Editing Homosexuality in Japan (section)

=== Samurai ''shudō'' ===
In contrast to the norms in religious circles, in the warrior ([[samurai]]) class it was customary for a boy in the ''[[wakashū]]'' age category to undergo training in the martial arts by apprenticing to a more experienced adult man. According to Furukawa, the relationship was based on the model of a typically older ''nenja,'' paired with a typically younger ''chigo''.<ref name=":0" /> The man was permitted, if the boy agreed, to take the boy as his lover until he came of age; this relationship, often formalized in a "brotherhood contract",<ref name="Leupp"/> was expected to be exclusive, with both partners swearing to take no other (male) lovers.

This practice, along with clerical pederasty, developed into the codified system of age-structured homosexuality known as ''shudō'', abbreviated from ''wakashūdō'', the "way (''[[Tao]]'') of ''wakashū''".<ref name=":2" /> The older partner, in the role of ''nenja'', would teach the ''chigo'' martial skills, warrior etiquette, and the samurai code of honor, while his desire to be a good role model for his ''chigo'' would lead him to behave more honorably himself; thus a ''shudō'' relationship was considered to have a "mutually ennobling effect".<ref name=":2" /> In addition, both parties were expected to be loyal unto death, and to assist the other both in feudal duties and in honor-driven obligations such as duels and vendettas. Although sex between the couple was expected to end when the boy came of age, the relationship would, ideally, develop into a lifelong bond of friendship. At the same time, sexual activity with women was not barred (for either party), and once the boy came of age, both were free to seek other ''wakashū'' lovers.

Like later Edo same-sex practices, samurai ''shudō'' was strictly role-defined; the ''nenja'' was seen as the active, desiring, penetrative partner, while the younger, sexually receptive ''wakashū'' was considered to submit to the ''nenja''<nowiki/>'s attentions out of love, loyalty, and affection, rather than sexual desire<ref name=":0" /><sup>''d'']</sup> Among the samurai class, adult men were (by definition) not permitted to take the ''wakashū'' role; only preadult boys (or, later, lower-class men) were considered legitimate targets of homosexual desire. In some cases, ''shudō'' relationships arose between boys of similar ages, but the parties were still divided into ''nenja'' and ''wakashū'' roles.<ref name=":0" />

[[Image:Samurai kiss.jpg|right|thumb|Man and youth, [[Miyagawa Isshō]], ca. 1750; Panel from a series of ten on a shunga-style painted hand scroll (kakemono-e); sumi, color and gofun on silk. Private collection. Note that the youth on the left is wearing a kimono whose style ([[furisode]]) and color was considered appropriate for adolescents of both sexes but not adult men, which along with the partially shaved pate denotes the boy's ''[[wakashū]]'' age status while the exposed bare feet indicates the purely sexual demeanor.]]