The Erotic Family: Structures and Narratives of Milk Kinship in Premodern Japanese Tales

Abstract

This essay proposes that “milk kinship,” which upper-class individuals in premodern Japan formed with their milk kin—a menoto(wet nurse) anda menotogo(foster sibling)—occupies the core of an institutionalized erotic fosterage. In this “menotosystem,” the surrogate mother's lactating body and erotic-affective labor became the connective tissue to bind two interclass families, creating a symbiosis that fortified the existing sociopolitical power structures. Around the tenth century, many vernacular tales started to featuremenotocharacters. While a typicalmenotois the protagonist's homely, asexual, motherly confidante, her derivative construct—themenotogoof the protagonist—is often cast in an erotic light. In the four texts examined in this essay,menotogovalorize their erotic agencies to benefit their charges through sexual-affective labor or through an indirect method. The latter entails the formation of a “love square” in which twomenotogobecome lovers and then help their respective charges do the same.