Writing Same-Sex Love: Sexology and Literary Representation in Yoshiya Nobuko's Early
Fiction
Author(s): Michiko Suzuki
Reviewed work(s):
Source: The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 65, No. 3 (Aug., 2006), pp. 575-599
Published by: Association for Asian Studies
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Same-Sex Love: Sexology and
in Yoshiya
Literary Representation
Nobuko's Early Fiction
Writing
MICHIKO
SUZUKI
X OSHIYA NOBUKO (1896-1973), novelist, poet, and essayist, was one of the most
successful and prolific Japanese writers of the twentieth century. As a popular author,
Yoshiya enjoyed a broad readership; by the mid 1920s, she was a celebrity whose face
was easily recognized on the street, and by the late 1930s, she had become one of the
of state
people in Japan, earning an income several times that of ministers
recent
in
The
of
interest
culture
has
vol.
2, p. 111).
(Tanabe 1999,
growth
popular
as an author who developed
to the rediscovery of Yoshiya
the genre of
contributed
to the family romance
girls' fiction (sh?jo sh?setsu) and brought a feminist perspective
in the genre of popular fiction (ts?zoku sh?setsu). She has received most attention,
however, as writer of female same-sex love (d?seiai). Much of Yoshiya's fiction features
girls and women who are strongly attached to each other, valuing above all else their
wealthiest
and
love
sisterhood.1
Although Yoshiya herself was never "out" in the current sense, for 47 years she
lived openly with her lifelong partner (and legal heir), Monma Chiyo. As a result,
stories of same-sex love are often simply considered an extension of her own
Yoshiya's
life or just a non-Western
example in the genre of lesbian literature. To fully appre
it is crucial to recognize
ciate the depth and complexity
of Yoshiya's
texts, however,
an
with
intricate
ideas
that they are constructed
contemporary
negotiation
through
about female same-sex love. Of particular significance is the way Yoshiya engages with
ideas found in sexology, a field of scientific inquiry into the "truth about sex" (Friihs
Suzuki
Michiko
I would
Peter
Duus,
reviewers
*I follow
it from
and
the
nuance.
male-male
Asian
of East
Languages
professor
and Cultures
of Japanese
literature
at Indiana University.
like to thank Michael Dylan Foster, Jim Reichert, Henk Maier,
as well
as Kenneth
Keogh,
comments
Studies
for their valuable
Annette
Leslie Winston,
of The Journal
to the numerous
grateful
and provided
is assistant
([email protected])
in the Department
culture
of Asian
friends
and
colleagues
who
have
expressed
George
and
an
and
and
Susan Matisoff,
the
anonymous
I am also
suggestions.
in this project
interest
encouragement.
the now
standard
twentieth-century
In this article,
same-sex
term to differentiate
love as a specific
of using
practice
and to reflect
of homosexuality
its historical
concept
meaning
I use the term to mean
"female-female
love," as I do not examine
relationships.
For biographical studies of Yoshiya Nobuko, see Yoshitake
Tanabe (1999), and Robertson (2002). The official chronology
Yoshiya (1976, vol. 12, pp. 545-77).
(1982), Komashaku (1994),
is "Nenpu" (Chronology) in
The Journal ofAsian Studies 65, no. 3 (August 2006):575-599.
? 2006 by the Association for Asian Studies, Inc.
575
MICHIKO
576
SUZUKI
and
p. 5), which was originally established during the 1900s in Germany
was
a
to
In
the
other
of
world
(Haeberle 1983).
parts
Japan, sexology
quickly spread
and
interest
the
of
the
academic
prewar period;
subject
popular
throughout
publica
tion of various books and articles by both Western
and Japanese sexologists contrib
uted to a so-called sexology boom (Roden 1990, pp. 45-46;
Furukawa 1994, 1995;
t?ck 2003,
Yoshikawa
1999; Fr?hst?ck
1998b; Robertson
same-sex
Female
desire
and
2003).
were
practice
areas
important
of
inquiry,
sexological
the "truth" about modern
female sexuality and
part of its endeavor to understand
that
included
The
Western
discussions
of female
of
major works
identity.
sexology
same-sex love, such as Richard von Krafft-Ebing's
Sexualis
(1886) and
Psychopathia
in translation.2
Ellis's Studies in the Psychology of Sex (1897), circulated widely
Havelock
Senji, and Yasuda Tokutar? also
Japanese sexologists such as Habuto Eiji, Yamamoto
wrote
the
about
in various
issue
mainstream
from
venues,
to
magazines
academic
Fr?hst?ck
2003, p. 70; Yasuda
354-64;
pp. 240-41,
1935; Pflugfelder 2005, pp. 140-50).3 Prewar female writers and feminists also played
a role in the production
In 1914, the
and dissemination
of sexological discourse.
the first Japanese abbreviated
feminist
journal Seit? (Bluestocking, 1911-16)
published
a chapter from Ellis's Studies in the Psy
translation of "Sexual Inversion inWomen,"
Raich?
feminist Hiratsuka
(see Ellis
chology of Sex, with a foreword by prominent
books
(Habuto
1920/1921,
Edward Carpenter's The Intermediate Sex (1908),
1914, 1897/1942,
pp. 195-263).4
of female same-sex relationships,
another influential work that includes a discussion
was translated by socialist feminist Yamakawa Kikue and published
in amagazine
in
and Carpenter
1908/
1914 then in book form in 1919 (seeWard
1919; Carpenter
1930).5
to Bluestocking
A member of Seit?sha (Bluestocking
Society), Yoshiya contributed
mem
and also studied influential Western
works on women with other Bluestocking
bers (Yoshiya 1916a, 1916b, 1976, vol. 12, p. 551; Yoshikawa
1971,
1995; Hiratsuka
Sexual
2Psychopathia
is was
as H entai
translated
shinri
seiyoku
of Abnormal
{Psychology
Sexual
Desires, 1913; Furukawa 1995, p. 203). Another work heavily based on Psychopathia Sexualis
was Hentai
Eiji
and
ron (^Theories
Sexual Desires,
of Abnormal
seiyoku
this was
Sawada
eighteen
Junjir?;
"reprinted
authored
1915),
times
over
the
by sexologists
next
decade"
1990, p. 45). See also Fr?hst?ck (2003, p. 106).
Excerpts from Studies in thePsychology of Sex were translated and published
the
1910s
through
and
between
1899
the
1930s.
the
1928;
work
The
complete
initial
version
was
is a seven-volume
by Ellis
under
published
the
title
Habuto
(Roden
in Japan from
text
Sexual
published
Inversion
in
1897 (see Pettis 2004).
3After
article was provisionally
the present
on early
twentieth-century
is different
his historical
project
article
felder's
Although
on
view
sexologists'
discussion
of
schoolgirl
Studies,
accepted
by The Journal
Pflug
of Asian
was
same-sex
love among
schoolgirls
published.
we use many
sources.
For his
from mine,
similar
same-sex
love,
see
2005,
Pflugfelder
pp.
140-50.
4This translation is by "Nobo," a pseudonym for Seit?sha (Bluestocking Society) member
Takada (Sakamoto) Makoto (Raich? kenky?kai 2001, pp. 112-13; Hiratsuka 1971, vol. 2, p.
543). Seit? also published other writing by Ellis and articles by sexologist Ogura Seizabur?
(Ide 1983, pp. 75, 78; Raich? kenky?kai 2001, p. 199).
Sex was
^The Intermediate
Safuran (Saffron), a magazine
(Tomimoto
Kazue)
after
she
by Yamakawa
translated
and
(circulation March-August
left
the
Bluestocking
Society
published
in abridged
in
form
1914) started by Otake K?kichi
in
1912.
For
the
same-sex
love
relationship between Hiratsuka Raich? and Otake, see Kurosawa (1996), Yoshikawa (1998b),
Suzuki (2002a, pp. 11-12, 31-34), Wu (2002), Raich? kenky?kai (2001, pp. 68-69, 142
43), and Pflugfelder (2005, pp. 165-70). The translation o? The IntermediateSex in book form
was
published
Ward's
Same-Sex
as a combined
volume
with
Sakai
Toshihiko's
translation
Pure Sociology under the title Josei ch?shinsetsu toD?seiai
Love);
see Ward
and Carpenter
(1919,
pp.
1-2).
of a section
from
Lester
(Theory of Female Centrism and
WRITING
SAME-SEX LOVE
577
reveal a strong
vol. 2, p. 572, 1984, vol. 6, p. 186; Suzuki 2002a). Her writings
awareness of sexological discourse both Western
and Japanese, particularly
sexology's
attempt to define female same-sex love through the binary of "normality" and "ab
texts to fully understand
It is crucial to examine this aspect of Yoshiya's
normality."
their re-presentation
of same-sex love, both in terms of narrative content (histoire) and
early works through their con
literary style (discours). By closely reading Yoshiya's
versation with
the definitions
erates
uses and subverts
love. Yoshiya
reit
I show how she simultaneously
sexology discourse,
and parameters sexology maps onto female-female
mainstream
views
same-sex
of
love
yet
at
same
the
time
challenges
"truths" and reveals the inadequacies and gaps within
sexology. By
and interprets female
and against an evolving field that disciplines
love between girls
for understanding
offers different possibilities
sex provides access
with
science
the
of
shiya's literary engagement
surrounding
prewar Japanese
female
Same-Sex
Love: Purity
and Deviancy
identity
and its presentation
sexological
writing
through
she
relationships,
and women. Yo
to broader issues
within
culture.
In his Meiji Taish? kenbunshi ({Things Seen and Heard during theMeiji and Taish?
