The Laughing Man

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A mainstream reconsideration of sexuality in conjugal relations led not to ridicule of “wholesomeness,” as in kasutori culture, but rather to reconsideration of what a healthy sensuality between marriage partners might involve. Ancient Japanese poetry and prose had embraced an ideal of reciprocal love in which men and women shared sexual pleasure. In medieval times, however, the feudal elites had drawn an increasingly strict distinction between love and marriage, and certainly between sensual pleasure and marriage. “Good” women were taught that they were inherently inferior to men; that their ...more
Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II
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