queer masculinities

134 Queer Masculinities, 1550–1800
The historian, as opposed to the literary specialist, is perhaps more
inclined to undertake the third option, but a strong trend has emerged
within the field of history to confine inquiry to the ‘history of representation.’
55 This is a cautious route, since the scholar can disavow any
necessary connection between the representations he or she supplies
and ‘what really happened.’ But even the presentation of texts is
inevitably selective, and the reader, unless informed about the historical
context of the text (which might mean grasping key facts about the
archeological record, linguistics, class structure, demography, history of
trade, etc.) will be unable to conceptualize the phenomenon under discussion.
An understanding of nanshoku requires, in my view, an understanding
of the Tokugawa four-class system; the neo-Confucian
ideology widely promoted by the shoguns; the demographics of the
cities; the organization of samurai households; the monk-acolyte relationships
common in Buddhist monasteries; Shinto beliefs about pleasure,
purity and impurity; the traditional practice of poor families
selling children, etc. It was a very different ‘male homosexuality’ than
we find anywhere today, including some features (sexual exploitation
of preteen boys) that contemporary opinion would likely condemn,
while excluding some behaviors (oral sex) regarded as ‘normal’ and
pleasurable practices in much of the contemporary gay world.
Nanshoku and violence
Much of the work of Japanese writers has focused upon acts of violence
associated with homosexual passion, especially from the seventeenth
through mid-eighteen centuries. The first century of Tokugawa rule
placed many in the samurai class under great stress, as they were
obliged to shed their traditional position as warriors on call, and
instead adapt to conditions of peace and reside in castle-towns. In
many cases, samurai incomes were inadequate to support a comfortable
urban lifestyle. Disillusioned by their loss of social position, and
jealous of the wealth of the bourgeoisie, some formed criminal gangs. 56
For centuries the samurai had cultivated a sense of honor, and of class
pride, and in the new circumstances of national peace, forced residence
in castle-towns, and the emergence of a substantial middle class of
merchants and artisans (who, while denigrated in the official neo-
Confucian class system, were often far more comfortable than most
samurai), many warriors vented their frustrations through violent acts
justified as necessary for the defense of their honor. They became
inclined to respond to any perceived slight or offense with brutal retaliation.
Samurai could by law in any case cut down commoners with