Periods, 1926), popular writer Ubukata Toshir? observes that female students (jogaku
of
se'i) began to "play at same-sex love" (d?sei no koi ome gokko) after the establishment
the
"female
became
after
student"
the first Japanese women's college in 1901?that
is,
as a new female identity (Ubukata 1926/1995,
p. 101). Of course, the
prominent
love did not suddenly begin in the twentieth century, but
practice of female-female
it became a much-discussed
issue from the early 1900s in conjunction with the rise
a female-centered
in women's
space outside the home. From the
higher education,
was
same-sex
associated with young
love
the
1910s through
1930s,
particularly
most
women
school
often
students attending
education,
receiving post?primary
higher girls' schools (k?t? jogakk?; Furukawa 1995, p. 207; Pflugfelder 2005, pp. 133,
136, 142).6 In addition to the general term d?seiai (same-sex love), referring to both
a number of specific terms were created to describe
male and female relationships,
same-sex
female
love,
ome and
including
esu.7 The
and
meanings
nuances
associated
6The 1899 Higher Girls' School Act (K?t?jogakk? ret)promoted the establishment of these
schools
the nation.
throughout
shiry?hen
We
see a dramatic
For more
25?32).
on
the
statistics,
in these
increase
from the late 1910s to the mid
bers, particularly
laws,
1920s
and
schools
and
num
student
(K?t? jogakk? kenky?kai
history
of higher
girls'
1994,
schools,
see
Sakurai (1943) and K?t? jogakk? kenky?kai (1994).
7Furukawa (1995) notes that from the 1910s through the prewar period, the term d?seiai
was
with
associated
strongly
female-female
love. There
were
also
variant
terms
such
as dasei
no
ai, d?sei no koi, and d?sei ren'ai (pp. 205-7).
The
use
a
complicated
an older
student
of ome has
between
friendship
for Women
School
looking
into
and
each
other's
as a romantic
In 1910
the term was
history.
explained
a
in the Peer's
and a younger
that
student,
practice
began
to various
then
schools.
The
entailed
higher
spread
girls'
practice
hands
the younger
recess;
eyes and shaking
during
girl publicly
a hair ribbon
to her by "her lover." Tatsuko
notes
by wearing
given
the relationship
displayed
to determine
that it is difficult
from
"Futari
no
ai natte
the origins
of the
(It is auspicious
omedetai"
term
but
that
the
that some believe
explains
two girls'
love have been
it comes
fulfilled),
once
each other; Tatsuko
1910/
(Love started
ga ai no itoguchi"
they saw/met
seems
to have
The meaning
o? ome, however,
pp. 69-71).
poet Yosano
changed
quickly;
notes
in 1917
that she was
told "seven or eight
"ano kata to
years ago" that ome means
are
ano kata wa omedetai"
and that person
with
each other), signifying
(that person
happily friendly
or "Orne ni kakkata
2001,
Akiko
michiko
578
suzuki
these and other terms shift during this period, but, broadly speaking, same-sex
love was construed through what might
on the one
be called a dualistic continuum;
was
the adolescent
romantic friendship, pure and platonic,
and on the
hand, there
other, sexual deviancy practiced by degenerates and/or so-called inverts (seiteki tent?sha)
nature whose desire was for members
born with an "inverted" masculine
of the same
with
sex.
This
on
based
continuum,
the
"normal"
of
binary
and
an
reflects
"abnormal,"
a complex phenomenon,
effort to understand
intertwined with questions
inevitably
of environmental
influence, congenital character, the length and nature of the emotion
or practice, the age of the lovers, and the process of female sexual
development.
Cultural
critics of modern Japanese sexuality agree that the key incident that
same-sex love to national attention occurred in 1911: a love suicide
in Niigata
Prefecture
(Furukawa
(shinj?, j?sh?) of two higher girls' school graduates
1994, p. 43, 1995, p. 205; Yoshikawa
1998a, p. 114, 1998b, p. 84; Wu
2002, p.
families
67; Pflugfelder 2005, pp. 153-58).8 These two girls from upper middle-class
killed themselves as a result of their love for one another, a love that could not be
female
brought
in the heterosexual world they would have to enter after graduation.
Im
a
their
after
in
of
articles
to
the
media
suicide,
mediately
flurry
appeared
attempting
such
such
One
from
Shinbun
News
(Women's
explicate
commentary
relationships.
Fujo
same-sex love:
paper), for instance, offers a typical gauge for understanding
sustained
As
a result
of our
called ome relationship
The
couple.
can
is a case
each
in this
friendship.
. . . and
enon
case,
. . .But
that
form
the
the
latter
a
it is probably
two
the
love
ome
phenomenon
of same-sex
kinds
whereas
females
but
a vow
make
is nothing
This
romantic
was
friendship
{d?sei
so
is the
"pure," whereas
sisterhood
a
than
and
passionate
that is shameful or despicable.
is no more
this
relationship,
of disease.
of
more
than
is truly
(Quoted inYoshikawa
The
love
the other
is a kind of female husband-and-wife
in this relationship
is a mutual
love
as for
in which
are
there
of friendship,
in life or death.
other
friendship, and there is nothing
Thus,
say
passionate
(ome no kankei), which
...
former
to be with
promise
we
studies,
is a pure,
yet
no at). One
an
a
extremely
strange
close
phenom
1998b, pp. 103-4)
the ome relationship,
based on "bodily
a
a
innocent
to be seen as a word
it has come
but now
with
that
purely
friendship,
meaning
even to think
is "disgusting
about." What
she is referring
is the understanding
to, no doubt,
a masculine
o? ome as a sexual
between
female
and a feminine
is now
what
female,
relationship
a
comes
Ome in this case, Yosano
termed
from
that
of
notes,
is,
butch-femme.
reading
|^^;
or "man-woman"
"male-female"
vol.
Robertson
(Yosano
1917/2002,
18, pp. 53-55).
interprets
ome as "butch-femme"
that
(Robertson
1998,
type couples
1999,
pp. 68-70,
p. 8), explaining
it derives
from a combination
terms usually
of osu (male)
and mesu (female),
used
for animals
(Robertson 1999, p. 8).
in the usage
of ome as romantic
and butch-femme
overlap
probably
friendship
on the context
a 1910
time.
and
for example,
Furukawa,
sexuality,
quotes
depending
magazine
it as "an aberrant
that describes
article
the female
of nanshoku
love,"
(male-male
equivalent
a sense among
that there may
interviews
have been
love)
(1994,
p. 43). Pflugfelder's
suggest
There
was
an earlier
term
that ome was
terms were
schoolgirls
simply
superseded
by esu (or that these
ome did not
used
sense
and
thus
the
of
sexual and/
convey
always
interchangeably),
necessarily
or
butch-femme
relations
137-38).
(2005,
pp.
clearly
gendered
seen as a shortened
term for the
Esu (or S) is commonly
the lover
sister, signifying
English
and/or
the relationship
notes
Robertson
that it can also mean
136-37).
2005,
pp.
(Pflugfelder
of all three
"sex," or a combination
(1998,
p. 68).
"sh?jo" (young
girl),
For more
pp. 67-70;
on
8For more
Pflugfelder
these
and
1999, pp. 8-10),
on prewar
other
terms,
see Furukawa
and Pflugfelder
same-sex
(2005, pp. 158-62).
love
and
(1994,
pp.
43-44),
Robertson
(1998,
(2005, pp. 134-40).
same-sex
love
suicides,
see Robertson
(1999)
and
SAME-SEX LOVE
WRITING
579
in which a "woman
degeneracy" (nikuteki daraku), was characterized as an abnormality
a
no
character {danseiteki seikaku kyog?
of masculine
joshi} controls the other woman"
1998b, p. 104).
(quoted in Yoshikawa
After the 1911 love suicide, intimacy among female students was considered
dangerous (Wu 2002, p. 70); it was recognized that even "pure" passionate
could lead to the undesirable outcome of love suicide. In the unequivocally
potentially
friendships
ome
"sick"
as
fear
the
having
to corrupt
power
and
was
woman
the masculine
however,
relationship,
same-sex
transmit
viewed
to
desire
even
with
the
more
nonmasculine
(therefore normal) woman. The Fujo Shinbun article expresses incredulous wonder that
woman
seems to be "truly in love" in such a relationship
the nonmasculine
(quoted
in Yoshikawa
love as a whole caused some level
female-female
1998b, p. 104). While
of unease and increased scrutiny, discourses about such relationships were polarized
the period, most often oscillating
between
ideas of purity and innocence
throughout
and sexuality and abnormality.
love developed concurrently with
This bifurcated categorization
of female-female
in youth,
the rise of sexology discourse from the 1910s. Same-sex female relationships
as
to
were
more
innocent
be
likely
perceived
platonic,
generally speaking,
friendships
and thus "normal." Such female ties were considered an expected outcome of a sexually
society, and the young virgin was typically seen as sexual tabula rasa,
segregated
vol. 4, pp. 291
desire until first incited by a man (see Yosano
without
1917/2001,
some higher girls' schools discouraged
92). Although
younger students from social
a
and editor of a famous
with
Numata
educator
older
ones,
prominent
izing
Ripp?,
stresses
in
that
such
1916
preventative measures were
girls' magazine
(sh?jo zasshi),
most
intense
between
because
unnecessary
girls are harmless (Numata
relationships
a
Yamamoto
1916/1984,
pp. 47-50).
Senji,
prominent
sexologist, reiterates this view
in 1924, criticizing
educators who confuse the immoral practices of male same-sex
and sodomy, with the harmless "platonic
love by schoolboys,
such as masturbation
love" practiced by schoolgirls
(Fr?hst?ck 2003, p. 70).9
In general, sexologists' view that such relationships are innocent seems to be based
on the idea that girls are simply expressing their affectionate,
emotive nature and/or
a
same-sex
within
environment. Have
themselves)
budding sexuality (unperceived by
lock
girls
that
observes
who
Ellis,
where
are
segregated
these
can
attachments"
"ardent
educational
for
be
"found
characterizes
purposes,"
in all
this
as
countries
a normal
love, stressing that most girls grow out of such "Platonic" emotions when they leave
school, and thus this "cannot be regarded as an absolute expression of real congenital
vol. 1, pp. 218, 368, 374, 1914, p.
