Yin-ma - Kagema

In the Edo period, this was a colloquial term for male prostitutes. In the early modern period, some young men and women in kabuki theatre worked as male prostitutes as a side job, but later, young boys in training to become actors (kage no ma) became professional providers of male homosexuality, and among the names kageko, seigai-ko, tobiko, etc., kagema has been used as a general alternative name for male prostitutes to the present day. In Edo's Yoshicho and Yushima, kagema teahouses were established that employed kagema and arranged for prostitution, but some of these kagema had no connection to kabuki and were over 20 years old. Many of them dressed as women, with Shimada hairstyles and large furisode kimonos, but as the ban became stricter, they changed to the young men's custom of dressing as men.

[Yoichi Harashima]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸時代、男娼(だんしょう)の俗称。近世初期の歌舞伎(かぶき)の若衆(わかしゅ)、野郎には、副業として男娼をつとめる者もあったが、のちに役者養成中（陰(かげ)の間(ま)）の少年が職業的男色提供者となり、陰子(かげこ)、制外子(せいがいこ)、飛子(とびこ)などの名称のうち、陰間が男娼の一般的別称として用いられ現代に至っている。江戸の芳町(よしちょう)、湯島などには、陰間を抱えて売色を斡旋(あっせん)する陰間茶屋ができたが、それらの陰間には歌舞伎とは無関係の者もあり、20歳以上の陰間もあった。島田髷(しまだまげ)に大振袖(おおふりそで)の女装が多かったが、禁令が厳しくなると男装の若衆風俗に変えた。

［原島陽一］

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