View source for Pederasty in Japanese culture

__NOTOC__'''Japan''' has a long rich history of Wakashudou (boylove), homosexuality, and bisexuality that was influenced by the history of Shinto and Buddist cultural traditions.  In the modern era Japan has several genres of art that feature the sexual exploration of characters with youthful and/or child-like features including [[Wikipedia:Shotacon|Shota]], [[Lolicon|lolicon]], [[Wikipedia:Bishōnen|bishōnen]], boys love, and shounen'ai. 

[[File:P22-flanagan-sexual-a-20161120.jpg|thumb|Young love: A woodblock print by Ishikawa Toyonobu (circa 1740) shows two actors portraying a relationship between a wakashū  (adolescent male) and an adult man (right)]]

== Buddhism ==

Japan's tradition Buddhist tradition includes the practice of ''nanshouku'' where "an older Buddhist monk called the ''nenja'' would take on a prepubescent boy, called the ''chigo'', as his acolyte." Later, the samurai brought this tradition out of the monasteries and into the public where it was known as ''Wakashudou''.  In ''wakashudō'', prepubescent boys would be apprenticed to an older man. He would learn martial arts, life skills, and, if the boy agreed, be the man's lover until he became an adult.

Recently Japan has wrestled with it's relationship to minor attraction, torn between it's own traditions and modern western efforts to criminalize minor attraction. Until 2023, Japan had "the lowest [[Age of Consent]]<ref>https://www.vice.com/en/article/akgkzj/japan-age-of-consent-sex</ref><ref>https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64703519</ref> in developed countries, and the lowest in the G7 group." A move to raise the age of consent to 16 recently aligned it more closely with modern western laws.

== Shinto influences; A traditional perspective on sexuality ==

Japan's oldest major religion, [[wikipedia:Shinto|''Shinto'']] puts sex before creation<ref>https://www.tofugu.com/japan/gay-samurai/</ref> when 2 ''Kami'' decide to have sex then which forms Japan:

<blockquote>
''At this time Izanagi-no-Mikoto asked his spouse Izanami-no-Mikoto, saying: "How is your body formed?"''

''She replied, saying: "My body, formed though it be formed, has one place which is formed insufficiently."''

''Then Izanagi-no-Mikoto said: "My body, formed though it be formed, has one place which is formed to excess. Therefore, I would like to take that place in my body which is formed to excess and insert it into that place in your body which is formed insufficiently, and thus give birth to the land. How would this be?"''

''Izanami-no-Mikoto replied, saying: "That will be good."''
</blockquote>

In Shinto belief all "all sexual love is unconditional good,"<ref>https://www.tofugu.com/japan/gay-samurai/</ref> sharply contrasting the Judeo-Christian association of sex with impurity and punishment. Japan's largest religion is fundamentally sex-positive which affects all aspects of Japanese relationship to sexuality.

== Apprenticeships ==
[[File:Pasted image 20230520201642.jpg|thumb|Athletic boy drawn in shota style]]
Wakashu was a term from the Edo period referring to a Japanese young person who was a male beyond early childhood, but wasn't considered a man. Wakashu aged 7 to 17 wore their hair partially shaven. The boys could begin formal education, become an  apprentice, or find a job. 

In the 12th century sons of the ruling class Samurai would be sent to Buddhist monasteries for education. As acolytes, the sons were introduced to the ''nanshuko'' tradition by older monks. The samurai expanded ''nanshuoku'' out of the monasteries and into the cities. 

=== Wakashudo ===

The samurai version was called wakashudō. Boys would be apprenticed to an older man who taught them life skills, martial arts, and social skills. The pair would formalize a "brotherhood contract" 

<blockquote>
''The idea was that  this wakashudō relationship should have a 'mutually ennobling effect' on the pair. They were expected to 'assist each other in feudal duties 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.'' 

'''Gregory Pflugfelder'''<ref>https://www.tofugu.com/japan/gay-samurai/</ref>
</blockquote>

The tradition and it's reception as a cultural institution echoes [[Pederasty|Greek Love]] in that it was considered a high-class behavior which eventually expanded to the merchant class who took on servant boys and apprentices.

== Artistic genres  featuring child romance ==

[[Wikipedia:Shotacon|Shota]] features romantic drawings of  pubescent and putrescent boys. [[Lolicon]] is similar art involving girls. This includes manga, anime, and other media representations. 

The term "shotacon" is a [[wikipedia:Japanese_abbreviated_and_contracted_words|Japanese contraction]] of ''Shōtarō complex'' (正太郎コンプレックス, _Shōtarō konpurekkusu_), a reference to the young male character Shōtarō (正太郎) from [[Wikipedia:Tetsujin_28-go|Tetsujin 28-go]]<ref name="Otaku Sexuality p.236">Saitō Tamaki (2007) "Otaku Sexuality" in Christopher Bolton, Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr., and [[Takayuki Tatsumi]] ed., page 236 ''[http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/B/bolton_robot.html Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams].'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20110605115230/http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/B/bolton_robot.html Archived.] University of Minnesota Press, ISBN 978-0-8166-4974-7. "Shota is an abbreviation for “Shotaro complex,” from Kaneda Shotaro, the boy who pilots the robot in the manga and anime Tetsujin 28 go (what became Gigantor in English). Originally an offshoot of yaoi, the origins of this genre are said to begin in the early 1980s."</ref> who is considered a beautiful young boy or [[Wikipedia:Bishōnen|''bishōnen'']].

===Gallery===
<gallery>
File:Pasted image 20230520201836.jpg|Soccer player boy drawn in anime or shota style
File:Bishounen.jpg|A [[wikipedia:Bishōnen|beautiful boy]] drawn in anime style wearing a suit and holding his face in his hands
</gallery>

=== Modern age of consent policy changes ===

Japan's age of consent was 13 years old as recently as 2023. A Japanese Justice Ministry panel proposed (successfully) an age of 16.<ref>https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64703519</ref> Hiranao Honda objected to raising Japan’s age of consent from 13 to 16 arguing that "12- and 20-year-olds can have serious relationships,” and "Japan’s age of consent is not that low compared to other nations."

==References==