Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Onnagata

An entity on LJ (after all, even with names we're still anonymous) edited out information about onnagata in connection with the picture I posted there (previous entry here).

Very odd, her (his?) repeated claims it's not him. Thi translation is from the Urban Dictionary. The key to the mystery may here be:

An onnagata is a Japanese term for a female impersonator.

Onnagata also refers to male kabuki characters who played female parts.
From the medieval period to the 19th century in Japan, various men practised shudo, which is age-structured homosexuality. Because of this, many onnagata moonlighted as prostitutes.

Today, shonen-ai and yaoi are existing types of male homosexuality.
Nanshoku, or "the love of the samurai", may center on a relationship between a samurai and an onnagata.

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