Revision as of 09:58, 5 June 2023 edit2603:8080:2c00:1e00:2c96:fc72:63e8:b595 (talk) This image is user-generated, and lacks a source to support its bishōnen-ness, which I consider disputable, I replace this with a new image and a citation for the subject pictured.← Previous edit | Revision as of 10:25, 5 June 2023 edit undo2603:8080:2c00:1e00:2c96:fc72:63e8:b595 (talk) Pflugfelder doesn't say anything about bishonen being similar to Western angels; nor does he talk about cheekbones. I include a page link to his book in the citation and try my best to replace the errant sentence with an independent source, adjusted to fit what *it* says about the comparison to angels.Next edit → | ||
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], a Japanese musician, is considered to be a living manifestation of the Bishōnen phenomenon.<ref>{{cite book | author=American Anthropological Association | title=Abstracts of the Annual Meeting -- American Anthropological Association | year=2003 | isbn=978-1-931303-15-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NMG0AAAAIAAJ | access-date=3 June 2023 | page=336 | quote="...popular music stars such as Gackt and Hyde, will trace their beautification efforts to a domestically - produced aesthetic. The recent appearance of living specimens of the bishounen..."}}</ref>]] | ], a Japanese musician, is considered to be a living manifestation of the Bishōnen phenomenon.<ref>{{cite book | author=American Anthropological Association | title=Abstracts of the Annual Meeting -- American Anthropological Association | year=2003 | isbn=978-1-931303-15-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NMG0AAAAIAAJ | access-date=3 June 2023 | page=336 | quote="...popular music stars such as Gackt and Hyde, will trace their beautification efforts to a domestically - produced aesthetic. The recent appearance of living specimens of the bishounen..."}}</ref>]] | ||
{{nihongo||]|'''Bishōnen'''}} ({{IPA-ja|biɕoꜜːneɴ|IPA|ja-bishonen.ogg}}; also ] {{transl|ja|'''bishounen'''}}) is a ] term literally meaning "beautiful youth (boy)" and describes an ] that can be found in disparate areas in ]: a young man of ] beauty. This word originated from the ] poem '']'' by ].<ref>{{cite web |title=飲中八仙歌 | trans-title=Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup |url=https://kanbun.info/syubu/toushisen027.html |language=zh|quote=宗之瀟灑美少年 }}</ref> It has always shown the strongest manifestation in ], gaining in popularity due to the androgynous ] bands of the 1970s,<ref name=Orbaugh>{{cite book | last = Orbaugh | first =Sharalyn | editor = Sandra Buckley | title = Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture | publisher = Taylor & Francis | year = 2002 | pages = 45–56 | isbn = 0-415-14344-6 }}</ref> but it has roots in ancient ], the androsocial and androerotic ideals of the medieval ] imperial court and intellectuals, and ]n aesthetic concepts carried over from ], imported with ] to China.<ref name="encycle">{{cite book | last = Buckley | title = Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture | publisher = Taylor & Francis | year = 2002 | pages = 188, 522, 553 | isbn = 0-415-14344-6 }}</ref> Today, {{transl|ja|bishōnen}} are very popular among girls and women in Japan.<ref name="encycle"/> Reasons for this social phenomenon may include the unique male and female social relationships found within the genre. Some have theorized that {{transl|ja|bishōnen}} provide a non-traditional outlet for gender relations. Moreover, it breaks down ]s surrounding ] characters. These are often depicted with very strong ] abilities, sports talent, high intelligence, ] fashion, or comedic flair, traits that are usually assigned to the hero/] role.<ref name="mmsexuality">{{cite book|last=Pflugfelder|first=Gregory M.|title=Cartographies of desire: male-male sexuality in Japanese discourse, 1600-1950|publisher=University of California Press|year=1999|pages=221–234|isbn=0-520-20909-5}}</ref> | {{nihongo||]|'''Bishōnen'''}} ({{IPA-ja|biɕoꜜːneɴ|IPA|ja-bishonen.ogg}}; also ] {{transl|ja|'''bishounen'''}}) is a ] term literally meaning "beautiful youth (boy)" and describes an ] that can be found in disparate areas in ]: a young man of ] beauty. This word originated from the ] poem '']'' by ].