(Ellis 1897/1942,
perversion of the sex-instinct"
12). Habuto Eiji, in his 1920 classic Ippan seiyokugaku (General Sexology), explains that
such same-sex love is part of the human developmental
process.10 He subscribes to
is the "period of nondifferentiation"
the idea that adolescence
(musabetsuki); both girls
as a time of confusion,
in which
and boys experience this time of sexual development
it
is
555).
normal"
"completely
they move
Once
beyond
9For Yoshiya's
relationship
reads Numata's
Yoshiya
For more
on
the perceived
for
them
this period,
a
to manifest
"tendency
they transition
toward
same-sex
love."
to a "period of differentiation"
see
vol.
Numata,
12, pp. 408-10,
(1976,
549,
Yoshiya
as
as
but
scholars
refer to him
Ry?h?,
currently
Ripp?.
same-sex
male
and female
difference
between
love, see Pflug
with
name
felder (2005, pp. 147-50).
10Fr?hst?ck
sexology,
magazines,
113-14).
Ippan
notes
that
seiyokugaku
a number
{General
of works
Sexology,
to
his
introduction
by Habuto,
including
in
"were advertised
women's
constantly
1920),
and some had appeared in their fifteenth edition by as early as 1921" (2003, pp.
MICHIKO
580
SUZUKI
(sabetsuki) in which "sexual desire is turned in the normal direction toward the opposite
sex" (Habuto 1920/1921,
of same-sex love in youth as
p. 354). Such interpretations
a
seem
to
normal growth process
have become more or less accepted
being part of
a medical doctor
In
1935, for example, Yasuda Tokutar?,
during the prewar period.
sex
same-sex
asserts
and
that
love between schoolgirls
is normal because it
historian,
a preparatory stage that leads to future hetero
is "a kind of love play in adolescence,
sexual love." He notes that many of those who practice such love become transformed
upon graduation and enter into normal married life. These relationships are "platonic,
and there is no sex (nikutaiteki k?sho). . . at most,
they [the girls] caress each other."
Yasuda
Although
we
what
can
gauge
love as contained
admits
that it is "difficult
as
and
normality
even
to determine,
we
what
can
as
gauge
in scientific
terms,
same-sex
abnormality,"
as a part of the
youth seems to have been acknowledged
female growth process (Yasuda 1935, pp. 150?51).u
Sexological discourse was, in a sense, able to legitimize adolescent same-sex love
as a kind of rehearsal for entry into "real" sexuality?that
is, heterosexual maturity
and motherhood.
this
adolescent
love
could
be
Although
accepted as normal, adult
same-sex
love
within
was
an
considered
unnatural
deviation
the
from
proper
of
trajectory
a failure to correctly enter into heterosexual
maturity,
normalcy. Particularly post
in which masculine
adolescent ome relationships,
and feminine roles were visibly de
fined, were considered "abnormal same-sex love" (hentai d?seiai; see Robertson
1999,
(hentai joshi) associated with this love was discussed
p. 21).12 The abnormal woman
as a result of the decadent
from a variety of perspectives:
of
"gender ambivalence"
an
as
an
a
or
as
invert
with
born
inner
result
masculine
self,
modernity,
congenitally
of parent-child
(see Roden
relationships
vol.
Yasuda
1, p. 222;
1935,
1897/1942,
that the ome relationship was particularly
female was threatening to social stability,
1999; Ellis 1914, p. 15,
1990; Robertson
p. 151). Jennifer Robertson's work shows
taboo because the cross-gendered masculine
institutions
such as marriage and the family
a
as
and
the
the
nation-state
whole
of
(Robertson 1999, pp. 11-12,
system,
integrity
21). But it is also important to recognize that in addition to the visible presence of
the age of the practitioners
and the context of the practice would
cross-gendering,
to decipher
have been further determinants
for sexologists
the nature of the love
for
the
idea
that gender-role
di
Yasuda,
example, questions
relationship.
Sexologist
vision in schoolgirl love (the presence of a "male role player" {otokogata) and a "female
role player"
{onnagata})
that
observes
they
often
sexual abnormality
signifies
into
transform
on the part of masculine
unremarkable
wives
girls; he
and mothers
after
grad
In addition to the presence of masculinity,
there
(Yasuda 1935, pp. 150-51).
fore, factors such as age, the female developmental
process, and the context of the
love's expression also provided a gauge for sexology to determine
the "truth" about
uation
same-sex
love.
such a schema for understanding
the normalcy/abnormality
Obviously,
sex love could never be fully adequate; sexological discourse attempted
the
terrain
complex
becoming
be actual
of
human
newly articulated
inverts, not going
nPflugfelder
suggests
that
emotion,
experience,
and
even
practice
of same
to map out
as
they
were
and perceived within modernity.
Girls could potentially
a
women
older
could maintain
temporary phase;
through
such
"constructions
of'same-sex
love'
as a necessary
and
even
beneficial stage in psychological development became increasingly common during the 1930s
and 1940s, reflecting the growing influence of Sigmund Freud" (2005, p. 147).
12Robertson
for hentai
here
translates
because
this
term
it underscores
as
the
"deviant
opposite
homosexual
meaning
love."
of normal
I use
(j?tai).
the word
abnormal
WRITING
SAME-SEX LOVE
581
their pure, romantic friendships beyond the space of school. Sexologists, with their
to explain the non-cross-gendered
rela
rigid framework of gender, often struggled
1985, pp. 276-77; Vicinus
1993, p. 441), and they
tionship (see Smith-Rosenberg
to differentiate
also found it difficult
love and friendship between girls or women,
their relationships
in general to be very intimate in both physical and
perceiving
terms (see Ellis 1897/1942,
emotional
1914, pp. 11-12; Yasuda
1935,
pp. 217-18,
involved in correctly interpreting female sexual practice and/
p. 151). The complexity
or feelings of love reveals the gaps and contradictions within
itself a disci
sexology,
was
in
that
such
flux
the
and the
pline
throughout
period. Despite
inadequacies
to
its
of
discourse
its
and
define
"truths,"
however,
attempts
multiplicity
sexology
and determine
the normal and abnormal in female same-sex love shaped and reflected
Because the polarities of normalcy and abnormality
society's view of this phenomenon.
in this love were part of a continuum,
female-female
love always elicited some level
of suspicion and anxiety. At the same time, however, sexology and its scientific pre
its
rogative could also authorize same-sex love in a number of situations, reinforcing
place within
the modern
landscape.
Flower Tales: Same-Sex
Love and Girlhood
The most famous of Yoshiya Nobuko's
"normal" same-sex
early works depicting
love is her best-selling
titled
fiction
(Flower Tales, 1916?24,
Hanamonogatari
girls'
a collection of fifty-two
short stories featuring romantic friendships.
Ini
1925-26),
in
was
the
serialized
girls' magazine
Sh?jo gah? (Girls' Graphic), Flower Tales
tially
in book format and continually
reissued during both the
subsequently
published
prewar and postwar periods.13 The genre of girls' fiction was first created in 1897 and
took the form of didactic stories specifically targeting girls (Kume 1997).
originally
In 1902, the first girls' magazine
and by 1914 journalist
(sh?jo zasshi) was published,
Tenmin
with sh?jo (girl) in the title,
Matsuzaki
could list at least four magazines
that they are read mainly by 12-to 17-year-olds
(Kume 1997, pp. 212
explaining
an
Flower
Tales
13; Matsuzaki,
1914/1991,
p. 28).
played
important role in establish
as
a
the
romantic
fundamental
element
of
ing
friendship
girlhood and a key compo
nent
in an increasingly
vibrant girls' culture
that flourished
through fiction,
and a community
of girl readers and writers.14 These stories were some of
magazines,
the most important cultural products of the prewar period forming the idea of female
romance.
and
adolescence
While
the stories in Flower Tales are certainly not uniform, they are predominantly
sentimental
tales about same-sex love, often set in higher girls' schools. A typical plot
features
a student's
crush
on
student
another
or
teacher;
the
focus
is on
unrequited
love or the sad ending of the relationship. Each story uses a specific type of flower as
its title, main
imagery, and plot device. In "Shirayuri" (White Lily), for example, a
Flower
1925-26,
13During
Tales
was
serialized
in another
girls'
magazine,
Sh?jo
kurabu
(Girls' Club). For publication details and different viewpoints about the total number of stories,
seeYoshiya (1976, vol. 12, pp. 551, 554), Komatsu (1994, pp. 2-48, 2-54), and Kanai (1995,
p. 12). For discussions o? Flower Tales in English, see Suzuki (2002a) and Dol?ase (2003).
14Girls
mitting
often
not
poems,
only
essays,
communicating
read
and
with
these
short
but also participated
magazines
stories as amateur
writers.
They
other
girl
writers
and
discussing
in their
also wrote
their
works.
community of girl readers and writers, see Honda (1990; 1982/1992,
mura (1993), Nagai (1995), and Inoue (2006, pp. 125-30).
production
in readers'
by
sub
columns,
on the
For more
pp. 186-219),
Kawa
michiko
582
suzuki
teacher, this flower,
story in which students have a crush (shikku) on a female music
associated with it, becomes a symbol for
and the purity and innocence conventionally
she
the teacher and for her nurturing
relationship with her students. The wisdom
to
is
"the
the
her
the
of
of
importance
purity {junketsu)
unchanging
imparts
pupils
soul" (Yoshiya 1975, vol. 1, p. 83). In Flower Tales, the girls' innocent emotions are
in terms of distance rather than intimacy;
and relationships are presented
highlighted,
from afar. This
the girls for the most part express their love through admiration
as
of
distance
love)
(such
noncommunication,
age,
pattern
romanticizing
unrequited
can also be found in the expression of late nineteenth-and
early twentieth-century
As historian Martha Vicinus
explains, distance was ful
schoolgirl love in theWest.
the sense of purity and idealism associated with this love,
filling because it heightened
to undisciplined
in opposition
physical pleasure (Vicinus 1984, pp. 604-5).
