Bishōnen
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Bishōnen (美少年? also transliterated bishounen ), is a Japanese term literally meaning "beautiful youth." It describes an aesthetic widely shared in Asia—a young man whose beauty (and sexual appeal) transcends the boundary of sex. Recently, it has shown strongest manifestation in Japanese pop culture, but it has roots in ancient Japanese literature, the homosocial and homoerotic ideals of the medieval Chinese imperial court and intellectuals, and Indian aesthetic concepts carried over from Hinduism, imported with Buddhism to China.
Today, bishōnen is very popular among girls in Japan. Reasons for this social phenomenon may include the unique male and female social relationships found within the genre. Some have theorized that bishōnen provides a non-traditional outlet for gender relations. Moreover, it breaks down stereotypes surrounding effeminate male characters. These are often depicted with very strong martial arts abilities, sports talent, high intelligence, or comedic flair, traits that are usually assigned to the hero/protagonist. In some cases bishōnen are depicted with either outright homosexual content or some level of sexual ambiguity in their relationships and sexual identity, though most are depicted as exclusively heterosexual.
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[edit] Origin
The prefix bi (美) specifically refers to feminine beauty, and bijin, literally "beautiful person", is used to refer to a beautiful woman. The bishōnen is typically slender, with a tapered chin, stylish hair, and distinctly feminine facial features, but simultaneously retains a male body. (His androgynous appearance is akin to the depiction of angels in Western renaissance art, with similar social roots for this aesthetic.) Biseinen is to be distinguished from this term as 'seinen' is used to describe men who are appoximately 'of-age', which is usually those who have entered tertiary education or older young males but not married. The term 'shounen' is used to describe those who are in high school or of like age. Also, bishota refers to a beautiful, pre-pubescent male child or a child like male, either of the age when one attends primary school or that his appearance is childish. These terms do not appear in Japanese, but are conjunctions created by Western fans from Japanese loan-words. In the west, bishōnen is the most popular of the three terms, and has become the generic term for all beautiful boys and young men.
The aesthetic of the bishonen is first recorded in Lady Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji, written in about the year 1000 A.D. Genji concerns the exploits and romances of a young prince, the son of an emperor and beloved concubine, who is not in line to inherit the throne, and follows his intrigues through the court as he comes of age. It is a classic novel, typifying the Heian age of Japanese history - a period when culture's obsession with romance, and a sense of refined aesthetics pervaded society. Prince Genji's beauty is described as transcendental, so much so that "one could have wished him a woman", with a bewitching attraction that is acknowledged by men and women alike; however, with one brief, comical exception, Genji's sexuality is only manifested towards women.
The aesthetic of the bishōnen began as an ideal of a young homosexual lover, likely arising from the effeminate male actors who played female characters in Kabuki theater. It is perpetuated today in anime and manga, especially shōjo manga and anime, shōnen-ai, and yaoi.
[edit] Usage
Some western anime and manga fans use the term to refer to any handsome male character regardless of age, or any homosexual character. In the original Japanese, however, "bishōnen" applies only to boys under 18. For those older, the word "biseinen" or "bidanshi", literally "handsome man" is used. In the place of bishōnen, some fans prefer to use the slightly more sexually neutral bishie (also rarely spelled as bishi) or bijin, but these terms remain less common. The term binanshi was popular in the 1980s. Bishōnen is occasionally used to describe some androgynous female characters (such as Lady Oscar in The Rose of Versailles, Karou no Kimi and Hana no Saint Juste in Oniisama e), Integra from Hellsing or any women with traits stereotypical to bishōnen.
Bishōnen is sometimes also depicted as an anime or manga character that is drawn as if a female, but has male components. This would make it easier for the artist to create a feminine male, rather than drawing a male character regularly.
