Comrade loves of the samurai

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Saikaku Ihara, under the pseudonym Hirayama Togo, presents a collection of stories about homosexual love between samurai lords of medieval Japan and the young men who served them: pages, samurai apprentices, secretaries, general assistants, or even young men living outside their palaces. These stories illustrate the normality of these practices before the Meiji era, a time when changes were instituted, leading to the silencing of homosexual practices. Another reason for this silence is attributed to the arrival of foreigners in Japan, who viewed homosexuality unfavorably. The love stories among samurai are always imbued with tragic romance and death (suicide through the famous hara-kiri) as an honorable solution to any sentimental conflict. Although the stories may initially seem somewhat simple, they are not to be considered trivial, as within them one can find deep symbols of philosophical thought, certain traditional aspects, and generally part of the cultural idiosyncrasy of the Japanese of that time.