In these stories, Yoshiya
love
celebrates romantic friendship as an unparalleled
In a
outside
adult
world.
that defines the unique space of girlhood,
the
from
separate
or
same-sex
the
either
between
between
of
1923 essay defending
love,
importance
girls
teachers and their students,
terms of educational value,
stresses
Yoshiya
that
the
in
argues that this love is "extremely positive
Yoshiya
is immeasurable"
and its worth
(Yoshiya 1923, p. 19).
of
experience
innocent,
is a necessary
love
preheterosexual
to build one's
step for girls to "develop love ... as a valuable foundation on which
see also Yoshiya
character {jinkaku)" (Yoshiya 1923, pp. 20-21;
1928, pp. 277-98,
a view of the romantic friendship
as a positive
In positing
299-306).
experience
and
the
successful
human
for
suspicion with which
development
decrying
required
reiterates here the opinions Edward Carpenter
educators observe this love, Yoshiya
expresses in "Affection in Education"
(Aij? no ky?iku), a chapter from The Intermediate
Sex (Yoshiya 1923, p. 19, 1936/1997,
1908/1930,
pp. 83-106;
pp. 103-5; Carpenter
In another, much shorter version of her 1923
Ward and Carpenter 1919, pp. 227-41).
essay, Yoshiya clearly attributes this idea of "educational value" in youthful same-sex
love to the writings of Carpenter, perhaps intending to bolster this claim by invoking
an authoritative
p. 103).15 Carpenter's praise of same-sex
figure (Yoshiya 1936/1997,
and emotional de
love (for both boys and girls) as an important key to mentoring
was
to
wrote about the
in
attractive
who
schools
Yoshiya,
doubtlessly
velopment
in her girls' fiction.
innocence and beauty of such relationships
the positive nature of this love, in Flower Tales she
Although Yoshiya emphasizes
romance
illness
with
and
such
links
or, even when
tragedy; love is often unrequited,
it
the
is reciprocated,
is terminated
relationship
disease, or death. The girls in Flower Tales
not only for
with
tears; they are nostalgic,
come
to an end.
will
that
inevitably
girlhood
as a
same-sex
loss
the
the
of
for
world;
ing
notes about her life after
(White Magnolia)
was happiest when I was in school?having
but
loneliness."
(Yoshiya
1975, vol.
due
to a
of heart,
change
separation,
are extremely melancholy,
overwhelmed
the past but also already for their own
state of mourn
They are in a continuous
character from the tale "Shiro mokuren"
from higher girls' school, "I
graduating
entered the real world, there is nothing
1, p. 321).16
15The I923 essay titled "D?sei o aisuru saiwai" (The Happiness of Loving Another of the
Same Sex) was published in Akogare 0 shiru koro (The Time ofKnowing Longing), a collection of
Yoshiya's
shorter
writings
version
of
from
the
her
essay was
youth
I936 Shojo dokuhon (The Virgin Reader), a. collection
uses
Pflugfelder
16The
"."
be confused
(textual
latter
shorter
essay
(2005, pp. 164, 171, 186-87,
magazine
not
the
omission).
with
1?2). The
[Foreword],
pp.
in the
Mutual
Love)
(see Yoshiya
1923,
"Jobun"
as "Aishiau
kotodomo"
(About
published
(six-dotted
ellipsis)
". . ." (three spaced
in his
of Yoshiya's
discussion
and
cites
essays and short stories.
in a 1921
its publication
189).
in Yoshiya's
periods)
quotes
commonly
are
used
in the
actual
in citations
text
to
and
signify
should
ellipsis
WRITING
on
the
stories,
dysphoric
that must
be contained
These
phenomenon
one
hand,
within
accept
youth.
SAME-SEX LOVE
same-sex
love
as
a
educators
Contemporary
583
transitory
sex
and
characterized girlhood, especially adolescence, as a period of "danger"; due to
and emotional development,
such as menarche,
they considered girls to be
as
to
such
illnesses
(Numata
tuberculosis, hysteria, and depression
particularly prone
ologists
physical
the
1985, p. 186). By combining
221; Smith-Rosenberg
1916/1984,
pp. 67-68,
of adolescence, Flower Tales
notion of a terminal girlhood love with this understanding
tears reify
the girls' overflowing
imbues same-sex relationships with tragic melodrama;
represent nothing more
society's view that such excessive bursts of sentimentality
a
an
than
period. On the other hand,
ephemeral feeling within
specific developmental
these depictions of same-sex love are truly terminal in the sense that characters rarely
A number of critics
grow up in these stories, refusing to move on to heterosexuality.
have thus read the tragic endings in Flower Tales as a rejection of society's demands
into ry?sai kenbo (Good Wives, Wise Mothers), heterosexual women
for girls to mature
in service of patriarchy
Kami
(see Honda
1982/1992,
1976, p. 235;
pp. 202-217;
Kurosawa
1991, pp. 87-88).
Flower
Tales
mainstream
re-presents
simultaneously
love in youth while
about
assumptions
same-sex
of purity, innocence, and the "normal"
simplistic
romantic
transitory relationship. By reiterating acceptable views of the sentimental
en
masse
stories
mainstream
these
could
be
published
by
friendship,
publishers eager
to supply girl readers, a newly emergent consumer base for age/gender-specific
fiction.
At
the
allowing
same
time,
readers
Flower
however,
to
notions
resisting
see
same-sex
Tales
love
and
opens
up
resistant
in new
girlhood
modes
ways,
of
to
interpretation,
question
compul
and ideas about female adolescence. The narrative con
sory heterosexual development
tent (histoire) of these stories offers such possibilities
for resistance, not only through
the girls' nostalgia for their youth and refusal to grow up but also by the overwhelming
tragedies (death, suicide, disease) that are repeated in every story. This excessive dys
not as
phoria can be considered through Homi Bhabha's theorization of melancholia,
as
internal
resistance
but
for
subaltern
(or
passivity
through repetition
prohibition)
voices (see Bhabha 1992, pp. 65-66; Butler 1997, p. 190). The recurring tragic drama
of "normal" same-sex love, repeated in the serialized stories and book publications,
underscores
the
subversive
aspects
of
girlhood
and
highlights
the
oppressive
nature
of a society that demands compliance
through heterosexual maturity. This repetition
transforms same-sex love beyond a temporary phase and redefines this experience and
to
girlhood as key aspects of female identity. These stories enable girls and women
explore
alternative
ways
of
reading
such
relationships
without
overtly
transgressing
the boundaries of social acceptability. Yoshiya describes Flower Tales as a "bouquet,"
a special gift of love from author to reader that continually underscores the importance
"The many flowers
of girlhood
love; in book form, the dedicatory preface comments:
that bloom / in the dream of a young girl's days / that will never return, / these I
send to you, my beloveds" (Yoshiya 1975, vol. 1, p. 5).
The interplay of containment
and resistance, using purity and innocence while
these very notions, can also be seen in the discours, the literary style of
interrogating
Flower Tales. The narrative form Yoshiya employs here is known for its dense, baroque
construction
textual symbols such as
linked with modern
imagery and experimental
"( )," "!" and "?"It is a kind of hybrid writing,
"?," ".,"
freely mixing genbun
itchi tai (unified spoken/written
language style), bibunch? (ornate style), as well as
to create a distinct writing
identified
English
style that is even today immediately
with Yoshiya's girls' fiction. This kind of decorative, fluid style had already been used
we can see how Yoshiya, who
of the 1900s-10s;
by actual girls in girls' magazines
MICHIKO
584
SUZUKI
to these magazines
as a youth, developed
submitted vignettes
this as a kind
of girls' writing
Honda
(see
1982/1992,
1995, pp. 286
pp. 188-201; Nagai
style
88, 306-8).17
In examining
the dashes and six-dotted ellipses in particular, we find these textual
in Flower Tales. Here is an
and dialogue
used
symbols
liberally in both description
herself
from "Hamanadeshiko"
example of description
(Japanese Pink) in which Sakiko plays
the koto, a stringed instrument, with picks made from pink shells. These were a
a girl who was in love with her and now appears as a ghost
present from Masumi,
after having committed
suicide:
A
star
small
at a slant.the
fell
moment
autumn
the
of Japanese
pink
heard.Sakiko's
blossoms
wind
evening
suddenly turning inside out the sleeves of the beautiful
blew
in,
child at the koto.
on
scattered
the 13 strings.a
of the
far-off
sound
in their movement.
wavered
fingertips
as she
how
that her hands
held petals
of Japanese
strange
played.she
pinks
not tell which
were
in the soft night
could
the
front
the
of
petals.in
garden,
a
was Mas
wind
hair wet with
of autumn,
black
dew,
standing
shadowy
figure?it
the one who
had given
her the pink
shells?Sakiko's
left the instru
umi,
fingers
ment?Masumi?she
called
the name
of that shadowy
loudly
figure?.
was
waves
white
(Yoshiya 1975, vol. 1, p. 218)
is an example of usage in dialogue,
Next
from a scene in "Kibara" (Yellow Rose),
which Miss Katsuragi
tells her student Reiko about her admiration for Sappho:
"Miss
Reiko,
friend
of
a person
was
who
Sappho
same sex and was
betrayed
the
she was
by this girl,
of passionate
and disappeared
betrayed
fruitless
offerings
Rock
Leucadian
I, I love
Miss
too?she
Melitta,
amidst
took
herself
her
sad
into
the blue
the waves?Sappho,
heart,
to a beautiful
deeply?but
broken
from
ocean
from
the
the tragic
female
poet?
full
of dark
passion
her?."
Katsuragi,
thus,
speaking
Katsuragi!."
with
her quaking
that moment?a
bell
rang
these
At
the
threw
devotion,
sound,
two
shadows
red
out,
became
lips
in her
shining
faint
Reiko's
words
the
tears
had
".Miss
speak
her passionate
devotion
gave
. . . she loved her maid Melitta
in
voice
eyes,
shook,
barely
to
managing
like petals.
for a long while?enfolded
reverberating
by
one?
