2015/01/28 by Barbara Hartley · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Japanese History and Culture #Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies #Asian Culture and Media Studies #Genealogy #Sociology #History
paper · doi:10.14325/mississippi/9781628461190.003.0002
openalex publication_date 2015/01/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
This chapter discusses the prehistory of Boys Love (BL) by analyzing the works of Taisho period (1912–1925) artist, Takabatake Kashō. The period saw significant economic and technological growth that resulted in major advances in education. A vibrant literary culture developed, especially around popular monthly magazines aimed at differing readerships such as housewives, businessmen, and boys and girls. Kashō, one of Japan's best-known illustrators, presented boys as young, beautiful, and sometimes effeminate-looking male figures that project an air of homoeroticism due to also having made illustrations of older men. These male figures attracted interest among female readers. Noting that such images were featured in girls' magazines, such as Shōjo no tomo (Girls' friend), the chapter suggests that it was precisely the absence of women in the frame of these pictures—and hence their homoerotic charge—that attracted girl readers.