Oda nobunaga gay
Queerness and gender fluidity permeate the landscape of Japanese culture, from BL manga to onnagata in Kabuki theater (male actors who play female roles). Additionally, sexual acts among males were common in ancient Japan and a major cultural feature in the Edo period. Japan was open-minded and even, in some cases, enthusiastic about same-sex relations up until Japan opened its borders in 1859, when Japan began to adopt repressive, Victorian-era attitudes towards sexuality in response to Western influence. Though Japan’s current political stance on queerness leaves much to be desired, Japan has a surprisingly rich history colored by a generally positive outlook on sex and sexuality.
From sex between male monks to 17th century erotica, Japan’s queer history might surprise you.
5. Buddhist Monks Tolerated Homosexual Relations
In general, attitudes in soon Japan towards sexuality were free and permissive. As Louis Crompton notes in Homosexuality and Civilization, “Shintoism… had no special code of morals and seems to have regarded sex as a natural phenomenon to be enjoyed with few inhibitions.” When Buddhism arrived in Japan in the seventh century, it did so against the
Jeroen Lamers.Japonius Tyrannus: The Japanese Warlord Oda Nobunaga Reconsidered. Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2000. 280 pp. $65.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-90-74822-22-0.
Reviewed by Suzanne Gay (East Asian Studies Program, Oberlin College)
Published on H-Japan (July, 2001)
A New Biography of Oda Nobunaga
A New Biography of Oda Nobunaga
Jeroen Lamers has written a biography of Oda Nobunaga, the sixteenth century warrior who was the first of the so-called three great unifiers of early modern Japan. The study focuses particularly on the policies and actions of Nobunaga during the years of his national ascendancy, 1568-82. Mr. Lamers has consulted a wide range of contemporary sources: in addition to numerous official documents, these include the Shincho Kyou-ki by Oota Gyuuichi, Nobunaga's first chronicler, the Jesuit records, and diaries love the Kanemi Kyou-ki and Tokitsugu Kyou-ki. Mr. Lamers has also taken packed measure of the works of Japanese and western historians in his treatment of this important figure.
This monograph contributes in several important ways to the literature on Nobunaga and sixteenth century Japan. First, it is the only thorough treatmen
Tokis86 said:
This.
It wasn't even necessarily considered homosexual nor pedophilic, but simply something that fitted in with what was considered the natural hierarchies/order of society. You got to have sex with those ranked below you (those above you got to have sex with you).
Sex with girls could be filled with social, practical and spiritual ramifications and so it was commonplace for a lot of men to engage in sexual relationships with boys instead (who had little power/status to refuse) to the extent that in some professions (samurai, monks etc), it pretty much became an expected (and totally sociably acceptable) part of the job. Some samurai and monks even wrote about how sexual relations could improve the intrinsic relationship between master and apprentice (or help boys face the rigours of life in general etc).
There is one particular controversial incident in the Tale of Genji where he (a dude already well into his 20s) basically has sex with an underage lad (estimated to be no older than 14). Genji was trying to chat up the boys older sister (and was using the little brother as a messenger to transport poetic love letters to her). H
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The cultural differences between Japan and, say, North America are legion. It saves time to number the similarities and just assume that everything else is different. Yet humans are such stupid things that we cannot support thinking that we are taking the same things for granted. Some of the most frustrating things about talking to Americans is that they believe everything they know implement in Japan and reject to acknowledge that their beliefs are merely prejudices based on experiences one-of-a-kind to people who acquire spent their lifetimes in the American culture.
The most obvious of this example is the American attitudes about sex. Why act American women keep insisting to me that MY girlfriends are faking their orgasms? Firstly, it should not concern them if they are, and secondly, faking orgasms is an American thing. Japanese women phony not having them, not the other way around.
And then there is the “You men don’t understand” tripe. “We women obtain unwanted attention from men when we go out. You men don’t understand.” Maybe in America. When will American women ever understand that Japanese men experience the same thing?
Japan is one of th
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