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

Additional Titles:: 3rd gender
Published:: [Toronto] : Royal Ontario Museum, [2016]
Copyright Date:: ©2016
Physical Description:: 215 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), portraits ; 30 cm
Additional Creators:: Mostow, Joshua S., 1957-, Matsuba, Ryoko, Ikeda, Asato, and Royal Ontario Museum

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Language Note:

One section translated from the Japanese.

Contents:

Introduction / 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 1: 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.

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ISBN:

9780888545145 (paperback)
0888545142 (paperback)

Note:

Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Royal Ontario Museum from May 7, 2016 to November 27, 2016.

Bibliography Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-211) and index.

View MARC record | catkey: 29663033