<ref>{{cite web |title=飲中八仙歌 | trans-title=Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup |url=https://kanbun.info/syubu/toushisen027.html |language=zh|quote=宗之瀟灑美少年 }}</ref> It has always shown the strongest manifestation in ], gaining in popularity due to the androgynous ] bands of the 1970s,<ref name=Orbaugh>{{cite book | last = Orbaugh | first =Sharalyn | editor = Sandra Buckley | title = Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture | publisher = Taylor & Francis | year = 2002 | pages = 45–56 | isbn = 0-415-14344-6 }}</ref> but it has roots in ancient ], the androsocial and androerotic ideals of the medieval ] imperial court and intellectuals, and ]n aesthetic concepts carried over from ], imported with ] to China.<ref name="encycle">{{cite book | last = Buckley | title = Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture | publisher = Taylor & Francis | year = 2002 | pages = 188, 522, 553 | isbn = 0-415-14344-6 }}</ref> Today, {{transl|ja|bishōnen}} are very popular among girls and women in Japan.<ref name="encycle"/> Reasons for this social phenomenon may include the unique male and female social relationships found within the genre. Some have theorized that {{transl|ja|bishōnen}} provide a non-traditional outlet for gender relations. Moreover, it breaks down ]s surrounding ] characters. These are often depicted with very strong ] abilities, sports talent, high intelligence, ] fashion, or comedic flair, traits that are usually assigned to the hero/] role.<ref name="mmsexuality">{{cite book|last=Pflugfelder|first=Gregory M.|title=Cartographies of desire: male-male sexuality in Japanese discourse, 1600-1950|publisher=University of California Press|year=1999|pages=221–234|isbn=0-520-20909-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pbIwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA228}}</ref> | ||
==Origin== | ==Origin== | ||
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The aesthetic of the ''bishōnen'' began as an ideal of a young lover, originally embodied in the {{nihongo||若衆|]|extra=literally "young person", although only used for boys}}, or adolescent boy, and was influenced by the ] who played female characters in ]. The term arose in the ], in part to replace the by then obsolete erotic meaning of the older term ''wakashū'', whose general meaning of "adolescent boy" had by this point been supplanted by the new term ].<ref name="mmsexuality" /> The ''bishōnen'' was conceived of as "aesthetically different from both women and men both the antithesis and the antecedent of adult masculinity".<ref>{{cite book|last=Pflugfelder|first=Gregory M.|title=Cartographies of desire: male-male sexuality in Japanese discourse, 1600-1950|publisher=University of California Press|year=1999|page=228|isbn=0-520-20909-5}}</ref> | The aesthetic of the ''bishōnen'' began as an ideal of a young lover, originally embodied in the {{nihongo||若衆|]|extra=literally "young person", although only used for boys}}, or adolescent boy, and was influenced by the ] who played female characters in ]. The term arose in the ], in part to replace the by then obsolete erotic meaning of the older term ''wakashū'', whose general meaning of "adolescent boy" had by this point been supplanted by the new term ].<ref name="mmsexuality" /> The ''bishōnen'' was conceived of as "aesthetically different from both women and men both the antithesis and the antecedent of adult masculinity".<ref>{{cite book|last=Pflugfelder|first=Gregory M.|title=Cartographies of desire: male-male sexuality in Japanese discourse, 1600-1950|publisher=University of California Press|year=1999|page=228|isbn=0-520-20909-5}}</ref> | ||
The ''bishōnen'' typically has the same traits as idealized female beauties in Japan: lustrous black hair, opaque skin, red cheeks, etc, but simultaneously retains a male body, making them aesthetically different from both men and women.<ref name="mmsexuality" /> Western audiences may perceive bishonen as effeminate, however Japanese do not, they are seen as something akin to how Westerners view angels; they are wholly male.<ref>{{cite web | title=Bishounen | website=Tofugu | date=26 September 2014 | url=https://www.tofugu.com/japan/bishounen/ | access-date=3 June 2023 |quote="Western readers may perceive bishounen ambiguity as effeminate, but that is a misreading. Bishounen as perceived by the Japanese audience is neither effeminate nor ambiguous; rather they are seen as something like angels, wholly male and female. Thus the character is sexually liberated, or is it the Japanese reader who is freed from their own traditional social restraints?"}}</ref> | |||
