Japan’s homosocial past
A few days ago, I posted the first of some photos that I discovered in a used bookstore in Kyoto. Here is another, developed in Tokyo, showing four young men together. There were no names on this photo, just a date: “July 19, 1918.”
I love how well groomed the young men are. They all look as if they are in their mid-to-late teens, about the age of a modern high school student. The young man at the far left looks as supple and gentle as an onnagata actor, while the fellow third from the left has the kind of natural good looks that would win him admirers anywhere. What was the relationship between these boys?
