André Gide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/André_Gide
(1869 – 1951; French; Nobel Prize in Literature in 1947)

choi

(6) "In Meiji Era (1868-1912) novels, homoerotic subjects were treated extremely subtly. For example, very few readers notice that the male protagonists of Natsume Soseki's 1907 novel 'Nowaki 野分' are described as 'lovers.' Looking back, the literature of the earlier Edo Period bristles with homoerotic desire."
(a) 夏目漱石 followed 野分 (中編小説) with 短編小説「二百十日」.  
(b) 野分 [disambiguation]
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%87%8E%E5%88%86
("台風 [typhoon] の古称。二百十日の頃、野の草を吹き分ける強い風 [my translation: a strong wind that blows over and part grass on the field (hence the name 野分)")

立春 in both Japan and China is usually Feb 4 in Gregory calendar (but rarely could be Feb 3 or 5; no necessarily the same date in both nations but most likely the same date). Counting 立春 as day 1, the 210th day -- or the 209 days after 立春 -- is Sept 1 in Gregory calendar, around which there is usually a typhoon or a gale wind.  ja.wikipedia.org

(7) "Take Ueda Akinari's short ghost story 'Kikka no Chigiri 菊花の約' ('Chrysanthemum Tryst'), published in 1776. In it, a samurai makes a promise to return by the time of the Chrysanthemum Festival to visit a Confucian scholar who has nursed him back to health, but he finds himself detained in a far off place, unable to fulfill the promise. The solution? He kills himself and allows his liberated ghost to make the appointment on his behalf. * * * chrysanthemum was a symbol of homosexual intercourse in Japan"
(a) UEDA Akinari  上田 秋成
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ueda_Akinari
(1734 – 1809; a masterpiece was Ugetsu Monogatari ("Tales of Rain and the Moon") (1776))
(b)
(i) In Japan, "kiku" is the (only) Chinese pronunciation of 菊, which does not have Japanese -- suggesting that the flower and the Chinese character were introduced to Japan (glower not indigenous to Japan, otherwise there should be Japanese pronunciation which Japanese conferred prior to influence of Chinese civilization).
(ii) The "Kikka" 菊花 is shortened from "kiku" and "ka 花."   
(c) The "chigiri" is defined in (1), so is "ugetsu."
(d) 菊花の約 is the second of the nine stories in Ugetsu Monogatari 雨月物語.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugetsu_Monogatari
(section 1 Name; section 4 Stories: Kikka no Chigiri (The Chrysanthemum Pledge): "Akinari [author] not only uses the plot but also the diction of the Chinese vernacular story, "Fan Juquing [sic] 范巨卿 jishu sisheng jiao" (Fan Chu-ch'ing's Eternal Friendship)." "A man unable to go to his friend's house because he has been imprisoned kills himself so that his ghost can escape and fulfil the pledge")
(i) 死生交范张鸡黍
https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/死生交范張雞黍
(ii) I have a feeling that Mr Damian Flanagan, writer of the Japan Times article, twists words to fit his theme. Another translation of the story is The Chrysanthemum Vow. Besides, from the same Japanese word Japanese have the luxury to choose the right Chinese character among similar kanji -- and Akinari opted for 約.  (Japanese also has 四字熟語: 牵强付会.)

choi

(8) "The homosexual bonds between samurai * * * giv[ves] young samurai added motivation to lay down their lives for their lord. One of the most famous examples, later depicted in the kabuki plays of writers such as Tsuruya Namboku IV [鶴屋南北 (4代目)], was the devotion of the 17-year-old youth MORI Ranmaru 森 蘭丸 (1565-1582) to the brutal warlord Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582). It was so intense that he died alongside his lord — possibly by his own hand."
(a) lay down (vt): "to give up : SURRENDER <lay down your arms>"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lay%20down
(b) ODA Nobunaga  織田 信長
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oda_Nobunaga
(1534 – 1582; section 2.6 Coup at Honnō-ji and death)