The ''bishōnen'' is typically slender, with clear skin, stylish hair, and distinctly feminine facial features (such as high cheekbones), but simultaneously retains a male body. This androgynous appearance is akin to the depiction of ] in Western ], with similar social roots for this aesthetic.<ref name="mmsexuality" /> | |||
] and ] have been identified as historical ''bishōnen''.<ref>Drazen, Patrick (October 2002). '"A Very Pure Thing": Gay and Pseudo-Gay Themes' in '']'' Berkeley, California: Stone Bridge Press pp.91-94. {{ISBN|1-880656-72-8}}.</ref> ] notes that Yoshitsune was considered by contemporaries to be not physically prepossessing, but that his legend later grew and due to this, he became depicted with good looks.<ref>{{cite book|last=Buruma|first=Ian|author-link=Ian Buruma|title=A Japanese Mirror: Heroes and Villains of Japanese Culture|publisher=Penguin Books|location=Great Britain|year=1985|orig-year=1984|isbn=978-0-14-007498-7|pages=132–135}}</ref> ] was depicted according to the standards of a Heian-era middle-aged man, but since 1989 he has been depicted as a modern-style ''bishōnen''.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Miller|first=Laura|title=Extreme Makeover for a Heian-Era Wizard|journal=]|year=2008|volume=3|issue=1|pages=30–45|doi=10.1353/mec.0.0034|s2cid=121434600|url=https://umsl.academia.edu/LauraMiller/Papers/83064/Extreme_Makeover_for_a_Heian-Era_Wizard}}</ref> | ] and ] have been identified as historical ''bishōnen''.<ref>Drazen, Patrick (October 2002). '"A Very Pure Thing": Gay and Pseudo-Gay Themes' in '']'' Berkeley, California: Stone Bridge Press pp.91-94. {{ISBN|1-880656-72-8}}.</ref> ] notes that Yoshitsune was considered by contemporaries to be not physically prepossessing, but that his legend later grew and due to this, he became depicted with good looks.<ref>{{cite book|last=Buruma|first=Ian|author-link=Ian Buruma|title=A Japanese Mirror: Heroes and Villains of Japanese Culture|publisher=Penguin Books|location=Great Britain|year=1985|orig-year=1984|isbn=978-0-14-007498-7|pages=132–135}}</ref> ] was depicted according to the standards of a Heian-era middle-aged man, but since 1989 he has been depicted as a modern-style ''bishōnen''.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Miller|first=Laura|title=Extreme Makeover for a Heian-Era Wizard|journal=]|year=2008|volume=3|issue=1|pages=30–45|doi=10.1353/mec.0.0034|s2cid=121434600|url=https://umsl.academia.edu/LauraMiller/Papers/83064/Extreme_Makeover_for_a_Heian-Era_Wizard}}</ref> |
Revision as of 10:25, 5 June 2023
Japanese term for an attractive young manFor the film, see Bishonen (film). "Bishy" redirects here. For the radial route in York, England, see Bishy Road.
Bishōnen (美少年) (IPA: [biɕoꜜːneɴ] ; also transliterated bishounen) is a Japanese term literally meaning "beautiful youth (boy)" and describes an aesthetic that can be found in disparate areas in East Asia: a young man of androgynous beauty. This word originated from the Tang dynasty poem Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup by Du Fu. It has always shown the strongest manifestation in Japanese pop culture, gaining in popularity due to the androgynous glam rock bands of the 1970s, but it has roots in ancient Japanese literature, the androsocial and androerotic ideals of the medieval Chinese imperial court and intellectuals, and Indian aesthetic concepts carried over from Hinduism, imported with Buddhism to China. Today, bishōnen are very popular among girls and women in Japan. Reasons for this social phenomenon may include the unique male and female social relationships found within the genre. Some have theorized that bishōnen provide a non-traditional outlet for gender relations. Moreover, it breaks down stereotypes surrounding feminine male characters. These are often depicted with very strong martial arts abilities, sports talent, high intelligence, dandy fashion, or comedic flair, traits that are usually assigned to the hero/protagonist role.
