This is an extraordinary book. The author begins telling the reader that even in today's Japanese studies circle there is still bias against those who research such things as this book. With that in mind, I delved into this fascinating book. Before going into the book's contents I want to say that Dr. Leupp writes in a style that is very easy to read while conveying a great deal of information. Before I started reading this book I was worried that he was going to write in such an academic way that it would leave the subject matter quite sterile. That definately is not the case. The author begins the book at first with an explanation of the long hitorical trends of homosexuality that can be found in the histories of China and Korea and he places these histories of homosexul cultures beside those of Greece and other European countries. He then delves into the homosexual tradition of early Japan mainly focusing on the Imperial Court, Buddhist and Shinto monks and priests, and finally Samurai. After setting this precedent, he goes into detail of Tokugawa homosexuality, mainly focusing on Kabuki actors and Prostitutes. He uses examples from both historical records and literature. This is a great book that should be read by those who are interested in not only homosexual history, but those who are looking for a fuller understanding of Japanese hitory.

Not many scholarly works read well, but this one does. Even if you are not a student of Japanese history and culture, "Male Colors" is a pleasure. Yes, there are sections with a lot of Japanese names (particularly when the author cites a string of sources), but by and large, this work is very accessable to us mere mortals who are interested in the history of same-sex love.

Initially, as the author describes, same-sex love in Japan was something practiced by elite groups: first the Zen Buddhist monks who are believed to have imported the practice from China (a curious notion because this also carries the connotation that homosexuality came from "some place else") and then the samuri elite. While factors such as the lack of eligible women may have contributed to the general acceptance of bisexuality, many, if not most, of the practicers of nanshoku had deep emotional ties to their partners. But as urban life began to grow, nanshoku was popularized through a combination of the kabuki theater and the commercial sex enterprises that cropped up.

Also interesting were all the examples of art depicting nanshoku, some of it quite ribald and most of it graphic. But that just lends more weight to the notion that there was no stigma attached to boy love during this period in Japan, at least not a universal stigma; it was quite nearly universally tolerated and any effort to control nanshoku usually was to control violent fights over popular boy prostitutes rather than a governmental decree against homosexual sex.

The book is heavy on male sexuality with little mention of lesbianism, but that's hardly a surprise considering most cultures tend to be strongly patriarchal and it is the men who record history. And as usual, it appears that it was through contact with the West, particularly with Christian missionaries, that the practice of nanshoku was eventually shunned into the crepuscular corners of Japanese culture. More evidence that if there is harm caused by same-sex activity, the harm is caused by a prudish societal mentality orignating in a rigid Judeo-Christian ethic that thrives on domination and guilt.

I call this a landmark work because it clearly establishes -- apparently beyond any possibility of a doubt -- a vibrant tradition of male love in Japan. It focuses on the Tokugawa era, which ran basically from the time the Japanese excluded foreign influence up to the Meiji era.

During those centuries, "nanshoku" (one term among many for male love) was apparently universal. If you follow Leupp's account, the tradition originated in Japanese Buddhism, which from quite early times differentiated itself from Buddhism on the Asian continent, in accepting and even honoring the practice of male love among Buddhist monks. Monks were well-known for their passionate love affairs with their acolytes, and the tradition was well respected.

When the samurai class arose, they adopted the practice of the monks and developed their own tradition of nanshoku, which also endured with honor over the centuries, until the time came when the merchant class arose, and made a new version of the old traditions for itself. Many witnesses, Japanese and foreign, report that all males of status had beautiful male companions, sometimes a fair number of them, which they appreciated in the same way they appreciated flowers. Another interesting bit of speculation is that a sexually active Japanese male may have made six visits to females for every visit he paid to a male. But of course there were also notorious "woman-haters" (the term is Japanese) who never had anything but nanshoku affairs.

This is foundational work, for the following reason. Twenty years ago, as a gay scholar, I had to spend valuable time and resources dealing with people who maintained that homosexual behavior had always and everywhere been viewed as immoral and wicked. As it turns out, this attitude is simply European and heavily influenced by Christian teaching, and the most extreme adherents SEEM to be Protestant Christians (I say that because Italy and other Mediterranean countries had much more wisdom in these matters).

However, the data from ancient Greece and Rome is now in, and in addition we have the facts about Tokugawa Japan. We now know, as established historic fact, that male love in some times and places has not only been widely practised, but honored as well. In fact, it was normative. As a result, any attempt to maintain that "it has always been wrong" simply reveals the fact that one hasn't bothered to study the matter -- at all.

This book is a much needed book for anybody interested in Japanese history. It gives a very detailed account of the policies of the ruling class while at the same time showing the development of the large cities and their free labour market. It shows that Japan already had a large unrban working class before the morden period. The author also gets into the social history and the beliefs that many of the ruling class had about servants during the same period.