A third gender : beautiful youths in Japanese Edo-period prints and paintings (1600-1868) / Joshua S. Mostow and Asato Ikeda ; with the assistance of Ryoko Matsuba.
Publisher:
Royal Ontario Museum,
Copyright Date:
2016
Description:
215 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), portraits ; 30 cm
Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Royal Ontario Museum from May 7, 2016 to November 27, 2016. Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-211) and index.
Contents:
Kamuro. Asato Ikeda -- Wakashu as a third gender and gender ambiguity through the Edo period / Joshua S. Mostow -- Fleurs du mal : onnagata (female-role specialists) and nanshoku (male-male sex) in Edo-period kabuki / Ryoko Matsuba, translated by Joshua S. Mostow -- Japanese art at the Royal Ontario Museum / Asato Ikeda -- Catalogue of plates. Section 2: An introduction to the Edo period; Section 2: An introduction to wakashu -- how to spot one: Wakashu, chiefly alone; Younger wakashu; Kamuro.
Summary:
Gender relations were complex in Edo-period Japan (1603-1868). Wakashu, male youth, were desired by men and women, constituting a third gender; with their androgynous appearance and variable sexuality. For the first time outside Japan, A Third Gender examines the fascination with wakashu in Edo-period culture and their visual representation in art, demonstrating how they destabilize the conventionally held model of gender binarism.The volume will reproduce, in colour, over a hundred works, mostly woodblock prints and illustrated books from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries produced by a number of designers ranging from such well-known artists as Okumura Masanobu, Suzuki Harunobu, Kitagawa Utamaro and Utagawa Kunisada, to lesser known artists such as Shigemasa, Eishi and Eiri. A Third Gender is based on the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum, which houses the largest collection of Japanese art in Canada, including more than 2,500 woodblock prints.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.