Origin
The prefix bi (美) more often than not refers to feminine beauty, and bijin, literally "beautiful person", is usually, though not always, used to refer to beautiful women. Bichūnen (美中年) means "beautiful middle-aged man". Biseinen is to be distinguished from bishōnen as seinen (青年) is used to describe men who are of age, including those who have entered or completed tertiary education. The term shōnen is used to describe boys of middle and high school age. Last, bishota can be used to refer to a beautiful, pre-pubescent male child or a childlike male. Outside Japan, bishōnen is the most well-known of the three terms, and has become a generic term for all beautiful boys and young men.
The aesthetic of the bishōnen began as an ideal of a young lover, originally embodied in the wakashū (若衆, literally "young person", although only used for boys), or adolescent boy, and was influenced by the effeminate male actors who played female characters in kabuki theater. The term arose in the Meiji era, in part to replace the by then obsolete erotic meaning of the older term wakashū, whose general meaning of "adolescent boy" had by this point been supplanted by the new term shōnen. The bishōnen was conceived of as "aesthetically different from both women and men both the antithesis and the antecedent of adult masculinity".
The bishōnen typically has the same traits as idealized female beauties in Japan: lustrous black hair, opaque skin, red cheeks, etc, but simultaneously retains a male body, making them aesthetically different from both men and women. Western audiences may perceive bishonen as effeminate, however Japanese do not, they are seen as something akin to how Westerners view angels; they are wholly male.
Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Amakusa Shirō have been identified as historical bishōnen. Ian Buruma notes that Yoshitsune was considered by contemporaries to be not physically prepossessing, but that his legend later grew and due to this, he became depicted with good looks. Abe no Seimei was depicted according to the standards of a Heian-era middle-aged man, but since 1989 he has been depicted as a modern-style bishōnen.
Kyokutei Bakin wrote many works with nanshoku undertones featuring bishōnen characters, and in 1848 he used the term bishōnen in the title of a work about the younger wakashu partner in the nanshoku relationship.
The bishōnen aesthetic is continued today in anime and manga, especially shōjo and yaoi.
Usage
Some non-Japanese, especially American, anime and manga fans use the term to refer to any handsome male character regardless of age, or any homosexual character. In the original Japanese, however, bishōnen applies only to boys under 18. For those older, the word bidanshi (美男子, literally "handsome man") is used. In the place of bishōnen, some fans prefer to use the slightly more sexually neutral bijin (美人) or the Anglicized slang term "bishie" (also spelled "bishi"), but these terms remain less common. The term binanshi was popular in the 1980s. Bishōnen is occasionally used to describe some androgynous female characters, such as Takarazuka actors, Lady Oscar in The Rose of Versailles, or any women with traits stereotypical to bishōnen.
Scottish pop singer Momus notably used the term in his song "Bishonen" from the Tender Pervert album (released on Creation Records). Almost 8 minutes long, the song is an epic tale of a young boy raised to die young by an eccentric stepfather.
Popular culture
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The enduring preference for bishōnen males can clearly be seen in Japan and throughout parts of East Asia to this day.
In particular, Japan's largest male talent agency, Johnny & Associates Entertainment Company, specializes only in producing male Tarento idols. Accepted into Johnny & Associates in their early teens, these boys, collectively known as 'Johnnys', are trained and promoted to become the next leading singing-acting-commercially successful hit sensations. Almost all can be classified as bishōnen, exhibiting the same physically feminine features combined with a sometimes deliberately ambivalent sexuality or at the very least, a lack of any hint of a relationship to maintain their popular availability.
Current bishōnen examples from the same agency include Tomohisa Yamashita of J-pop group NEWS, Jin Akanishi and Kazuya Kamenashi of KAT-TUN, Takuya Kimura of SMAP, Ryosuke Yamada and Kei Inoo of Hey! Say! JUMP and Jun Matsumoto of Arashi, all of whom are phenomenally successful throughout East Asia by appealing to both younger and older women and whose widely praised, gender-incongruous physical beauty is often deliberately manipulated in terms of role-playing and, most commonly, fanservice.
Art
Besides being a character type, bishōnen is also a distinct art style not usually forgotten in books about drawing manga. In art, bishōnen are usually drawn delicately, with long limbs, silky or flowing hair, and slender eyes with long eyelashes that can sometimes extend beyond the face. The character's "sex appeal" is highlighted through introducing the character by using an "eroticized" full page spread. Characters with "bulging muscles" are rarely considered bishōnen, as they are too masculine.