(Yoshiya 1975, vol. 1, pp. 228-29)
Such use of ellipses and dashes in Flower Tales has been read by Hiromi Tsuchiya
through the work of Julia Kristeva as a kind o? ?criturefeminine (Dol?ase 2003,
has analyzed this style as a
748). In another reading, Honda Masuko
pp. 731-32,
in
creative
the
chains
skills
of
of
(with flowers, shells,
representation
girls'
making
Dol?ase
in
beads, and yarn); in her view, this form is purely decorative, without meaning
rec
terms of actual content (Honda 1982/1992,
not
critics have
pp. 190-92). What
is the fact that these symbols were first used by proponents
of the genbun
ognized
writers whose goal was
itchi (unification of spoken and written
languages) movement,
to reproduce real speech or thought in their writing;
these authors often used such
17Yoshiya
began
submitting
prizes for her writing published
becoming
submitting
Yoshiya
a
to girls'
magazines
as
a
twelve-year-old,
winning
special
in Sh?jo sekai (Girls' World) and Sh?jokai (Girls' Realm). After
to these and other
contributor
literary magazines,
regular
as an amateur
to become
in 1914
(at age 18), determined
1976, vol. 12, pp. 548-50).
however,
a
professional
she
stopped
writer
(see
WRITING
SAME-SEX
LOVE
585
to show a break or shift in the flow of articulation or internal monologue
(Komori 1988/1994,
pp. 234-35;
Suga 1995, pp. 144-45). Yamada Bimy?, one such
was criticized as early as
author closely associated with the usage of new punctuation,
visual markers
overuse
the
for
1890
such
of
"mechanicals"
as
(kikai)
"?,"
"!,"
".,"
"?,"
and
it is beyond the scope of this article to consider
"( )" (Suga 1995, p. 143).18 Although
into the girls' writing
how such textual symbols came to be incorporated
style, we
should note the critical distinction
Hidemi
"?"and
makes
between
"."or
Suga
other kinds of punctuation marks, such as the Japanese version of the comma, period,
and quotation mark, not yet standardized during the 1890s. Suga argues that while
the comma, period, and quotation mark provided
logic as reading guides, the usage
and "?" as an attempt to reproduce real thought and speech could be
of "."
criticized because these marks often ended up having the opposite effect, distorting
in effect underscoring
the flow of the narrative and creating "discordance,"
the arti
text
Even
in
the
these
of
144-45).19
1995,
pp.
(Suga
early literary usages of
ficiality
"."
a sense of the inade
or
and "?," there is a projection
of
not)
(unwittingly
on
to
the
the
the
of
the fact
"real";
page highlight
quacy
express
language
symbols
that there is always something
that cannot be represented.
Gilles
notion
Deleuze's
of
that
language
"stutters,"
a narrative
that
embodies
the
the usage of
"silence," "the outside of language" is particularly useful in considering
such textual symbols in Flower Tales. A narrative that stutters is one that is able to
to create "a foreign language within
place language "in perpetual disequilibrium,"
"a
in
the
This
self
process of becoming."
syntax
through
language"
language
as
it
but
has
the
itself
greatest capacity for
reflexively presents
being inadequate,
a
to
sentence
ordered
it can, paradoxically,
because
perfectly
compared
signification
it cannot
articulate what
say (Deleuze 1997, pp. 111-13). This theoretical concept of
the textual form of Flower Tales as an encoding of girlhood and
narrative linking that occurs through the usage of "."
and
illuminates
stuttering
same-sex love. The
"?"
connotes
a
girlhood,
special
that
space
is circular,
closed,
and
separate
from
the
heterosexual world. At the same time, however,
the broken-off words and phrases
in
and
dashes
six-dotted
stable
(as opposed to the full, grammatically
ending
ellipses
not
in
the
these
have
stories
matured
and
sentence) imply incompleteness;
girls
fully
are
the
not
yet
vis-?-vis
complete
sentences
reinforces
itself,
girlhood
while
the
the
idea
of
trajectory
that
simultaneously
love
the
female
here
underscoring
The
growth.
open-endedness
as unfinished,
is as temporary,
as
a
syntax
coming-into-existence,
of
as
for interpreting girlhood
love.
suggesting multiple
possibilities
This expansion of meaning
textual
stuttering also allows for the signi
through
fication of silences, what cannot be said about this love. In the "Yellow Rose" excerpt
for example, the teacher explains her love for Sappho, but the six
quoted previously,
dotted ellipses and dashes suggest that the two female characters are actually talking
about their love for one another, encoding an unspeakable
emotion
into the silences
and spaces between the actual spoken words. Although
their love (as articulated)
is
"normal," innocent, and pure, the evocative textual symbols also open the possibility
for something beyond romantic friendship. While
of
showing the "incompleteness"
18Iwaya Daishi
Japan
(Iwaya
1981,
of such punctuation
claims
p.
that Yamada
181). Whether
was
or not
the
this
(seeMaeda and Hasegawa
first
writer
is accurate,
to use
Yamada
1990, pp. 100-101;
such
textual
is considered
in
symbols
an innovator
Suzuki 1996, p. 44).
as the
the illogic
of
Suga discusses
suggested
by these
symbols
representation
a work
in
Hirotsu
I
would
that because
these
underscore,
however,
femininity
by
Ry?r?.
were
in genbun-itchi
used
for both male
and female
be
symbols
speech
writing,
they cannot
19Here,
considered a priori to be linked to femininity or female identity.
MICHIKO
586
SUZUKI
these girls and their temporary love, these symbols expand possibilities
for the text
as a process of becoming
and inscribe the gaps in the fabric of the narrative; by
veneer of what
silence to break through the unblemished
is
allowing meaningful
to
these
textual
read
the
readers
surface
uttered,
actually
symbols challenge
beyond
of
text.20
the
content
uses and
and writing
style, Flower Tales simultaneously
same-sex
in
ideas
love
about
contemporary
sexological
youth, creating a
that
offers
space
multiple
interpretive possibilities.
By offering a diachronic
on female identity as a sequential process of growth, Flower Tales reiterates
In both narrative
challenges
subversive
perspective
the view that adolescent
same-sex love is normal and transitory, a beautiful experience
a
limited
for
only
period of time. At the same time, however, this best
also
work
destabilizes
this
and the
selling
reading through nostalgia, melancholia,
to
various
love
for
this
be
else,
syntax, suggesting
stuttering
something
possibilities
that endures beyond the limited space of school and girlhood.
something
that blossoms
and Same-Sex
Black Rose: Abnormality
Love
continued to write girls' fiction throughout the prewar
Although Yoshiya Nobuko
in
novels and stories for an older audience.
1920 she also began publishing
period,
no
hate made (To the Ends of the Earth, 1920), a story of a sister and brother, won
Chi
to break into
the prestigious
Osaka Asahi Shinbun fiction award, allowing Yoshiya
adult fiction. Also in 1920, she published Yaneura no nishojo (Two Virgins in theAttic,
this work featured a love relationship
1920); said to be based on her own experiences,
in a Tokyo dormitory
between two women
(see Yoshiya
1976, vol. 12, p. 552).21 Two
the conventions
of girls' fiction by celebrating a post
Virgins in the Attic challenged
style in a self-reflexive
higher girls' school love relationship and using girls' writing
manner. Yoshiya describes her works at this time as being written
in the serious style
of the pure-literature
(junbungaku) genre (Yoshiya 1976, vol. 12, pp. 552, 555).
In 1925, Yoshiya
launched her own private magazine with the title of Kurosh?bi
this
short stories, essays, and a
featured Yoshiya's
(Black Rose);
monthly
publication
to use this medium
to express herself
discussion
forum for her fans. Yoshiya wanted
in an independent manner. She explains in the inaugural issue that her goal is to "flee
the
from
evils
of
commercialism-based
own art, freely, purely,
20In discussing
pleteness
meaning
I am
typography,
presented
themselves.
(Yoshiya
strongly"
use
Yoshiya's
Virgins in the Attic,
contemporary
of
such
1925/2001,
in
typography
1920), Sarah Frederick (forthcoming)
the
by
typographic
in agreement
with
Frederick
but additional
interpretations
as a way
marks
that
are
there
also
and
magazines
for
is such
possible
to nurture
no. 1, pp. 67-68).22
novel
the
Yaneura
no
my
Black Rose
{Two
nishojo
interprets the silence and incom
readers
a
to fill
in and
the
complete
aspect
reader-response
in terms
For
of context.
to
reading of these textual symbols in Two Virgins in the Attic as an encoding of girlhood
same-sex
2002a).
viewed
love
and
In Suzuki
by
their
(2001),
contemporary
avoid
reads
22Yoshiya
explains
to name
decided
and
see Suzuki
in challenging
the genre
of girls'
(2001,
fiction,
are
as
the issue of girls'
the symbols
imagination,
analyzed
addressing
as a source
of danger.
educators
function
21Formore on this novel, seeYoshikawa
(2001).
but
this
another
that
she considered
it a panfuretto
(1995), Suzuki (2001, 2002a, 2002b), and Dol?ase
this a kojin zasshi (private magazine)
calling
it to more
this would
allow
easily
suggesting
no.
cover
of the magazine
1, p. 67). The
formally
(pamphlet),
1925/2001,
government
(Yoshiya
oversight
"
Kurosh?bi.
Nobuko
"Yoshiya
panfuretto
WRITING
SAME-SEX LOVE
587
was a radical work that featured stories and essays that criticized patriarchy and sexism;
the title Black Rose, not one of the flowers featured in Flower Tales, may be read as a
symbol of rebellion, an active embracing of the "darkness" and "negativity" that male
centered society associates with female identity (Kami 2001, pp. 10?11). The sub
too problematic
in fact, may have made its publication
versive stance of the magazine,
to continue long term; indeed, she abandoned publication
for Yoshiya
after only eight
issues (January-August
1925).
In the inaugural issue, which features a picture, Sappho under the sea, as the fron
tispiece, Yoshiya begins to serialize a story titled "Am orokashiki mono no hanashi"
(A Tale of a Certain Foolish Person). This work, continued
through all eight issues
a twenty-two-year-old
of Black Rose, tells the story of Akiko,
higher girls' school
in love with Kazuko, her nineteen-year-old
falls desperately
pupil. Akiko
a
to
in
with
that
she
has
fall
love
beautiful, young females (Yo
tendency
recognizes
no.
