Kagema

File:Nishikawa-Sukenobu.jpg

A man cavorts with a Template:Transliteration (probably a Template:Transliteration) and a female sex worker. The Template:Transliteration (wearing headscarf) sneaks a kiss from the lady behind his patron's back. Nishikawa Sukenobu, Template:Circa. Hand-colored Template:Transliteration print.

Template:Nihongo is a Japanese term for historical young male sex workers. Template:Transliteration were often passed off as apprentice kabuki actors (who often engaged in sex work themselves on the side) and catered to a mixed male and female clientele. For male clients, the preferred service was anal sex, with the client taking the penetrative role;<ref name="Leupp">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp homosexual fellatio is almost unmentioned in Edo period (1603–1867) documents.<ref name="Leupp"/>Template:Rp

Template:Transliteration who were not affiliated with an actual kabuki theatre could be hired through male brothels or teahouses specializing in Template:Transliteration.<ref name="Leupp"/>Template:Rp Such institutions were known as Template:Nihongo3. Template:Transliteration typically charged more than female sex workers of equivalent status,<ref name="Leupp"/>Template:Rp and experienced healthy trade into the mid-19th century, despite increasing legal restrictions that attempted to contain sex workers (both male and female) in specified urban areas and to dissuade class-spanning relationships, which were viewed as potentially disruptive to traditional social organization.<ref name="Leupp"/>Template:Rp

Many such sex workers, as well as many young kabuki actors, were indentured servants sold as children to the brothel or theater, typically on a ten-year contract.<ref name="Leupp"/>Template:Rp Template:Transliteration could be presented as Template:Transliteration (young men), Template:Transliteration (adolescent boys, about 10–18 years old) or as Template:Transliteration (female impersonators).<ref name="Leupp"/>Template:Rp

This term also appears in modern Japanese homosexual slang.

Gallery

• Miyagawa Isshô-Spring Pastimes-A.jpg

  A Template:Transliteration sits upon his elder patron's lap. Miyagawa Isshō, Spring Pastimes, 1750

See also

• Catamite
• Greek love
• History of human sexuality
• Homosexuality in pre-Meiji Japan
• Template:Transliteration (ja)
• Pederasty
• Template:Transliteration

Bibliography

• Bernard Faure "The Red Thread" 1998.