It is said that Björn Andrésen's appearance as Tadzio in the film Death in Venice inspired many Japanese anime artists, such as Keiko Takemiya, who became known for her depictions of young, effeminate men.
Bishōnen characters are fairly common in shōjo manga and anime. Many of the male characters show subtle signs of the bishōnen style, such as slender eyes or a feminine face.
Some manga are completely drawn in the bishōnen style, such as Saint Seiya. bishōnen manga are generally shōjo manga (girls' comics) or yaoi (girls' comics focused on homosexual relationships between beautiful boys), however shōnen manga (boy's comics) may use casts of bishōnen characters for crossover appeal to female readers. Mainstream shounen and seinen fare also often uses such characters as rivals for a traditional masculine protagonist, with some degree of comic relief, or for the blander everyman, whether as the embodiment of his insecurities in a grittier realism, or as a more lighthearted constant reminder of his less than advantageous social status and the constraints thereof. Comics for younger boys tend to use arrogant bishōnen in the role of the recurring minor rivals readers love to hate, though their effeminate good looks there will often appear older, bigger, stronger, and thus in fact more masculine than the commonly shorter and less mature protagonists.
Bishōnen and bishōjo
Bishōjo ('beautiful girl') is often mistakenly considered a parallel of bishōnen, because of the similar construction of the terms. There are major differences between the two aesthetics. The bishōjo aesthetic is aimed at a male audience, and is typically centered on young girls, drawn in a cute, pretty style; bishōnen is aimed at a female audience, centered on teenage boys, and drawn elegantly. Another common mistake is assuming that the female characters in bishōnen manga and anime are bishōjo. In truth, female characters in bishōnen manga are very different from those in bishōjo; bishōjo females are usually more petite and drawn in a style that is cute rather than beautiful, whereas bishōnen females exhibit the long limbs and elegance of the bishōnen themselves.
Critical attention
Several cultural anthropologists and authors have raised the multifaceted aspect of what bishōnen represents and what it is interpreted as, mostly to fit a particular external viewpoint. Ian Buruma noted that although Western comics for girls also included "impossibly beautiful men" who are clearly masculine and always get the girl in the end, the bishōnen are "more ambivalent" and sometimes get each other.
For Sandra Buckley, bishōnen narratives champion "the imagined potentialities of alternative differentiations" James Welker describes the bishōnen as being "queer", as the bishōnen is an androgynous aesthete with a feminine soul "who lives and loves outside of the heteropatriarchal world".
Jonathan D. Mackintosh believes that the bishōnen is a "traditional representation of youth", being "interstitial" between both childhood and adulthood and between being male and being female, regardless of the sexual issues.
Ishida Hitoshi makes the case that the image of the bishōnen is more about a grounding in sexuality than a transcendence of it, drawing on the idea of the image as being a refuge for alternative methods of looking at sexual natures, and sexual realities, at least since the 1960s, rather than the elegiac aesthetics of usages in an earlier era.
Representations of men in manga by and for men show "an idealized man being ultramasculine and phallic", bishōnen are conversely drawn to "emphasize their beauty and sensuality", and female artists have been said to react against the ultramasculine representation by showing androgynous and "aesthetically beautiful" men.
Ian Buruma, writing in 1984, considered the "bishonen in distress" to be a recurring motif in popular manga. The bishōnen in distress is always rescued by an older, protective, mentor. This scenario has an "unmistakably homoerotic" atmosphere. He also notes that bishōnen must either grow up, or die beautifully. He considers the "worship" of the bishōnen to be the same as that of the sakura, and notes that "death is the only pure and thus fitting end to the perfection of youth."
See also
References
- American Anthropological Association (2003). Abstracts of the Annual Meeting -- American Anthropological Association. p. 336. ISBN 978-1-931303-15-6. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
...popular music stars such as Gackt and Hyde, will trace their beautification efforts to a domestically - produced aesthetic. The recent appearance of living specimens of the bishounen...
- "飲中八仙歌" [Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup] (in Chinese).
宗之瀟灑美少年
- ^ Orbaugh, Sharalyn (2002). Sandra Buckley (ed.). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture. Taylor & Francis. pp. 45–56. ISBN 0-415-14344-6.
