Editing Homosexuality in Japan (section)

=== Monastic homosexuality ===
{{Further|Buddhism and sexual orientation#Japanese Buddhism}}
[[File:Kuniyoshi Old-Buddhist.jpg|thumb|250px|''Old Buddhist'', by [[Utagawa Kuniyoshi]]. Note the exposed bare feet of the boy indicating the sexual demeanor while the brocade ''Kesa'' robe indicates the wealthy status of cleric.]]

''Nanshoku'' relationships inside [[Japanese Buddhism|Buddhist monasteries]] were typically [[Pederasty|pederastic]]: an age-structured relationship where the younger partner is not considered an adult. The older partner, or {{nihongo|''nenja''|念者||"lover" or "admirer"}}, would be a monk, priest or abbot, while the younger partner was assumed to be an {{nihongo|[[acolyte]]|稚児|chigo}}, who would be a prepubescent or adolescent boy;<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.2307/2384336 | jstor=2384336 | title=Chigo Monogatari. Love Stories or Buddhist Sermons? | last1=Childs | first1=Margaret H. | journal=Monumenta Nipponica | year=1980 | volume=35 | issue=2 | pages=127–151 }}</ref> the relationship would be dissolved once the boy reached adulthood (or left the monastery). Both parties were encouraged to treat the relationship seriously and conduct the affair honorably, and the ''nenja'' might be required to write a formal vow of fidelity. Outside of the monasteries, monks were considered to have a particular predilection for male prostitutes, which was the subject of much ribald humor.<ref name=":2">Pflugfelder, Gregory M. (1997). ''Cartographies of desire: male–male sexuality in Japanese discourse, 1600–1950''. University of California Press. p. 26, 39–42, 75, 70-71, 252,</ref>

There is no evidence so far of religious opposition to homosexuality within Japan in [[Ethnic religion|non-Buddhist traditions]].<ref>''The Greenwood encyclopedia of LGBT issues worldwide'', Volume 1, Chuck Stewart, p.430; accessed through Google Books</ref> [[Edo period|Tokugawa]] commentators felt free to illustrate [[kami]] engaging in [[anal sex]] with each other. During the Tokugawa period, some of the Shinto gods, especially [[Hachiman]], Myoshin, Shinmei and [[Tenjin (kami)|Tenjin]], "came to be seen as guardian deities of ''nanshoku''" (male–male love). Tokugawa-era writer [[Ihara Saikaku]] joked that since there are no women for the first three generations in the genealogy of the gods found in the [[Nihon Shoki]], the gods must have enjoyed homosexual relationships—which Saikaku argued was the real origin of ''nanshoku''.<ref>[[Homosexuality in Japan#CITEREFLeupp1997|Leupp 1997]], p. 32.</ref> Nonetheless, during the Edo period, male-female relationships were highly valued as it ensured propagation of offspring and social status.<ref>Love of Samurai: A thousand years of Japanese homosexuality (1989). By: Watanabe, Tsuneo; Iwata, Jun`ichi; Robertson, Jennifer. ''Journal of the History of Sexuality'', OCTOBER 1991, Vol. 2 Issue 2; (AN WMST-33096)</ref>