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6 - Sex in Heian-kyō (Kyoto) in the Tenth through Twelfth Centuries ce

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2024

By
Joshua S. Mostow
Edited by
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks  and
Mathew Kuefler
Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Mathew Kuefler
Affiliation:
San Diego State University
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Summary

Our knowledge of Japanese sexuality from the tenth to the twelfth centuries is limited chiefly to the imperial court. Sexuality was constructed textually through key concepts from Chinese culture and the globally unprecedented rise of writing by women in Japanese. Emperors, princes, and high-ranking aristocratic men were often polygynous and marriage was not controlled by either law or religion. Virginity was rarely valued and there was no primogeniture. ‘Divorce’ and ‘remarriage’ were frequent. Incest taboos were limited, applying to full siblings and parents and their biological offspring. While most aristocratic women were to be seen only by their fathers, husbands, or sons among men, women and men serving at court might have multiple sexual partners and social hierarchy played a dominant role in men’s access to women’s bodies; legal prosecutions for rape were nil. There is evidence of pederasty both at court and in temple complexes by the late tenth and the early eleventh centuries, respectively. Non-pederastic homosexuality seems to have had a sudden efflorescence at the end of the period. Definitive evidence for female homosexuality does not appear until the thirteenth century, but probably existed earlier.

Keywords

Heian-kyōKyotopolygynyuxorilocal marriagepoetrysame-sexFujiwara YorinagaHeianJapan
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge World History of Sexualities , pp. 108 - 131
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