- ^ Buckley (2002). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture. Taylor & Francis. pp. 188, 522, 553. ISBN 0-415-14344-6.
- ^ Pflugfelder, Gregory M. (1999). Cartographies of desire: male-male sexuality in Japanese discourse, 1600-1950. University of California Press. pp. 221–234. ISBN 0-520-20909-5.
- ^ Febriani Sihombing. "On The Iconic Difference between Couple Characters in Boys Love Manga".
- Pflugfelder, Gregory M. (1999). Cartographies of desire: male-male sexuality in Japanese discourse, 1600-1950. University of California Press. p. 228. ISBN 0-520-20909-5.
- "Bishounen". Tofugu. 26 September 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
Western readers may perceive bishounen ambiguity as effeminate, but that is a misreading. Bishounen as perceived by the Japanese audience is neither effeminate nor ambiguous; rather they are seen as something like angels, wholly male and female. Thus the character is sexually liberated, or is it the Japanese reader who is freed from their own traditional social restraints?
- Drazen, Patrick (October 2002). '"A Very Pure Thing": Gay and Pseudo-Gay Themes' in Anime Explosion! The What, Why & Wow of Japanese Animation Berkeley, California: Stone Bridge Press pp.91-94. ISBN 1-880656-72-8.
- Buruma, Ian (1985) . A Japanese Mirror: Heroes and Villains of Japanese Culture. Great Britain: Penguin Books. pp. 132–135. ISBN 978-0-14-007498-7.
- Miller, Laura (2008). "Extreme Makeover for a Heian-Era Wizard". Mechademia. 3 (1): 30–45. doi:10.1353/mec.0.0034. S2CID 121434600.
- Reichert, James Robert (2006). In the Company of Men: Representations of Male-male Sexuality in Meiji Literature. Stanford University Press. pp. 3–4. ISBN 978-0-8047-5214-5.
- ^ Beauty Up: Exploring Contemporary Japanese Body Aesthetics. Laura Miller. University of California Press, 2006.ISBN 0520245091
- ^ Buruma, Ian (1985) . A Japanese Mirror: Heroes and Villains of Japanese Culture. Great Britain: Penguin Books. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-14-007498-7.
- "Tender Pervert Lyrics". Imomus.com. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
- "Modern Japan - Entertainment - Johnny's Jimusho". Japan-zone.com. 16 November 2006. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
- ^ "The adventures of Tadzio in Japan". 7 January 2008. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
- "Short anime glossary ". anime*magazine (in Russian) (3): 36. 2004. ISSN 1810-8644.
- ^ Wood, Andrea. (Spring 2006). "Straight" Women, Queer Texts: Boy-Love Manga and the Rise of a Global Counterpublic. WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly, 34 (1/2), pp. 394-414.
- Thompson, Jason (2007). Manga: The Complete Guide. Del Rey. p. 417. ISBN 978-0-345-48590-8.
- Monnet, Livia (1999). "Montage, cinematic subjectivity and feminism in Ozaki Midori's Drifting in the World of the Seventh Sense". Japan Forum. 11 (1): 57–82. doi:10.1080/09555809908721622.
- Buckley, Sandra (1991) "'Penguin in Bondage': A Graphic Tale of Japanese Comic Books", pp. 163-196, In Technoculture. C. Penley and A. Ross, eds. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota ISBN 0-8166-1932-8
- Welker, James (2006). "Beautiful, Borrowed, and Bent: "Boys' Love" as Girls' Love in Shōjo Manga". Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 31 (3): 842. doi:10.1086/498987. S2CID 144888475.
- "Intersections: Itō Bungaku and the Solidarity of the Rose Tribes [Barazoku]: Stirrings of Homo Solidarity in Early 1970s Japan". Intersections.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
- The Process of Divergence between 'Men who Love Men' and 'Feminised Men' in Postwar Japanese Media. Ishida Hitoshi and Murakami Takanori. Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context. Issue 12 January 2006. http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue12/ishida.html
- Buruma, Ian (1985) . A Japanese Mirror: Heroes and Villains of Japanese Culture. Great Britain: Penguin Books. pp. 130–131. ISBN 978-0-14-007498-7.