Tales of Idolized Boys: Male-Male Love in Medieval Japanese Buddhist Narratives by Sachi Schmidt-Hori

Abstract

Reviewed by: Tales of Idolized Boys: Male-Male Love in Medieval Japanese Buddhist Narratives by Sachi Schmidt-Hori Margaret H. Childs Tales of Idolized Boys: Male-Male Love in Medieval Japanese Buddhist Narratives. By Sachi Schmidt-Hori. University of Hawai'i Press, 2021. 254 pages. ISBN: 9780824886790 (hardcover; also available as softcover and e-book). "Tales of idolized boys" in the title of this book is an inventive rendering of chigo monogatari, which might more literally be translated as "tales of acolytes." This subgenre of otogi zōshi (companion novels) from the Muromachi period was defined in hindsight and has seemed an unwieldy designation, but Sachi Schmidt-Hori does a superb job of bringing coherence to the category. Her persuasive analyses of six of the fourteen tales that comprise the subgenre are soundly grounded in their historical and sociocultural contexts and take the field far beyond previous interpretative work done in English by myself and others.1 In the prelude to Tales of Idolized Boys Schmidt-Hori explains that the origins of her interest in the "sexual agency and negotiation of power" in chigo monogatari (p. xiv) stem from her observations of her mother's work in hostess clubs and the "power equilibrium" that was established through the "manifold and multi-faceted" ways in which workers could "exert their power over clients" (p. xvii). This bold self-revelation inspires trust that frank and clear-eyed analysis lies ahead. The introduction lays the groundwork for Schmidt-Hori's analyses of specific chigo monogatari. Schmidt-Hori points out the multiple ways in which teenaged Buddhist acolytes, or chigo, represent a liminal existence that is "neither adult nor child, neither human nor divine, and neither male nor female" (p. 16). By her account, the chigo system worked to the mutual benefit of the priesthood and the youths of elite families who agreed to commitments of four or five years in length. She moreover [End Page 115] traces the history of the terms nanshoku (male-male love) and joshoku (male-female love) to show how "the architecture of the normative male erotic desire" was understood (p. 28) and to outline the relatively affirmative views of sexuality in Shinto and Buddhist discourse. Noting that there is a term for violating the precepts by having sexual relations with a woman (nyobon) but none for violating the precepts by having sexual relations with a man, she demonstrates that nanshoku was viewed leniently in Buddhist communities. She also challenges the prejudice shown alike by previous scholars who were influenced by homophobia and by current-day scholars who assume that transgenerational relationships are inevitably abusive. In chapter 1 Schmidt-Hori reviews how scholars have defined chigo monogatari and examines the extent to which the fourteen extant tales in the category fit that definition, which requires a chigo as a main character, love between the chigo and a monk, the death of the chigo, the religious awakening of the chigo's monk-lover, and the revelation that the chigo had been the manifestation of a bodhisattva (p. 46). She gives close readings of three archetypal chigo monogatari—Chigo Kannon engi (Story of Kannon's Manifestation as a Youth), Aki no yo no nagamonogatari (A Long Tale for an Autumn Night), and Genmu monogatari (Tale of Genmu)—comparing them with themes found in prominent monogatari like Genji monogatari (Tale of Genji), in which arranged marriages tend to be difficult and unofficial wives who enjoy "enchanted love" (p. 73) suffer from insecurity and anxiety. Schmidt-Hori makes the point that while chigo monogatari similarly tend to depict enchanted love, the chigo acts from a position of power because his status derives from his family connections and his position is not threatened by his infidelity. Another interesting conclusion is that insofar as the tales focus on the appealing relationship between a chigo and a relatively young and virile monk-lover, the arranged relationship between the chigo and his master is backgrounded and thus the tales do not challenge the chigo system. One puzzling moment in this chapter is Schmidt-Hori's characterization of the relationship between the chigo and Genmu as platonic: both do express romantic feelings, and the fact that they never...