It
is
in the past, as a student in
that
3, pp. 36?38).
shiya 1925/2001,
explained
a teachers' school in Tokyo, Akiko had had a mutual
relationship with a dorm mate,
teacher, who
"sincere passionate
but this person (to save her own reputation) had betrayed Akiko's
love" (shinjitsu ichiro no netsuai) by reporting to the dorm mistress
that Akiko was
more
threats
than
[to her}, insistently demanding
something
"making
friendship"
no. 1, p. 10). This bitter experience makes Akiko determined
(Yoshiya 1925/2001,
to escape
attraction
the
she
feels
women.
toward
After
a teacher
becoming
in a remote
girls' school, however, she ends up falling in love again, this time with her student
Kazuko, who in turn has a crush on her.
"A Tale of a Certain Foolish Person" is not exactly a sequel to Two
Although
name (Takigawa
in
the
Attic, it is certainly no coincidence that the protagonist's
Virgins
a
on
same.
in
is
the
Attic
Two
the
ends
Akiko)
Virgins
celebratory note, highlighting
to
the lovers' promise to be together as they leave the attic rooms of their dormitory
enter into the world as a couple. Although
the novel does not show us the future of
"A Tale of a Certain Foolish Person" takes on this challenge by
such relationships,
same-sex love beyond the boundaries of
the
depicting
struggles inherent in pursuing
in
is
the
and
school.
This
fact,
story,
only work by Yoshiya to explicitly grapple
youth
with
the
issues
notion
associated
of
with
same-sex
"abnormal"
love,
such
as
sexual
orientation
and
inversion.23
at least on
In "A Tale of a Certain Foolish Person," the setting and the motifs,
the surface, are no different from the stories in Flower Tales. In particular,
the plot
a story of a student
shares close similarities with "Yellow Rose" quoted previously:
teacher romance that is curtailed when the student graduates
and her marriage
is
a
in
"A
and
Tale
Akiko
Kazuko's
Certain
of
Foolish
Person"
arranged.
relationship
takes place in a higher girls' school, and it is a teacher-student
friendship constructed
never
Akiko
her
love for Kazuko,
and
through platonic distance;
directly expresses
the extent of their relationship
is writing
letters and visiting each other. Despite
such
as
an
and
Akiko
self-identifies
abnormal
and
chas
female
innocence, however,
purity
tises herself for her love of women:
am
Why
of nature
23There
(abun?maru)
never be able to return
I this way?
to the true path
If I keep
this up, I will
no
as
as
an effort,
I
I really must
for
live.
make
I must
{shizen
hondo}
long
is only
to refer
one
Will Never Return), published
2003,
p.
a Certain
I am
instance
to same-sex
12). This
story does
Foolish
Person."
love
aware
in girls'
of
in which
fiction.
This
uses
Yoshiya
is in "Kaeranu
the word
hi"
abnormal
(The Day
That
in a 1927 collection of short stories with the same title (Yoshiya
not
deal
with
the
sexology-related
issues
intrinsic
to "A Tale
of
michiko
588
take
this
seriously
and
years
old? How
22
already
dreams
suzuki
na
["abnormal"
do
it. [She admonishes
about
something
to
long are you going
keep dreaming
Aren't
herself:]
you
"abnormal"
strange
yum?]?
(Yoshiya 1925/2001,
no. 1, p. 21)
"Abnormal" iswritten out in English here, echoing sexological texts such as Havelock
that attempt to identify and distinguish
Ellis's "Sexual Inversion inWomen"
between
and
"normal"
"abnormal"
same-sex
love.
Ellis
notes
that most
love
be
relationships
tween girls are part of a "normal instinct" (n?maru no honno) even when they involve
"mutual touching and kissing." While
love relationships as being
depicting postschool
in a
somewhat
area,
grey
however,
he
suggests
that
for
the
"truly
inverted
woman"
trace of mascu
(hont? ni sei no tent? shita onnd) who exhibits "amore or less distinct
to
women
men
can
her
attraction
and
of
"sexual ab
be
considered
rejection
linity,"
Ellis
1914, pp. 7, 12, 13, 15, 16, 1897/1942,
pp. 216, 219,
normality" (seiteki hentai;
222).24
identifies
Akiko
in love (ren'ai) with
herself as being "abnormal" in this way because she always falls
someone of the same sex and has never felt any interest in men
no. 1, pp. 18-22).
as "an
She describes her love for women
(Yoshiya 1925/2001,
unnatural passion" (hanshizen no j?netsu) but notes that, for her, to force herself to love
men would be "even more unnatural" (Yoshiya 1925/2001,
no. 1, p. 21). Akiko tries
to override the natural/unnatural,
divide and defend same-sex love
normal/abnormal
the different paths of life for a woman: "It cannot be denied that mutual
by discussing
love is the primary true way of humanity
male-female
(jinrui no daiichi no hondo). But
there must also be a secondary path (daini no michi); is this not a path that should be
allowed for the small number who walk the way of same-sex love?" (Yoshiya 1925/
2001, no. l,p. 23)
is not a stereotype of the evil invert, feared for her promiscuity
Akiko
and power
to tempt and corrupt the innocent. Rather, she is reluctant to become close to Kazuko
because she does not want to involve her in this difficult
"secondary path" (Yoshiya
no. 2, p. 28). By presenting Akiko's
in this way, the text
1925/2001,
"abnormality"
creates
someone
for
her
Akiko
is
whose
sexual orientation
desires;
actually
legitimacy
is permanent and congenital, not a "decadent" choice. Similar to The Well of Loneliness,
in 1928, "A Tale of a
the classic British lesbian novel by Radclyffe Hall published
as possessing an innate state
Certain Foolish Person" chooses to depict the protagonist
in terms of abnormality,
that cannot be altered. By discussing Akiko
therefore, this
to
The
her
Well
"scientific"
character, demanding
story (like
validity
ofLoneliness), gives
and acceptance for her natural state in loving another female (see Hall
recognition
Vicinus
1993, pp. 445-46; Halberstam
1998, pp. 75-110).
it
may be difficult for us now to accept the use of the term abnormality
Although
same-sex love, historian Lillian Faderman notes that such sexological
to authenticate
women
in the West;
discourse was liberating for many early twentieth-century
by
1928/1990;
this validation of difference,
they were able to reject normative maturity
embracing
into heterosexuality
and marriage
Edward Carpenter
(Faderman 1992, pp. 57-61).
inWomen"
24In the abridged
of "Sexual
Inversion
translation
Japanese
no d?sei
Love Between
ren'ai"
(Same-Sex
Females,
1914),
"Joseikan
stocking,
mal are
frequently
written
in the phonetic
syllabary
(katakana)
as n?maru
published
normal
and
in Blue
and abnor
abun?maru.
The
first time the word hentai is used, the provided phonetic guide (furigana) is abun?maritii (Ellis
1914, p. 2).
In
and
the
"seiteki
original
hentai"
ni sei no
"hont?
English,
is "sexual perversion."
tent?
shita
onna"
is "actively
inverted
woman"
WRITING
SAME-SEX LOVE
589
towards
explains in The Intermediate Sex (1908) that in earlier studies, "love-sentiment
or disease," but with
one of the same sex was always associated with degeneracy
in sexology, this idea has been rejected. He says that "sexual inversion"
developments
is "in a vast number of cases quite instinctive and congenital" and is not associated
. . . nor with any distinct
or malformation
with "any particular physical conformation
Ellis in calling this phenomenon
of body or mind" and quotes Havelock
one
or
those
aberrations
of
variation,
organic
{y?kiteki hentai) which we
'sport'
nature
in
in
animals"
and
pp.
(Carpenter 1908/1930,
throughout
living
plants
and
Ward
1919,
206,
207,
209, 211). Akiko defers to
57,
55,
61;
pp.
Carpenter
but she demands an acceptance of same-sex love by
primacy of heterosexuality,
disease
"a
see
54,
the
de
a
"A
the
Tale
of
Certain
the
of
Foolish
Person"
validity
"secondary path."
fending
as something
that is not a choice but an
addresses the issue of sexual orientation
a
at this
view
that
intrinsic part of individual
sexologists were presenting
identity,
time.
In articulating
such a position, Yoshiya's
story takes great risks. By introducing
in a teacher-student
it disturbs
the
love relationship,
the concept of abnormality
common trope of the innocent female bond, especially the idea of an older, maternal
mentor
figure
who
nurtures,
rather
than
preys
a younger
upon,
female.
Thus,
even
in
a private publication,
the story is careful to suppress the two taboo factors associated
with adult same-sex love: sex and masculinity.
Akiko denies the possibility
of sexuality
to
in female-female
it
is
have
"Of
course,
love, commenting,
any 'Sexual
impossible
connection' between those of the same sex," and argues that love can exist without
no. 1, p. 22).25 Yet at the same time, Akiko uses
any physicality
(Yoshiya 1925/2001,
words such as "lust" (j?yoku) and "illicit desire" (hikage no aiyoku) to describe her
that there are real sexual feelings but that they can be
suppressed emotions, hinting
no. 2, pp. 22, 28).
in
negative, derogatory terms (Yoshiya 1925/2001,
expressed only
In contrast to Stephen Gordon,
in The Well of Loneliness,
the female protagonist
Akiko does not exhibit masculine
features, or dress in male clothes. The concept of
the "mannish lesbian" had already been developed as a "new medico-sexual
category"
in Psychopathia Sexualis (Smith-Rosenberg
by sexologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing
1985, p. 272). As Ellis suggests, however, the idea of inversion was a complex one
and acting like aman. Ellis (who
that could not simply be identified by cross-dressing
did not invent the term inversion but developed notable theories about the concept)
a "part of an organic instinct"
stresses that inversion is recognized by "masculinity,"
that the invert "by no means always wishes to accentuate" (Ellis 1914, p. 15, 1897/
true inverts and the "mannish woman"
between
1942, p. 222). Ellis distinguishes
the latter's imitation of men is usually only
(otoko onna) who is actually heterosexual;
a matter
of
"taste
and
habit"
or
the
result
of her
"love
for
a man,"
which
leads
to
the
simulation of her beloved (Ellis 1914, pp. 15, 16, 1897/1942,
pp. 222, 245). The
on the other hand, is a kind of internal reality that may or may
invert's masculinity,
not
be
accompanied
This
gender,
by
outer
accoutrements,
idea of "true" inversion
is particularly
important
such
as dress
and
demeanor.26
as well as the notion of a "true"
and masculinity,
in "A Tale of a Certain Foolish Person" because it
in English.
