The Great Mirror of Male Love

The first complete translation of Nanshoku okagami by Ihara Saikaku (1642-93), this is a collection of 40 stories describing homosexual love affairs between samurai men and boys and between young kabuki actors and their middle-class patrons. Seventeenth-century Kyoto was the center of a flourishing publishing industry, and for the first time in Japan's history it became possible for writers to live exclusively on their earnings. Saikaku was the first to actually do so. As a popular writer, Saikaku wanted to entertain his readership. When he undertook the writing of Nanshoku okagami in 1687, it was with the express purpose of extending his readership and satisfying his ambition to be published in the three major cities of his day, Kyoto, Osaka, and Edo. He chose the topic of male homosexual love because it had the broadest appeal both to the samurai men of Edo and to the townsmen of Kyoto and Osaka, his regular audience. Homosexual relations between a man and a boy were a regular feature of premodern Japanese culture and carried no stigma. When a boy reached the age of nineteen, he underwent a coming-of-age ceremony, after which he took the adult role in relations with boys." Pt. 1. Love: The Contest Between Two Forces. The Abcs Of Boy Love -- Within The Fence: Pine, Maple, And A Willow Waist -- Love Letter Sent In A Sea Bass -- Implicated By His Diamond Crest - Pt. 2. A Sword His Only Memento -- Though Bearing An Umbrella, He Was Rained Upon -- His Head Shaved On The Path Of Dreams -- Aloeswood Boy Of The East -- Nightingale In The Snow Pt. 3. Grudge Provoked By A Sedge Hat -- Tortured To Death With Snow On His Sleeve -- The Sword That Survived Love's Flames -- The Sickbed No Medicine Could Cure -- He Fell In Love When The Mountain Rose Was In Bloom Pt. 4. Drowned By Love In Winecups Of Pearly Nautilus Shells -- The Boy Who Sacrificed His Life In The Robes Of His Lover -- They Waited Three Years To Die -- Two Old Cherry Trees Still In Bloom -- Handsome Youths Having Fun Cause Trouble For A Temple Pt. 5. Tears In A Paper Shop -- He Pleaded For His Life At Mitsudara Hachiman -- Love's Flame Kindled By A Flint Seller -- Visiting From Edo, Suddenly A Monk -- Votive Picture Of Kichiya Riding A Horse Pt. 6. A Huge Winecup Overflowing With Love -- Kozakura's Figure: Grafted Branches Of A Cherry Tree -- The Man Who Resented Another's Shouts -- A Secret Visit Leads To The Wrong Bed -- A Terrible Shame He Never Performed In The Capital Pt. 7. Fireflies Also Work Their Asses At Night -- An Onnagata's Tosa Diary -- An Unworn Robe To Remember Him By -- Bamboo Clappers Strike The Hateful Number -- Nails Hammered Into An Amateur Painting Pt. 8. A Verse Sung By A Goblin With A Beautiful Voice -- Siamese Roosters And The Reluctant Farewell -- Loved By A Man In A Box -- The Koyama Barrier Keeper -- Who Wears The Incense Graph Dyed In Her Heart? Ihara Saikaku ; Translated, With An Introduction, By Paul Gordon Schalow. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. [359]-360. The Great mirror of Male is a collection of almost 40 stories depicting homosexual relationship between adult men and adolescent boy in 17th Japan. It covers different social background but the most common target is a samurai class. Those stories are full of passion and sometimes ends like proper eastern romance should...with utter tragedy and demise of both parties, here you can insert some gory Japanese tradition. How ever it is worth of reading to understand view on homosexuality in history of Japan The first complete translation of Nanshoku ōkagami by Ihara Saikaku (1642-93), this is a collection of 40 stories describing homosexual love affairs between samurai men and boys, between young kabuki actors and their middle-clas patrons. This book is illustrated with 58 woodblocks, prepared for the original printing of Nanshoku ōkagami Stories of homosexual love affairs between samurai men and boys and between young kabuki actors and their patrons held broad appeal in pre-modern Japanese culture. An independent popular writer, Saikaku wrote "Nanshoku Okagami" in 1687 with the intention of extending his readership.