Further Reading

Buckland, Rosina. Shunga: Erotic Art in Japan. London: British Museum, 2010.Google Scholar
Childs., Margaret H. ‘The Value of Vulnerability: Sexual Coercion and the Nature of Love in Japanese Court Literature’. Journal of Asian Studies 58, no. 4 (1999): 1059–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, Timothy C., Gordon, Andrew, Ishigami, Aki, and Yano, Aiko, eds. Shunga: Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art. London: British Museum, 2013.Google Scholar
Goodwin, Janet R. Selling Songs and Smiles: The Sex Trade in Heian and Kamakura Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2007.Google Scholar
Harries, Philip. ‘Fūryū, a Concept of Elegance in Pre-Modern Literature’. In Europe Interprets Japan, ed. Daniels, Gorden, 137–44. Tenterden, UK: Paul Norbury, 1984.Google Scholar
Yoshikazu, Hayashi and Lane, Richard, eds. Higa emaki ‘Koshibagaki-zōshi’ ((Secret Picture Scroll) Tale of the Brushwood Fence). Teihon Ukiyo-e Shunga Meihin Shūsei 17. Tokyo: Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 1997.Google Scholar
Meeks, Lori. ‘Buddhist Renunciation and the Female Life Cycle: Understanding Nunhood in Heian and Kamakura Japan’. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 70, no. 1 (2010): 1–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mostow, Joshua S. ‘E no Gotoshi: The Picture Simile and the Feminine Re-guard in Japanese Illustrated Romances’. Word & Image: A Journal of Verbal/Visual Enquiry 11, no. 1 (1995): 37–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mostow, Joshua S. ‘Female Readers and Early Heian Romances: The Hakubyō Tales of Ise Illustrated Scroll Fragments’. Monumenta Nipponica 62, no. 2 (2007): 135–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pandey, Rajyashree. Perfumed Sleeves and Tangled Hair: Body, Woman, and Desire in Medieval Japanese Narratives. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2016.Google Scholar
Schalow, Paul Gordon. A Poetics of Courtly Male Friendship in Heian Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2007.Google Scholar
Schmidt-Hori, Sachi. ‘The Erotic Family: Structures and Narratives of Milk Kinship in Premodern Japanese Tales’. Journal of Asian Studies 80, no. 3 (2021): 665–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt-Hori, Sachi Tales of Idolized Boys: Male–Male Love in Medieval Japanese Buddhist Narratives. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2021.Google Scholar
Stoneman, Jack. ‘Between Monks: Saigyō’s Shukke, Homosocial Desire, and Japanese Poetry’. Japanese Language and Literature 43, no. 2 (2009): 427–52.Google Scholar
Tyler, Royall. ‘Marriage, Rank and Rape in The Tale of Genji’. Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context 7 (March 2002). http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue7/tyler.html.Google Scholar
Tonomura, Hitomi. ‘Black Hair and Red Trousers: Gendering the Flesh in Medieval Japan’. American Historical Review 99, no. 1 (1994): 129–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tonomura, Hitomi ‘Coercive Sex in the Medieval Japanese Court: Lady Nijō’s Memoir’. Monumenta Nipponica 61, no. 3 (2006): 283–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wile, Douglas. Art of the Bedchamber: The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classical Including Women’s Solo Meditation Texts. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Yano, Akiko. ‘Historiography of the “Phallic Contest” Handscroll in Japanese Art’. Japan Review: Journal of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies 26 (2013): 59–82.Google Scholar
Fujiwara, no Akihira. Notes sur du nouveaux divertissements comiques (Shin sarugaku-ki). Trans. Francine Hérail. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2014.Google Scholar
The Ise Stories: Ise monogatari. Trans. Joshua S. Mostow and Royall Tyler. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2010.Google Scholar
Liu, I-ch’ing. Shih-shuo hsin-yü: A New Account of Tales of the World, 2nd ed. Trans. Richard B. Mather. Ann Arbor, MI: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 2002.Google Scholar
New Songs from a Jade Terrace: An Anthology of Early Chinese Love Poetry. Trans. Anne Birrell. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1986.Google Scholar
‘The Tale of the Bamboo-Cutter’ (‘Taketori monogatari’). Trans. Donald Keene. In Modern Japanese Fiction and Its Traditions, ed. Rimer, J. Thomas. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1978.Google Scholar
The Tale of the Lady Ochikubo (Ochikubo monogatari). Trans. Wilfrid Whitehouse and Eizo Yanagisawa. Tokyo: Hokuseidō, 1965.Google Scholar
Tanba, Yasunori. The Essentials of Medicine in Ancient China and Japan: Yasunori Tamba’s Ishimpō 医心方. Trans. Emil C. H. Hsia, Ilza Veith, and Robert H. Geertsma, 2 vols. Leiden: Brill, 1986.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Zhou. ‘A Dalliance in the Immortals’ Den’ (‘You xianku’). Trans. Paul Rouzer. In Paul Rouzer, Articulated Ladies: Gender and the Male Community in Early Chinese Texts. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001.Google Scholar
Buckland, Rosina. Shunga: Erotic Art in Japan. London: British Museum, 2010.Google Scholar
Childs., Margaret H. ‘The Value of Vulnerability: Sexual Coercion and the Nature of Love in Japanese Court Literature’. Journal of Asian Studies 58, no. 4 (1999): 1059–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, Timothy C., Gordon, Andrew, Ishigami, Aki, and Yano, Aiko, eds. Shunga: Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art. London: British Museum, 2013.Google Scholar
Goodwin, Janet R. Selling Songs and Smiles: The Sex Trade in Heian and Kamakura Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2007.Google Scholar
Harries, Philip. ‘Fūryū, a Concept of Elegance in Pre-Modern Literature’. In Europe Interprets Japan, ed. Daniels, Gorden, 137–44. Tenterden, UK: Paul Norbury, 1984.Google Scholar
Yoshikazu, Hayashi and Lane, Richard, eds. Higa emaki ‘Koshibagaki-zōshi’ ((Secret Picture Scroll) Tale of the Brushwood Fence). Teihon Ukiyo-e Shunga Meihin Shūsei 17. Tokyo: Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 1997.Google Scholar
Meeks, Lori. ‘Buddhist Renunciation and the Female Life Cycle: Understanding Nunhood in Heian and Kamakura Japan’. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 70, no. 1 (2010): 1–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mostow, Joshua S. ‘E no Gotoshi: The Picture Simile and the Feminine Re-guard in Japanese Illustrated Romances’. Word & Image: A Journal of Verbal/Visual Enquiry 11, no. 1 (1995): 37–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mostow, Joshua S. ‘Female Readers and Early Heian Romances: The Hakubyō Tales of Ise Illustrated Scroll Fragments’. Monumenta Nipponica 62, no. 2 (2007): 135–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pandey, Rajyashree. Perfumed Sleeves and Tangled Hair: Body, Woman, and Desire in Medieval Japanese Narratives. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2016.Google Scholar
