There are long traditions of Monk-Boy love in Tibet, China, Korea and yes Japan. In fact there are a number of manuals that were written describing how sex acts could be done in ways that kept the precepts. In fact some forms of tantric Buddhism saw ways in which sexual acts done properly could lead one to enlightenment, such as the Tachikawa-ryu an 11th century Shingon sect, which ritualized male-female copulation. Tachikawa-ryu was later outlawed in the 13th century.

What makes the Meiji era so interesting, to me anyways, is that a whole host of things historical, religious and other come together and sort of explode on the scene. In response to your reply to my earlier comment, I wonder who considers Faure’s book to be a scandel or example of poor scholarship and why? Having read the book and a number of reviews I would suggest once again the scholarship is spot on, though maybe a bit different than most folks would like. I don’t have time to track down the link but a past issue of Pacific World, The Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies published a panel discussion of this book. I would suggest reading that and the book. It really is filled with information that makes someone uncomfortable at times, but I think that too is one of the roles of scholarship to encourage us to reconsider our notions of what something is, or is not. To that end, Faure’s work is outstanding.

As for “Neither Monk, Nor Layman”, that does sound interesting, so I may well take you up on that one!

Marcus Doni implies, like the article, that there are plenty of monks who break the basic precepts. I remember the Zen Monk Ikkyu joking about some teachers and their “special private lessons” with some students. Also, based on the Tokugawa Shogunate’s periodic crackdowns on monks tells me that many clerics didn’t take it seriously. It’s the one’s who do, like Doni, though that I can’t help but respect.

I’m just reading “Samurai Wiliam”, have you read it? It has an amusing bearing on todays post!

It seems that when the first westerners came to Japan, Portugese explorers and traders in the 16th century, they were mighty impressed by Japan and Japanese culture and wrote long letters home full of praise for this new country. In fact, most Europeans arriving during this period readilly accepted that they’d found a culture superior to their own.

But one thing that did stike a discordant note in them though, was the sexual habits of the Japanese monks! In 1547 Capatin lvaraz visited Japan and wrote back about how wonderful Japan was, and how pious its monks were except for this one thing – how at the end of services the monks would “egage in sodomy with the boys whom they instruct”!

Well, no unwanted pregnancies there then! LOL

All the best,

Marcus