Table of contents

Introduction                                

Chapter 1: “A Portrait of Young Sangorō” [Shōnen sugata] by Yamada Bimyō (1886)
translated by Nick Albertson

Chapter 2: “The Little Historian” [Shō rekishika] by Nishimura Suimu (1907)
translated by Kristin Sivak and Chelsea Bernard

Chapter 3: “Is This Love?” [Ai ka] by Yi Kwangsu (1909)
translated by Janet Poole

Chapter 4: “Whistle” [Kuchibue], by Orikuchi Shinobu (1914)
translated by Joseph Boxman

Chapter 5: Three Stories by Inagaki Taruho
translated by Jeffrey Angles

"Karl and the White Lamp"
[Kāru to shiroi dentō]
[1924, revised 1954]

"Pince-Nez Glasses"
[Hana megane]
[1924, revised 1969]

"The False Mustache"
[Tsukihige]
[1924, revised 1969]

Chapter 6: Two essays by Hamao Shirō (1930)
translated by Steve Dodd

“Thoughts on Homosexuality”
[Dōseiai kō]

“More Thoughts on Homosexuality”
[Futatabi dōseiai ni tsuite]

Chapter 7: “Squalid Alleyways” [Rōkō] by Kataoka Teppei (1934)
translated by Mio Akasako and Amanda Seaman

Chapter 8: Selected Tanka from Haku'u and Tomo no sho by Kasugai Ken (1960)
translated by Scott Mehl

Chapter 9: “Worse for Love” [Ai no shōkei], by “Sakakiyama Tamotsu” (Mishima Yukio) (1960)
translated by Sam Bett

Chapter 10: “I Am Not Going on Sunday” [Nichiyōbi ni wa boku wa ikanai] by Mori Mari (1961)
translated by Bob Tierney

Chapter 11: “Sacred Headland” from Sacred Triangle (Seisan kakukei) by Takahashi Mutsuo (1972)
translated by Paul McCarthy

Chapter 12: “Red Palm Leaves” [Ai no yashi no ha], by Medoruma Shun (1992)
translated by Davinder Bhowmik

Chapter 13: Selections from Gay Poems [Gei poemuzu] by Tanaka Atsusuke (2014)
translated by Jeffrey Angles

Chapter 14: “The Story of a Strange Belly” [Kifukutan] by Fukushima Jirō (2005)
translated by Bruce Suttmeier

Chapter 15: “Time Differences” [Jisa] by Tawada Yōko (2006)
translated by Jeffrey Angles

Chapter 16: “The Playroom” [Mikkusu rūmu], by Morii Ryō (2014)
translated by Stephen D. Miller

Acknowledgements

List of Contributors

Description

Queer Subjects in Modern Japanese Literature: Male Love, Erotics, and Intimacy, 1886–2014 is an anthology of translated Japanese literature about men behaving lovingly, erotically, and intimately with other men. Covering more than 125 years of modern and contemporary Japanese history, this book aims to introduce a diverse array of authors to an English-speaking audience and provide further context for their works. While no anthology can comprehensively represent queer Japanese literature, these selections nonetheless expand our understanding of queerness in Japanese culture.

Stephen D. Miller is Associate Professor of Japanese at University of Massachusetts Amherst.

“In Queer Subjects, Stephen Miller has collected an impressive array of works that cross a wide range of historical periods, genres, and subject matters. The diverse translations offer English language readers the possibility to explore depictions of male same-sex desire and relationships in Japan over the last 130 years. The volume also provides a window into the social stigma with which queer folk have lived in the modern era.”
—Michele M. Mason, University of Maryland

- Michele M. Mason

"Whether you are looking for literature to accompany a morning cup of coffee, an academic seeking a text for a course on sexuality, or desire an introduction to modern Japanese literature that eschews most of the “canonical” authors, Queer Subjects should be on your shortlist of possibilities."
World Literature Today

- Erik R. Lofgren