カズログ「視聴しましたー」/ KAZ LOG, “I've just finished the movie.” (Pixiv Fanbox)

先日亡くなった美輪明宏氏追悼ということで、日活が期間限定で映画「東京野郎と女ども」（1958年）という映画を公開していたので視聴しました。

内容などは割愛するとして、「ほほう！そういうことだったのか！」と市川は思うことが色々ありました。と、言うのは1980年代頃までの日本におけるゲイの認識って何故か物凄くフェミニンさと強くリンクしているところがありまして。西欧の一般におけるゲイに対する昔々の認識、「ゲイ＝女装している」とはちょっと違う、「フェミニンで尚且つ美しい存在でなければならない」という脅迫観念的な縛り。さらには必ず同性だけではなく異性との性行為も何故か念頭におかれていて……。一体何なんだろうこれは、とずーっとワケワカラン疑問だったのです。

で、この映画でいわゆる「シスターボーイ」達の様子を見まして。勿論映画ですから100％真実が描かれているわけではありません。でも、主人公の坂下真一がシスターボーイとしてキャバレー「ローザ」に勤めなければならなくくだりで、シンちゃんは「シスターボーイ」としての振る舞いをするように求められるわけです。で、尚且つ「ローザ」では女社長達からセックスを求められたりする。非常に形式美にのっとったフェミニンな振る舞いをすることを義務づけられながらも、異性との性行為も求められる。この様子を見たときに、「そうか！これは江戸時代の陰間茶屋の陰間に求められていたものなんだ。物凄くシンプルに江戸時代の陰間に対する認識が、そのままスライドしてシスターボーイとして認識されて、すなわちゲイだと言う認識になったのかあ」と。江戸時代の陰間茶屋では男性客だけではなく女性客も利用していましたし（つまり陰間茶屋に勤務する陰子達は同性異性両方からの性行為を求められた。で、この映画を観ると「異性とセックスできる子/出来ない子」は明らかにあって……多分、陰子達の中での棲み分けもあったのかも）、そもそも陰間とか衆道は、もっと茶道などに近い作法や様式美と言うか、セクシャリティとは微妙に違っている、というか……。話は脱線しますが、陰間茶屋＝日本におけるゲイみたいな話が世の中にはあるのですが、んなわけないじゃん！ああいう形式が好きな人達以外の人間が、わざわざあーんな馬鹿みたいに料金が高いとこでセックスするわけない(笑)。当事者として絶対したくない(笑)。閑話休題。

何か、市川だけが「ほほう！」と膝を打った感じなんですが、すみませんすみませんすみません💦

Following the recent passing of Akihiro Miwa (one of the famous gay artists in Japan. He himself was a singer and an actor), Nikkatsu made the 1958 film Tokyo Yaro to Onnadomo (Tokyo Guys and Gals) available for streaming for a limited time, so I decided to check it out.

Skipping the plot details, watching it made various things click for me: "Aha! So that was what it was all about!" You see, up until around the 1980s, the public perception of gay men in Japan was somehow strangely and strongly linked to extreme femininity. It wasn't quite the old Western stereotype of "gay equals wearing women's clothing," but rather a sort of obsessive, compulsory binding that one had to be feminine and beautiful. Furthermore, there was always an assumption that sexual acts involved not just same-sex partners, but opposite-sex partners as well... This had been a total mystery to me for the longest time: What on earth is this all about?

Then, in this film, I observed the "sister boys." Of course, it's a movie, so it doesn't depict 100% historical truth. However, in the sequence where the protagonist, Shinichi Sakashita, is forced to work as a sister boy at the cabaret "Rosa," Shin is required to behave like a sister boy. On top of that, at "Rosa," he and the others are pursued for sex by the female executives. They are obligated to maintain a very stylized, formal femininity, yet they are also expected to have sexual relations with women.

When I saw this, it suddenly hit me: "Of course! This is exactly what was expected of the kagema (prostitute boys) in the kagema-chaya (male brothels) of the Edo period. The Edo-period perception of kagema was simply slid directly onto the concept of the 'sister boy,' which in turn became equated with being gay!" In the kagema-chaya of the Edo period, establishments were used not only by male patrons but by female patrons as well (meaning the kagema working there were expected to perform sexual acts with both same-sex and opposite-sex partners. In fact, watching this movie, you can clearly see that some boys could have sex with women while others couldn't... perhaps there was a division of roles among the kagema themselves). Moreover, kagema and shudo were much closer to formalities and aesthetic styles akin to the tea ceremony—something subtly different from modern concepts of sexuality, or perhaps...

To make a brief digression, some people talk as if kagema-chaya were the Japanese equivalent of being gay, but no way in hell! People who aren't into that specific theatrical style aren't going to go out of their way to pay ridiculously high prices just to have sex there (lol). As someone from the community, I would definitely never do that (lol). But to return from our digression...

I might be the only one slapping my knee in sudden realization, but please forgive me! 💦

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akihiro_Miwa