Schalow, Paul Gordon. A Poetics of Courtly Male Friendship in Heian Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2007.Google Scholar
Schmidt-Hori, Sachi. ‘The Erotic Family: Structures and Narratives of Milk Kinship in Premodern Japanese Tales’. Journal of Asian Studies 80, no. 3 (2021): 665–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt-Hori, Sachi Tales of Idolized Boys: Male–Male Love in Medieval Japanese Buddhist Narratives. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2021.Google Scholar
Stoneman, Jack. ‘Between Monks: Saigyō’s Shukke, Homosocial Desire, and Japanese Poetry’. Japanese Language and Literature 43, no. 2 (2009): 427–52.Google Scholar
Tyler, Royall. ‘Marriage, Rank and Rape in The Tale of Genji’. Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context 7 (March 2002). http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue7/tyler.html.Google Scholar
Tonomura, Hitomi. ‘Black Hair and Red Trousers: Gendering the Flesh in Medieval Japan’. American Historical Review 99, no. 1 (1994): 129–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tonomura, Hitomi ‘Coercive Sex in the Medieval Japanese Court: Lady Nijō’s Memoir’. Monumenta Nipponica 61, no. 3 (2006): 283–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wile, Douglas. Art of the Bedchamber: The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classical Including Women’s Solo Meditation Texts. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Yano, Akiko. ‘Historiography of the “Phallic Contest” Handscroll in Japanese Art’. Japan Review: Journal of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies 26 (2013): 59–82.Google Scholar
Fujiwara, no Akihira. Notes sur du nouveaux divertissements comiques (Shin sarugaku-ki). Trans. Francine Hérail. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2014.Google Scholar
The Ise Stories: Ise monogatari. Trans. Joshua S. Mostow and Royall Tyler. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2010.Google Scholar
Liu, I-ch’ing. Shih-shuo hsin-yü: A New Account of Tales of the World, 2nd ed. Trans. Richard B. Mather. Ann Arbor, MI: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 2002.Google Scholar
New Songs from a Jade Terrace: An Anthology of Early Chinese Love Poetry. Trans. Anne Birrell. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1986.Google Scholar
‘The Tale of the Bamboo-Cutter’ (‘Taketori monogatari’). Trans. Donald Keene. In Modern Japanese Fiction and Its Traditions, ed. Rimer, J. Thomas. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1978.Google Scholar
The Tale of the Lady Ochikubo (Ochikubo monogatari). Trans. Wilfrid Whitehouse and Eizo Yanagisawa. Tokyo: Hokuseidō, 1965.Google Scholar
Tanba, Yasunori. The Essentials of Medicine in Ancient China and Japan: Yasunori Tamba’s Ishimpō 医心方. Trans. Emil C. H. Hsia, Ilza Veith, and Robert H. Geertsma, 2 vols. Leiden: Brill, 1986.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Zhou. ‘A Dalliance in the Immortals’ Den’ (‘You xianku’). Trans. Paul Rouzer. In Paul Rouzer, Articulated Ladies: Gender and the Male Community in Early Chinese Texts. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001.Google Scholar
Buckland, Rosina. Shunga: Erotic Art in Japan. London: British Museum, 2010.Google Scholar
Childs., Margaret H. ‘The Value of Vulnerability: Sexual Coercion and the Nature of Love in Japanese Court Literature’. Journal of Asian Studies 58, no. 4 (1999): 1059–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, Timothy C., Gordon, Andrew, Ishigami, Aki, and Yano, Aiko, eds. Shunga: Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art. London: British Museum, 2013.Google Scholar
Goodwin, Janet R. Selling Songs and Smiles: The Sex Trade in Heian and Kamakura Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2007.Google Scholar
Harries, Philip. ‘Fūryū, a Concept of Elegance in Pre-Modern Literature’. In Europe Interprets Japan, ed. Daniels, Gorden, 137–44. Tenterden, UK: Paul Norbury, 1984.Google Scholar
Yoshikazu, Hayashi and Lane, Richard, eds. Higa emaki ‘Koshibagaki-zōshi’ ((Secret Picture Scroll) Tale of the Brushwood Fence). Teihon Ukiyo-e Shunga Meihin Shūsei 17. Tokyo: Kawade Shobō Shinsha, 1997.Google Scholar
Meeks, Lori. ‘Buddhist Renunciation and the Female Life Cycle: Understanding Nunhood in Heian and Kamakura Japan’. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 70, no. 1 (2010): 1–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mostow, Joshua S. ‘E no Gotoshi: The Picture Simile and the Feminine Re-guard in Japanese Illustrated Romances’. Word & Image: A Journal of Verbal/Visual Enquiry 11, no. 1 (1995): 37–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mostow, Joshua S. ‘Female Readers and Early Heian Romances: The Hakubyō Tales of Ise Illustrated Scroll Fragments’. Monumenta Nipponica 62, no. 2 (2007): 135–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pandey, Rajyashree. Perfumed Sleeves and Tangled Hair: Body, Woman, and Desire in Medieval Japanese Narratives. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2016.Google Scholar
Schalow, Paul Gordon. A Poetics of Courtly Male Friendship in Heian Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2007.Google Scholar
Schmidt-Hori, Sachi. ‘The Erotic Family: Structures and Narratives of Milk Kinship in Premodern Japanese Tales’. Journal of Asian Studies 80, no. 3 (2021): 665–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt-Hori, Sachi Tales of Idolized Boys: Male–Male Love in Medieval Japanese Buddhist Narratives. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2021.Google Scholar
Stoneman, Jack. ‘Between Monks: Saigyō’s Shukke, Homosocial Desire, and Japanese Poetry’. Japanese Language and Literature 43, no. 2 (2009): 427–52.Google Scholar
Tyler, Royall. ‘Marriage, Rank and Rape in The Tale of Genji’. Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context 7 (March 2002). http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue7/tyler.html.Google Scholar
Tonomura, Hitomi. ‘Black Hair and Red Trousers: Gendering the Flesh in Medieval Japan’. American Historical Review 99, no. 1 (1994): 129–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tonomura, Hitomi ‘Coercive Sex in the Medieval Japanese Court: Lady Nijō’s Memoir’. Monumenta Nipponica 61, no. 3 (2006): 283–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wile, Douglas. Art of the Bedchamber: The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classical Including Women’s Solo Meditation Texts. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Yano, Akiko. ‘Historiography of the “Phallic Contest” Handscroll in Japanese Art’. Japan Review: Journal of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies 26 (2013): 59–82.Google Scholar

