THE LOVE OF THE SAMURAI Tsuneo Watanabe & Jun'ichi Iwata GAY Japanese History

Description: THE LOVE OF THE SAMURAI Tsuneo Watanabe & Jun'ichi Iwata GAY Japanese History the love of the samuraiTSUNEO WATANABE & JUN'ICHI IWATAIn this intriguing and lively study Tsuneo Watanabe uncovers the deeply embedded cultural traditions of homosexuality in Japanese society, suggesting that they are as fundamental to an understanding of Japan's traditional civilization as a knowledge of paiderastia is to an appreciation of Greek art.Flowering throughout the classical period (16th-18th century), homosexuality found a formal status and high ground through the philosophy of shudo - the'way of ephebes' - one of the 'ways of spiritual awakening, the means by which one becomes conscious of one's true nature.The first form of homosexuality found in Japanese history was the love of monks for their child-servants; medieval times saw the routine prostitution of actors and the adoption of women's roles by men in the no and kabuki theatre.Watanabe shows how all this paved the way for the classical shudo, an essential component of the samurai ethic in which the future samurai must first be loved by an adult man, then himself love a young man before eventually marrying a woman.Enriched by many ancient illustrations and by extracts from Jun'ichi lwata's classic writings on ancient homosexual literature, this is a groundbreaking and immensely readable study on an aspect of Japanese culture sadly submerged by current taboos.A book of interest and courage given the conformist nature of contemporary Japanese society - Le MondeISBN 0-85449-115-5

Price: 45.95 USD

Location: Los Angeles, California

End Time: 2025-02-06T18:13:49.000Z

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