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#REDIRECT [[Homosexuality in Japan]]
{{Original research|date=February 2010}}
{{Refimprove|date=March 2009}}
[[Image:ShudoMonogatari.jpg|thumb|300px|right|A Shudō-type encounter between younger and older [[samurai]]. From "Tale of Shudō" (衆道物語) 1661.]]
{{nihongo|'''Shudō'''|衆道|shudō}} was a form of age-structured [[homosexuality]], [[pedophilia]] or [[pederasty]] prevalent in [[samurai]] society from the [[medieval]] period until the end of the 19th century.{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}} The word is an abbreviation of ''wakashudō'' (若衆道), "the way of the young" or more precisely, "the way of young (若 ''waka'') men (衆 ''shū'')".


{{DEFAULTSORT:Shudo}}
The older partner was known as the ''nenja'' (念者), and the younger as the ''[[wakashū]]'' (若衆).
[[Category:Edo period]]

==Origins==
Though the term ''shudo'' first appears in 17th century, it is preceded in the Japanese homosexual tradition by the love relationships between bonzes and their acolytes, who were known as ''chigo''. The legendary supposed founder of male homosexuality in Japan is [[Kūkai]], also known as [[Kōbō Daishi]], the founder of the Shingon school of thought who is said to have brought it over from the mainland. <ref>井原西鶴, [[Ihara Saikaku]]. (Paul Gordon Schalow, trans.). The Great Mirror of Male Love. Stanford University Press, 1990.</ref>

==Cultural aspects==
{{Unreferenced section|date=February 2010}}
[[Image:Japanesepederasty18thcentury.jpg|left|thumb|250px|<!--PLEASE SEE TALK PAGE SECTION "Wrong caption for the Japanese illo" BEFORE CHANGING THIS CAPTION, THANKS.-->A youth entertains an older lover, covering his eyes while surreptitiously kissing a girl [[servant]].]]
The teachings of shudo, "The Way of the Young", entered the literary tradition and can be found in such as works as [[Hagakure]] (葉隠), "Hidden by Leaves", and other [[samurai]] manuals.

Much of the historical and fictional literature of the period praised the beauty and valor of boys faithful to shudo. The modern historian Jun'ichi Iwata drew up a list of 457 such titles from the 17th and 18th centuries alone, considered a "corpus of erotic pedagogy." (Watanabe & Iwata, 1989)

With the rise in power and influence of the merchant class, aspects of the practice of shudo were adopted by the middle classes, and homoerotic expression in Japan began to be more closely associated with travelling [[kabuki]] actors known as [[tobiko (.)|tobiko]] ( 飛子) <!--please disambiguate -->, "fly boys," who moonlighted as [[prostitute]]s.

In the Edo period (1600-1868), kabuki actors (known as [[onnagata]] when playing female roles) often worked as prostitutes off-stage. [[Kagema]] were male prostitutes who worked at specialist brothels called "[[kagemajaya]]" (陰間茶屋: kagema tea houses). Both kagema and kabuki actors were much sought after by the sophisticates of the day, who often practiced [[danshoku]]/[[nanshoku]], or homosexuality.{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}}

Beginning with the [[Meiji restoration]] and the rise of Western influence, the practice declined.{{Citation needed|date=November 2007}}

==See also==
* [[Homosexuality in Japan]]
* [[Nanshoku]] (男色, Male Color)
* [[Pederastic couples in Japan]]
* [[Pederasty]]
* [[Shonen-ai]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}<!--added under references heading by script-assisted edit-->

==Further reading==
*Leupp, Gary. ''Male Colors: The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan.'' University of California Press, 1997.
*Pflugfelder, Gregory. ''Cartographies of Desire: Male-Male Sexuality in Japanese Discourse, 1600-1950.'' University of California Press, 2000.
*{{cite book |author=Iwata, Junʾichi; Watanabe, Tsuneo |title=Love of the Samurai: a thousand years of Japanese homosexuality |publisher=Gay Men's Press |location=London |year=1989 |pages= |isbn=0-85449-115-5 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=}}

==External links==
* [http://www.androphile.org/preview/Culture/Japan/japan.htm The Beautiful Way of the Samurai]

[[Category:Feudal Japan]]
[[Category:Dō]]
[[Category:Dō]]
[[Category:Samurai]]
[[Category:Samurai]]
[[Category:History of education]]
[[Category:Pedophilia]]
[[Category:Sexuality in Japan]]
[[Category:Japanese sex terms]]
[[Category:Japanese sex terms]]
[[Category:LGBTQ culture in Japan]]

[[Category:Shudo| ]]

[[de:Wakashudō]]
[[el:Σούντο]]
[[es:Shudō]]
[[fr:Shūdō]]
[[ja:衆道]]
[[pl:Shudō]]
[[pt:Shūdō]]
[[ru:Сюдо]]

Latest revision as of 05:07, 23 September 2024