Male entertainment - nanshokumono

Japanese: 男色物 - なんしょくもの

In a narrow sense, it refers to a type of kana zoshi from the early Edo period and the ukiyo zoshi koshokumono (koshokuhon) that followed them. In a broad sense, it is a general term for literature that deals with male homosexuality regardless of time and space, or literary genre. It is merely a popular myth that male homosexuality was not originally found in Japan, but was introduced by immigrants from the continent, especially Buddhists. However, as the saying goes, "male homosexuality began with Kobo," male homosexuality, which was brought from China by monks who went to China during the Nara period, when exchanges between Japan and China were active, was welcomed as a kind of advanced custom, and can be seen in the Kojiki, Nihonshoki, Manyoshu, Kokin Wakashu, Ise Monogatari, Konjaku Monogatarishu, and Kokin Chomonshu, but most of it is fragmentary.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

狭義には，江戸初期の仮名草子やそれを受けた浮世草子好色物(好色本)の一型を指す。広義には，時間と空間を問わず，また文学上のジャンルにとらわれず男色を扱った文学の総称である。もともと日本にはなく大陸からの渡来者，とりわけ仏教者の風俗が浸透したというのは俗説にすぎない。ただし〈男色は弘法に始まる〉といわれるごとく，日中交流の盛んであった奈良時代に入唐僧によって唐からもたらされた男色は，一種の先進風俗として迎えられ，記紀をはじめとして《万葉集》《古今和歌集》《伊勢物語》《今昔物語集》《古今著聞集》などにうかがうことができるが，断片的なものが多い。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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