The Male Love for Samurai - Essay Example

The Great Mirror of Male Love by Samurai Introduction The Great Mirror of Love is a translation of Ihara Saikaku’s short stories that dwell on the relationships between adolescent boys and adult men in the seventeenth Century Japan (Ihara 5). In this case, the first four sections of the story talk about homosexuality as a culture in the pre-modern Japanese culture where the societal norms required that homosexual relationships could only be between teenage boys and the male adults. From the short stories, Ihara Saikaku also shows how religious ceremonies would be held at the initiation of the boys when they reached adulthood and would assume the role of adults in the homosexual relations (Ihara 6). Therefore, the first four sections of the book revolve around the idea of boy love that came a tradition owing to the coming up of the new merchants and artisans in the Japanese society. In this regard, the first four sections, besides depicting the adult-boy relations, shows how the onset of modernity brings about the changes in the Japanese culture and how it shapes the communitys perceptions of the homosexual relationships. Thus, the book depicts homosexuality as a tradition guided by norms and principles and shows how modernity brings about changes in the Japanese society. The first issue that is quite evident from the book is that Ihara tries to depict how the new social class brings in changes to the Japanese society in general (Ihara 5). In this regard, the author structured his piece of work to show the male love and illustrates how prostitution among the boys was a way of reflecting the glory of the samurai in the urban way. The practice becomes common owing to the fact that new social class in the mid-seventh century had acquired enough wealth but due to the lack of social class or status, they were ranked below the farmers. On the other hand, the male love by the samurai’s can be associated with the ruling class where the rich social class that comes up with the traditions identifies themselves as elites and seeks favors from influential people in the society. However, Ihara’s work is not a defense to the social class but rather an artistic device that shows how the superiors in the society come with a new tradition to follow (Ihara 7). Therefore, it is imperative to outline using references from the book how the new social class engages in the boy love as a way of defining themselves in the society and the changes the practice brings in the entire Japanese culture. In section one, the first short story, Love: The Contest Between Two Forces, the author introduces the book in a fictional setting in the remote regions of Edo (Ihara 11). In this first chapter, the author shows how the boys are receiving a lecture about boy love. Also in the first section, the author introduces the piece by showing how the boys are learning about The Record of the Origins of Boy Love (Ihara 19). Therefore, the first section introduces a new Japanese culture where boys are being taught about male love. In this case, education was not part of the Japanese tradition but the wealth and superior social class is using it to introduce a culture that would help them spread the traditional version of samurai love in an urban fashion. However, as opposed to the Japanese tradition, the new culture turns out to breed the seeds of homosexuality despite the traditional role it played in the society. Another issue from the book is the portrayal of boys in the society and how the representation influenced their perceptions about love. In most of the short stories in the first section, the new culture makes the boys view themselves in a different way where they also start thinking of being loved like the female. In this case, a boy who had no master or a lover considered himself unfortunate and would do everything to get the needed attention. In the short story He Fell in Love When the Mountain Rose Was in Bloom, a young handsome boy is seen deeply engrossed in thought on how he becomes ‘‘masterless’’ due to some circumstances (Ihara 24). In this case, the boy is a samurai without a master and has not gotten any new position in the social construction. However, the boy sets on a journey to try his luck in the temple but while at the river, he meets his master who sees him to be quite handsome and the samurai accepts to have a master of his own like other adolescent boys in the society. Therefore, the story confirms how the society regarded boys as materials of love expected to be loved but not entirely as a homosexuality relationship in the contemporary society. In the story, section three, Gizaemon is seen to be following the boy in the river since he believes that the adolescent a treasured possession and this indicates how some adolescent boys were treated like royalty, especially the identifiable samurais. Homosexuality in the Japanese tradition is also depicted as coming from the spirits, and this explains why the young men would be possessed by the adolescent boys. If one was possessed with such spirits, he would yearn and even fall seek to be with the lover. For instance, in the book The Sickbed No Medicine Could Cure, the author portrays how a young adult feels uneasy to declare his love for a teenage boy (Ihara 17). As the story begins, the young adult, Mokawa Umeme, is drawn away by the beauty of young and talented Itami Ukyo. The beauty of Itami confuses Mokawa Umeme that he finds his soul in confusion. Soon, Umeme develops an illness but a visit by the group of friends leads to the revelation of the feeling. A friend encourages him to declare his feelings least he succumbs to his illness since the condition may have been a spirit from the samurais. Eventually, the young adult declares his love for the boy through a letter, and Itami Ukyo agrees to become his lover. In this example, the homosexuality is a spirit of the samurais that comes back to live among the Japanese males. Conclusion In a nutshell, most of the stories in the first four sections of the book the Great Mirror Love dwell on male love. Therefore, two issues are identifiable in the book namely homosexuality and portrayal of boys in the society. Homosexuality was supported by the Japanese culture where the boys were supposed to elope with the adult men. However, the coming up of social elite changes the tradition as they introduce an urban version of the practice where boys are even educated about male love. Besides, the stories also revolve around the role of adolescent boys in the Japanese culture where male relationships are controlled by the spirits of the Samurai’s. Work Cited Ihara, Saikaku. The Great Mirror of Male Love. Paul Gordon Schalow, Paul Gordon (translator). Stanford University Press, 1990. Read More