Historical Readings

Fujiwara, no Akihira. Notes sur du nouveaux divertissements comiques (Shin sarugaku-ki). Trans. Francine Hérail. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2014.Google Scholar
The Ise Stories: Ise monogatari. Trans. Joshua S. Mostow and Royall Tyler. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2010.Google Scholar
Liu, I-ch’ing. Shih-shuo hsin-yü: A New Account of Tales of the World, 2nd ed. Trans. Richard B. Mather. Ann Arbor, MI: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 2002.Google Scholar
New Songs from a Jade Terrace: An Anthology of Early Chinese Love Poetry. Trans. Anne Birrell. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1986.Google Scholar
‘The Tale of the Bamboo-Cutter’ (‘Taketori monogatari’). Trans. Donald Keene. In Modern Japanese Fiction and Its Traditions, ed. Rimer, J. Thomas. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1978.Google Scholar
The Tale of the Lady Ochikubo (Ochikubo monogatari). Trans. Wilfrid Whitehouse and Eizo Yanagisawa. Tokyo: Hokuseidō, 1965.Google Scholar
Tanba, Yasunori. The Essentials of Medicine in Ancient China and Japan: Yasunori Tamba’s Ishimpō 医心方. Trans. Emil C. H. Hsia, Ilza Veith, and Robert H. Geertsma, 2 vols. Leiden: Brill, 1986.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Zhou. ‘A Dalliance in the Immortals’ Den’ (‘You xianku’). Trans. Paul Rouzer. In Paul Rouzer, Articulated Ladies: Gender and the Male Community in Early Chinese Texts. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001.Google Scholar

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