contributor
26,977
edits
Changes
Created page with "*''Japanese'': 陰間 ''(kagema)'' ''Kagema'' were young male prostitutes, often closely associated with the kabuki theater, during the Edo period. ..."
*''Japanese'': 陰間 ''(kagema)''
''Kagema'' were young male [[prostitution|prostitutes]], often closely associated with the [[kabuki]] theater, during the [[Edo period]].
Many ''kagema'' were teenage kabuki actors (''[[wakashu|wakashû]]'', who had not yet come-of-age and become adults) who were still in training, and generally remained in the background of kabuki scenes, or even off-stage, "in the shadows" (''kage no ma''). They were something of a continuation of the early 17th century tradition of ''wakashû kabuki'', in which actors performed on stage during the day, and entertained clients at night; after the 1650s, most actors no longer engaged in prostitution, but this one category of younger (''wakashû'') actors, the ''kagema'', continued to do so. Unconnected to the pleasure quarters (brothel districts) where officially licensed female (and some male) prostitutes operated, the ''kagema'' were generally hired via the ''shibai jaya'' (theater teahouses); these were also known as ''kagema jaya'' (''kagema'' teahouses) or ''kodomoya'' ("child houses").
Male prostitutes generally do not appear in official economic records the way female prostitutes do, and discussions about their moral impact upon communities centered on rather different concerns.<ref>Amy Stanley, "Introduction," ''Selling Women: Prostitution, Markets, and the Household in Early Modern Japan'', UC Press (2012), 15-16.</ref>
Some number of female prostitutes also dressed as young men (i.e. as ''wakashu'' or ''kagema'') in order to serve clients to whom that aesthetic appealed. These women were known as ''kagema onna'' ("''kagema'' women") or as ''wakashû jôrô'' (young-male female-prostitutes).
{{stub}}
==References==
*Joshua Mostow, "Wakashu as a Third Gender and Gender Ambiguity through the Edo Period," in Mostow and Asato Ikeda (eds.), ''A Third Gender'', Royal Ontario Museum (2016), 19-39.
<references/>
[[Category:Terminology]]
[[Category:Edo Period]]
''Kagema'' were young male [[prostitution|prostitutes]], often closely associated with the [[kabuki]] theater, during the [[Edo period]].
Many ''kagema'' were teenage kabuki actors (''[[wakashu|wakashû]]'', who had not yet come-of-age and become adults) who were still in training, and generally remained in the background of kabuki scenes, or even off-stage, "in the shadows" (''kage no ma''). They were something of a continuation of the early 17th century tradition of ''wakashû kabuki'', in which actors performed on stage during the day, and entertained clients at night; after the 1650s, most actors no longer engaged in prostitution, but this one category of younger (''wakashû'') actors, the ''kagema'', continued to do so. Unconnected to the pleasure quarters (brothel districts) where officially licensed female (and some male) prostitutes operated, the ''kagema'' were generally hired via the ''shibai jaya'' (theater teahouses); these were also known as ''kagema jaya'' (''kagema'' teahouses) or ''kodomoya'' ("child houses").
Male prostitutes generally do not appear in official economic records the way female prostitutes do, and discussions about their moral impact upon communities centered on rather different concerns.<ref>Amy Stanley, "Introduction," ''Selling Women: Prostitution, Markets, and the Household in Early Modern Japan'', UC Press (2012), 15-16.</ref>
Some number of female prostitutes also dressed as young men (i.e. as ''wakashu'' or ''kagema'') in order to serve clients to whom that aesthetic appealed. These women were known as ''kagema onna'' ("''kagema'' women") or as ''wakashû jôrô'' (young-male female-prostitutes).
{{stub}}
==References==
*Joshua Mostow, "Wakashu as a Third Gender and Gender Ambiguity through the Edo Period," in Mostow and Asato Ikeda (eds.), ''A Third Gender'', Royal Ontario Museum (2016), 19-39.
<references/>
[[Category:Terminology]]
[[Category:Edo Period]]