23"Sexual
is written
connection"
in the issue of internal
In discussing
is also interested
and
both male
reality.
26Carpenter
that the "extreme
he suggests
female
their
manifest
(those who
inverts,
specimens"
visibly
are
in terms of outward
traits to an extreme
inverted
and behavior)
appearance
degree
actually
rare and that "for the most
in question
the
is embodied
nature]
part
temperament
[homogenic
in men
and women
30-31; Ward
of quite
and Carpenter
normal
and
unsensational
1919, pp. 186, 188).
exterior"
(Carpenter
1908/1930,
pp.
MICHIKO
590
SUZUKI
and
employs
simultaneously
such
interrogates
term
the
As
concepts.
sexology-driven
of an inverted gender)
sexologists was to understand
implies, one of the projects for early
the relationship between an authentic
The notion of a true self or true gender,
inversion (and the notion
twentieth-century
internal identity and its outward expression.
is actually highly precarious; as Judith Butler has famously noted, "there is
however,
no gender identity behind the expressions of gender" (Butler 1990, p. 25). By ex
"A Tale of
amining the female self as multilayered
through a synchronie perspective,
a Certain Foolish Person" highlights
the gender performances
enabled by language.
The literary style in this story is different from Flower Tales; girls' writing
is not
used at all, and the narrative, despite seeming simple on the surface, is extremely self
conscious.
Akiko
in a self-aware
language
employs
manner,
always
of how
cognizant
it enables
In challenging
the school principal's
for
gender performance.
authority,
a
in
she
feminine
the
of
manner, using
very
example,
speaks
teyo-dawa style
speech
(teyo dawa kotoba), also known as female student speech (jogakusei kotoba).27 Akiko herself
explains that this spoken style exudes a "sense of action, composure, and cheerfulness"
no. 1,
and has been a boon for contemporary Japanese women
(Yoshiya 1925/2001,
p. 16). While
and femininity
the principal
strategically disarming
through the outward innocence
her
internal
of
is filled with aggressive words
speech, Akiko's
dialogue
associated with male speech, such as "you fool" (baka me) and "what the hell" (nandai;
no. 1, p. 17). She also uses masculine
1925/2001,
Yoshiya
language in her thoughts
to
explain
she
why
to
refuses
in
participate
voices
This
protest.
of
could,
course,
be
exercises:
school
mandatory
as one
interpreted
way
that
the power of male
society,
language to challenge male-centered
the possibility
of being openly assertive and
femininity
precludes
never says these thoughts aloud but only articulates them silently
the inappropriateness
underscores
of such language for a woman of
status
educational
but
at
the
same
time
an
shows
"It's
embar
no. 1, p. 12). Indeed, such masculine
erupts in the narrative when Akiko
1925/2001,
rassing" (Kimariga waruiya; Yoshiya
language, never seen in Flower Tales, frequently
internal
rebellion
women
co-opt
especially because
rebellious. Akiko
in her mind;
this
her age, class, and
can
that
be
pre
sented on the page, if not in actual speech.
use and suppression
The simultaneous
of masculine
(nonvocalization)
language,
more
is
than
however,
just a symbol of rebellion. It also connotes a part of Akiko's
identity, her inverted nature that must be kept hidden. I do not mean to suggest that
own beliefs, that she accepted the
this should be interpreted as evidence of Yoshiya's
idea of the invert's inner true self as being essentially masculine. What
she does here
should be read as a tactical borrowing of sexological
"truths" about the "abnormal"
Akiko's
woman;
"abnormality"
not
is expressed,
through
or demeanor,
cross-dressing
but through language, which supposedly reflects an individual's
inner, "organic" re
text
that
in
the
The
is
thus
masculine
becomes a kind of
ality.
language
suppressed
to
to
with
the
notion
inversion
alert
familiar
of
erased dif
readers
Akiko's
signpost
ference.
seem that highlighting
in language in such a
and femininity
masculinity
to
the reinscription
and essentializing
of the gender divide, but, in this
way leads
story, the shifts between gendered
language as well as its irruption and suppression
and disturb the schema. Masculine
actually work to problematize
language here is
not simply a tool to signify "unfeminine" rebellion or "masculine" inversion. In fact,
It may
27For a study
of teyo-dawa
speech
(female
student
in meaning, and significance within modernity,
(1990, pp. 107-34).
speech),
its historical
and
see Inoue (2006, pp. 37-159)
cultural
shifts
and Honda
WRITING
SAME-SEX LOVE
591
sexologists who base their arguments on the notion of "real" interiority, Yo
In early genbun-itchi
shiya's discours shows how language enables gender performance.
that explored different kinds of literary narration, usage of the polite-form
writings
sentence endings (desu/masu in the present tense and deshita/mashita
in the past tense)
was extremely popular.28 Yet itwas the plain-form endings (da and dearu in the present
unlike
became the standard for
tense; datta and deatta in the past tense) that ultimately
this change, Suga argues that such polite-form
end
literary narration. In explaining
as
were
too
too
and
with
feminine
associated
female
ings
closely
being
perceived
speech
to become the mainstream mode of narration, whereas the plain form
and/or writing
or male-associated
(as the masculine
endings) could more easily present gender-neutral
narration (Suga 1995, pp. 132-33,
170-73).29 Most of "A Tale of a Certain Foolish
Person" is narrated in this plain-form
style, but, in the last two installments, Yoshiya
a
to
(desu/masu and deshita/mashita) nar
changes
suddenly
predominantly
polite-form
ration, apologizing
directly to her readers for this shift using mashita and the polite
. . . [from now on} be in the narrative
feminine ending mase: "This story will
style of
Takigawa Akiko's own words. Please forgive this author's selfishness that stems from
no. 7, p. 29).30
(Yoshiya 1925/2001,
to say that the polite form is inherently a feminine
it
would
be
incorrect
Although
or spoken style, the sudden shift in narrative format self
form, either in written
that its usage is integral to Akiko's
textual performance
of
reflexively demonstrates
to
note
It
in
is
that
stories
and
children's
the
important
femininity.
girls' fiction,
polite form is often used; in Flower Tales, the girl narrator always uses the polite form
when the stories are in the first person, and this form is also used in direct speech,
often in conjunction with feminine sentence endings (no, yo, ne, wa, etc.). Although
it is impossible to know exactly why Yoshiya decided to change the narration style
at this juncture in "A Tale of a Certain Foolish Person," the adoption of sentence
her feelings"
found in girls' fiction can be read as an attempt to sanitize the characters'
as an extension of girlhood
to say, however, this shift to
love. Needless
relationship
not
does
form
enhance
Akiko's
but
rather
the very pro
polite
femininity
questions
to
duction and signification of femininity,
need
Akiko's
underscoring
constantly per
form gender and "pass" in society. The jarring effect of the switch alerts readers to
as well as to their textual encoding
the issue of gender performance
and masquerade
in previous
installments
of the story. The polite form superficially
reinserts Akiko
into the innocent world of girlhood and reestablishes her role as a proper, feminine
endings
28The
first
author
to use
this
form
was
of narration
Yamada
later
Bimy?;
notably employed by female authors during the second decade of the Meiji
1896; Suga 1995, p. 170).
29Suga's
sweeping
interpretation
the "suppression/oppression
For
a
critique
endings with
not
of Suga's
of
of femininity
approach,
see Kano
the
emergence
of Japanese
"vernacularism"
in language" is problematic
(2005,
pp.
537-43).
The
it was
most
Period (1887?
through
(Suga 1995, p. 171).
association
oidesulmasu
the feminine or female, however, is (in terms of linguistics and sociolinguistics)
an uncommon
practice.
Strictly speaking, there is a difference between daldatta and dearuldeatta in genbun-itchi
are considered
I do not discuss
both
form.
other polite-form
although
plain
endings
are
not
and de gozarimasu,
such as de arimasu
in this story. For more
because
used
here,
they
on these forms
see
to
in relation
(1995,
pp. 39-56).
Suga
genbun-itchi,
nar
30In the last two
the narrative
is first person,
with
Akiko
installments,
perspective
as if she were
in polite
the story
to the audience.
form
is in
This
rating
directly
speaking
contrast
to the first
six sections
of the text, which
take a third-person
mostly
perspective,
like many
modern
there are some moments
in which
the
texts,
although,
Japanese
literary
narrator
are fused.
and the protagonist
writing,
MICHIKO
592
schoolteacher.
ration, Akiko
its
tragic
SUZUKI
As a woman who has shown
must silence herself through
too much masculinity
in speech and nar
as the plot draws to
textual masquerade
conclusion.
father insinuates that Akiko has made Kazuko
Kazuko's
lovesick (koi wazurai)
due to her excessive "worship" of her teacher, and he sarcastically calls Akiko a "female
hero" (onna no g?ketsu), a subtle inference that she is an invert (Yoshiya 1925/2001,
no. 8, p. 45). Akiko
cannot continue,
realizes that her relationship with Kazuko
in
is
because
Kazuko's
the
of
process
especially
family
already
arranging her marriage.
to be
that
she
and
"a
Akiko
Kazuko
share
recognizes
Although
feeling impossible
.
