View source for Shudō

{{Draft}}
[[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}} is the Japanese tradition of age-structured [[homosexuality]] or [[pederasty]] prevalent in [[samurai]] society from the [[medieval]] period until the end of the 19th century. 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'')". The "[[Dō (Way)|dō]]" (道) is related to the Chinese word [[tao]], considered to be a structured discipline and body of knowledge, as well as a path to awakening.

The older partner in the relationship was known as the ''nenja'' (念者), and the younger as the ''wakashū'' (若衆).

==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 love in Japan is [[Kūkai]], also known as [[Kōbō Daishi]], the founder of the Shingon school of thought who is said to have brought over from the mainland, together with the teachings of the Shingon, the teachings of male love. <ref>井原西鶴, [[Ihara Saikaku]]. (Paul Gordon Schalow, trans.). The Great Mirror of Male Love. Stanford University Press, 1990.</ref>  [[Mount Kōya]], where Kōbō Daishi's monastery is still located, was a byword for male love up to the end of the pre-modern period.{{Fact|date=December 2007}}

Despite the attribution of male love to Kūkai, references to male love can be found in some of the earliest Japanese texts, such as the 8th century history "[[Kojiki]]" (古事記) and the "[[Nihon Shoki]]" (日本書紀).

==Cultural aspects==
[[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. Shudo, in its pedagogic, martial, and aristocratic aspects, is closely analogous to the ancient Greek tradition of [[pederasty]].

The practice was held in high esteem, and was encouraged, especially within the samurai class. It was considered beneficial for the youth, teaching him virtue, honesty and the appreciation of beauty. Its value was contrasted with the love of women, which was blamed for feminizing men.{{Fact|date=December 2007}}

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 male love.

Beginning with the [[Meiji restoration]] and the rise of Western influence, [[Christianity]] began to influence the culture, leading to a rapid decline of sanctioned homoerotic practices in the late 1800s.{{Fact|date=November 2007}} <ref>Kaku, Sechiyama. "Rainbow in the East: LGBT Rights in Japan." Nippon. Nippon Communications Foundation, 28 May 2015. Web. 29 June 2015.</ref>

==See also==
* [[Homosexuality in Japan]]
* [[Homosexuality and Buddhism]]
* [[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]

==Page to be merged==
'''Shudō''' was a samurai custom in which adult samurai engaged in pederastic relationships with younger samurai. This custom is most prominently seen, or discussed, in the Sengoku and Edo periods.<ref>[http://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php?title=Shudo The Samurai-Archives Samurai Wiki]</ref>

The older man in the relationship, known as the nenja (念者), and the younger man, known by a variety of terms including wakashû (若衆), formed a close, tight personal relationship with one another. A nenja typically engaged in such relationships with only one wakashû at a time, and vice versa. Though much discussion today, based in modern/Western social mores about homosexual relationships, focus strongly on the homosexual sexual acts involved in the relationship, shudô relationships went beyond this, and were strong personal and sentimental or emotional relationships, which involved as well strong elements of mentorship. Mentorship and training in the "warrior" lifestyle and values of the samurai was a major element of the relationship.

From the medieval period, if not earlier, the Japanese considered homosexual acts and relationships as simply a matter of taste or preference, and as something which simply varied from person to person, and over time. While Confucian teachings place a strong emphasis on family, and on proper relationships with one's parents, spouse, and children, there was no parallel in Japanese tradition to the biblical bans on such activities. The specific mode of shûdô male-male relationships, particular to the samurai class, emerged in the medieval period, and by the Edo period was likely seen as a firmly entrenched traditional custom.<ref>Eiko Ikegami, Bonds of Civility, Cambridge University Press (2005), 269-270</ref>

==References==
*Maki Morinaga, "The Gender of Onnagata as the Imitating Imitated," positions 10:2 (2002), 245-284. 
{{reflist}}
{{Navbox Japan|collapsed}}

[[Category:Japan]]




[[de:Wakashudō]]

[[fr:Shūdō]]