本能寺の変: Nobunaga wanted to unify Japan (he did not succeed before he died). In preparation to invade Chūgoku region  中国地方
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chūgoku_region
("Chūgoku" literally means "middle country")
, NOT China, Nobunaga was on his way to the capital, Kyoto, where he stayed at Honnō-ji. On June 21, 1582 Nobunaga's 重臣・明智 光秀 AKECHI Mitsuhide 謀反 unexpectedly and for reasons still unclear to this date, suddenly attacked the temple. "Unknown to Nobunaga, his [eldest] son Nobutada 信忠 died [at age 27] in the fighting before the temple where he was staying."  "Just eleven days after the coup at Honnō temple, Mitsuhide was killed at the Battle of Yamazaki 山崎の戦い and his army was defeated by [TOYOTOMI Hideyoshi 豊臣 秀吉], who eventually became heir to Nobunaga's legacy."

To say Ranmaru was gay simply because he served his master well seems a blasphemy to me.
(i) Yamazaki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamazaki
(may refer to "an area in Japan along the border of Shimamoto 島本[町], Osaka and Oyamazaki 大山崎[町], Kyoto")
(ii) 山崎
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/山崎
("京都府乙訓郡大山崎町。大阪府三島郡島本町山崎や天王山に隣接し、ともに山崎の戦いの舞台となった。 * * * 山崎とは元来、山が岬のように突き出た部分、あるいは半島を表す言葉であり、同様の地形をもつ場所の地名として多く使われている")

My translation: [Yamazaki refers to] 京都府乙訓郡大山崎町, which adjoins Yamazaki, Shimamoto and 天王山 [the mountain is located within 京都府乙訓郡大山崎町]. These two places together [in both Kyoto and Osaka] formed the stage of Battle of Yamazaki. * * * Originally, the term was used to describe a mountain which juts out [into the sky] like a cape or peninsula [into water]. Many places share these formation -- and hence the same name.

choi

(9) "When wakashudō 若衆道 (the pursuit of young boys) fanned out to the more commercially minded and fun-loving middle class in the Edo Period, the number of male prostitutes soared and young kabuki actors often moonlighted as prostitutes, desired by both men and women."

(10) "Relaxed attitudes to sex and gender did not extend to anything that might have disrupted the social order — * * * adultery was a criminal offense punishable by death (for both men and women). * * * the horrific consequences of adultery have been depicted in classic films, such as Kenji MIZOGUCHI's 溝口 健二 'The Crucified Lovers' (1954), based on a 1715 Chikamatsu’s play."

The Crucified Lovers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crucified_Lovers
(Japanese title: 近松物語; the two protagonists were Mohei 茂兵衛 and Osan おさん where were crucified)

(11) "Falling in love with an indentured prostitute often had fatal consequences — the plot of many tragic works including Chikamatsu's 1720 play 'Shinju [sic] Ten no Amijima 心中天網島' ('The Love Suicides at Amijima'). "
(a) CHICAMASTSU Monzaemon  近松 門左衛門
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chikamatsu_Monzaemon
(i) The pen name meant left guard; a gate has a right one also.
(ii) "本名は 杉森 信盛."  ja.wikipedia.org
(b) The Love Suicides at Amijima
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Love_Suicides_at_Amijima
(c) In JAPAN, 心中 as a noun has two meanings and pronunciations (one each in China).

Japanese-English dictionary:
* shinjiū (principal) 心中 【しんじゅう(P); しんぢゅう】 (n,v): "double suicide; lovers suicide"
* shinchiū 心中 【しんちゅう】 (n): "in one's heart; true motives; mind"
(d) 心中天網島
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/心中天網島
(cgharacters were 紙屋 治兵衛 and 小春; "「天網島」とは、「天網恢恢」という諺と、心中の場所である網島とを結びつけた語")

my translation of the quotation: 天網島 combined the phrase 天網恢恢 and the place name 網島 [in Osaka] where the suicides [supposedly] took place.
(i) Again, Japanese has the same phrases (as Chinese) 天網恢恢 or heaven's vengeance is slow but sure; heaven's net is wide and coarse, yet nothing slips through疎にして漏らさず" which Jim Breen's dictionary defines as "heaven's vengeance is slow but sure; heaven's net is wide and coarse, yet nothing slips through."
(ii) "天網恢恢，疏而不失." 老子道德经第73章