.
to
must
town
akin
decides
that
she
leave
Akiko
forever
articulated,.
love,"
(Yoshiya
no. 8, p. 57). Were
this story one of the Flower Tales, it would doubtless
1925/2001,
have ended in a typically melancholic,
romantic fashion, the two parting due to
and Akiko's return to Tokyo. Here, however, in stark contrast, the
is severed in an extremely violent,
relationship
shocking way. A few days
on a nearby road, victimized
is found raped and murdered
after graduation, Kazuko
apparently by a passing carriage driver.31 On hearing this news, Akiko faints, and as
she falls, she hears a burst of laughter and a voice calling, "Thou foolish one!" (Nanji
orokashiki mono yo!; Yoshiya
1925/ 2001, no. 8, p. 64). This condemning
voice, the
seems
to
the
the
of
the
voice
of
address
of
"thou"
line
be
God,
story,
(nanji)
closing
Kazuko's
marriage
women's
indicative
of biblical
language.
Although Yoshiya was not herself a Christian, she used Christian motifs (churches,
in Flower Tales to provide an exotic, Westernized
the Virgin)
flavor
nuns, missionaries,
to the girls' romance and highlight
the pure, innocent nature of their relationships
(Honda 1982/1992,
pp. 207?12). Yet in this story, similar to Two Virgins in theAttic,
the Christian God becomes a figure that stands in the way of female same-sex love.32
can read the outcome here as God's punishment
of Akiko and Kazuko for their
in
the
Akiko expresses herself in
desiring
"secondary path." Although
abnormality
with
the
associated
masculine
forms
of speech, in the end, she
power
ternally through
is defeated by both male authority (the Father) and male violence. Yet the ending can
also be read as a critique of a society that allows such a tragedy to occur. On that fatal
evening, Kazuko had intimated that she would visit Akiko's home, and the two had
walked from school together. At the last moment,
however, Kazuko had changed her
lets her go,
mind because her family had forbidden her to visit her teacher; Akiko
a
meets
as
Kazuko
her
death
home
alone.
From
this
result,
and,
perspective,
walking
the story can be interpreted as an indictment
of social prejudices
against same-sex
We
the "foolish person" of the title, for loving another
ending silences Akiko,
same
at
the
the
voice can also be read as a chastisement
of Akiko
time,
female, but,
for not actively insisting that she will walk with Kazuko on the symbolic "secondary
the persistent
her own "foolishness,"
path." Could this be Akiko's voice criticizing
with
its
normative
ambivalent
of
This
story,
ending,
sexuality?
eloquently
masquerade
and censure.
speaks of the need to challenge discrimination
ceased to explore such "abnormal"
With
the cancellation
of Black Rose, Yoshiya
love. The
same-sex love in her writing.
a protagonist
named Akiko,
31The
dialogue:
in Black Rose feature
of other stories published
comments
of
the
from
readers, many seem
judging
A number
and,
from the (presumably)
rape can be inferred
"the police
says she has been.ed"
self-censored
(keisatsu
text
dewa.sareteirutte
Yoshiya 1925/2001, no. 8, p. 64).
32For an analysis of Akiko and her lover's rejection of Christianity
Attic, see Suzuki (2002a, pp. 45-50).
that
explains
through
iundesutte,
in Two Virgins in the
WRITING
SAME-SEX LOVE
593
own experiences
to have viewed these works as a reflection of Yoshiya's
(see Yoshiya
no.
In
1925/2001,
6, p. 55).
interpreting characters named Akiko as Yoshiya herself,
these fans read such texts as I-novels (watakushi sh?setsu; shish?setsu), a prominent genre
of modern Japanese literature in which the author writes about "his or her personal
life in a thin guise of fiction" (Suzuki 1996, p. 1). Even the term abnormal becomes a
one Black Rose fan calls Yoshiya
for Yoshiya;
"abnormal, yet completely
descriptive
pure and innocent" (abun?maru na, daga akumademo junketsu muk?), and another iden
of normal love?particu
tifies Yoshiya's
"praise of 'same-sex love' and denunciation
larly marriage" as a result of her "abnormal feelings" (abun?maru na okokoromoch?), "a
no. 4, p. 52, no. 7, p. 59).
characteristic
[she] was born with" (Yoshiya 1925/2001,
an
to
writer
who would begin
live with her female partner the
As
unmarried
to stop writing
about adult
year, it was probably necessary for Yoshiya
following
a
to
In "A Tale of Certain Foolish Person," ideas
protect her position.
"abnormality"
such as inversion and masculinity
provide a subtle and complex means of discussing
same-sex
the legitimacy of this love and highlights
issues
love; the text articulates
voiced through layers of silence, this work
surrounding gender performance. Although
of adult same-sex love as something
presents a poignant depiction
legitimate, per
manent,
and
Pure Wives
deserving
of
acceptance.
and Sisters: Reconfiguring
Same-Sex
Love
and styles, she used contem
texts, reiterating mainstream
deficiencies
of this scientific
relationships. The range of
enabled her to strategically
in girls' fiction or in a private mag
voice the silence surrounding
this love, whether
azine. After "A Tale of a Certain Foolish Person," however, Yoshiya
took a different
same-sex love in adult fiction; she renegotiated
tack in re-presenting
the parameters
a
it
into
of the romantic friendship,
sisterhood
transforming
compatible with heter
As Yoshiya worked through different literary genres
porary sexological ideas to articulate same-sex love in her
out the
assumptions while at the same time pointing
in understanding
the "truth" of female-female
discourse
"normality" and "abnormality" ascribed to female ties
osexuality.
to write girls' fiction in which same-sex love flourishes
she continued
Although
as "normalcy," Yoshiya began to cultivate an adult female audience by writing fiction
It has been noted that with the abandonment
for popular women's magazines.
of the
from the
style, her works became more popular in nature, particularly
pure-literature
mid to late 1920s (Yoshiya 1976, vol. 12, p. 555). In such serialized popular fiction,
as a pure and permanent
love between women
bond that can be
Yoshiya
depicts
life cycle. Just asmale-male
love in literature is often
articulated through homosociality,
female same-sex love can be expressed as a sister
hood that endures despite experiences of marriage
and motherhood
(see Sedgwick
1985, 1990).
In works such as Arashi no bara (The Rose in the Storm, 1930?31),
the extremely
successful Onna no y?j? (Female Friendship, 1933-34),
and Zoku onna no y?j? (Female
sustained
throughout
the female
1935), female protagonists
experience personal growth through
and disappoint
divorce, and other domestic matters. Hardships
for all these women,
is the
sisterhood
by female friendships;
same-sex love in this way, Yoshiya
in their lives. By rewriting
central sustenance
creates a new model of normalcy for female identity. She rejects the common prejudice
that female friendships do not last and reconfigures
"pure" same-sex love as an ad
Friendship Continued,
childbirth,
marriage,
are overcome
ments
SUZUKI
MICHIKO
594
characteristic of the adult female. In the heterosexual world of her popular
adult fiction, the notion of abnormality
is erased, even as the novels underscore
the
women.
the
between
of
love
primacy
The Rose in the Storm, a work serialized in the widely
circulated Shufu no tomo
an
(Friend of theHousewife), provides such
example. Mioko, who is suffering from an
unhappy marriage and the death of an infant daughter, goes to live with Fujiko and
mirable
her family; Fujiko is her closest friend from girls' school. While Mioko
lives with
them, she and Fujiko's husband fall in love with each other. Mioko,
however, ulti
turns the husband down to be true to Fujiko, who is "like a younger sister
mately
their happy schoolgirl days, Mioko pledges faith to their friendship
(im?to)" Recalling
and vows
never betray Fujiko: "If I ever?betray
you, my kind, only
that I love so dearly?if
such a time should ever come, I
(Yoshiya 1975, vol. 3, p. 508). In the final scene of the novel, we
that she will
in the whole
friend
world
will kill myself
see Mioko
leaving Fujiko and her family to remain true to her promise; the husband
is set off to the side while the narrative focuses on the two women bidding each other
in the snow, Mioko
leans out from the
farewell. As Fujiko runs along the platform
narrator
to
comments
train
hold
hand
that though they
her
the
tightly;
departing
will not see each other again on earth, they will be together again in heaven.
is not attained through the consummation
love. This
of heterosexual
Happiness
own
not
is
this
also
the
that
home
but
fact
Mioko's
only by
by
brought
ending
point
a
source
of pain and suffering. Although
love-based marriage has been nothing but
to her artist husband who lives abroad remains intact and Fujiko's
marriage
are
in Yoshiya's
ties
like other protagonists
adult
these women,
strengthened,
family
true
in
nurtured
attain
love
"those
sisterhood,
fiction,
pure
through
originally
popular
a
vol.
and
of
sin"
of
508).
3,
p.
ignorant
(Yoshiya 1975,
days
being
virgin?unsullied
and Fujiko regain purity and
past, Mioko
By revisiting their shared preheterosexual
Mioko's
innocence, values that bolster and sustain what Adrienne Rich calls the lesbian contin
uum (Rich 1980, p. 648).33 The "pure" wives
in these stories present an acceptable
form
of
female
same-sex
love
that
can
be
sustained
all women.
by
a popular fiction writer, Yoshiya
love or
adolescent
abandons melodramatic
as
in
orientation
themes
her
she
relies
instead
with
central
the struggle
sexual
works;
on the motif of female friendships that function, at least on the surface, to strengthen
As
can
ties and "family values." Just as Rich's idea of the lesbian continuum
in this
the notion of the lesbian, Yoshiya's writing
be criticized for overly expanding
genre may be read in a negative light, not only for its reinscription of accepted social
structures but also for diffusing
the meaning
of same-sex love. Yet her tactic of pop
not
as
is
female
this
love
friendship
simply a silencing but an effective
ularizing
heterosexual
that allows her to continue to explore various aspects of and pos
political maneuver
such as Flower
sibilities for same-sex love and female identity. In her early works,
same-sex
love
and teaches
"truth"
the
of
Tales and Black Rose, Yoshiya
re-presents
text.
to
This paves the way for depictions
readers how
read beyond the surface of the
love in her later novels, where it is reconfigured not only as a normative
but also as a love of primary importance, able to speak of the silence
the lines.
of same-sex
virtue
female
between
33Rich
that
along
female
the
argues
for
the
similarities
and
other
friendships
same continuum.
close
of various
relationships,
kinds
of
"love"
including
between
romantic
women
relationships,
and
claims
all exist
WRITING
SAME-SEX LOVE
595
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