Joseph Hawkins: Joseph Hawkins is a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at the University of Southern California. He is currently writing his dissertation on homosexuality in Japan, based on his fieldwork investigations during several years of living in Japan.
ABSTRACT: PARTINGS AT DAWN is a brilliant collection of literature on gay themes covering eight hundred years of Japanese culture—from 1200 to the last decade of the 20th century. It includes medieval stories such as “The Tale of Genmu” and “The Kannon's Manifestation as a Youth”- how a Buddhist Bodhisattva gives his blessing to a gay relationship. The renowned 17th century writer Ihara Saikaku is well represented with his stories of samurai and actors and their boyloves. The amazing 17th century collection “Wild Azaleas” (the world's premiere anthology of stories and poems) is presented here for the first time within the pages of this book. There is an indepth section of 20th century writers, including Mishima Yukio's story “Onnagata,” and the erotic stories/poems of Takahashi Mutsuo. His massive poem of gay sex, “ODE,” is considered by publisher Winston Leyland as “the single great gay poem of the 20th century.” Masterfully rendered into English by twelve translators—all scholars of Japanese literature—this pioneering anthology deserves a wide readership.
REVIEW: PARTINGS AT DAWN is one of the most important works on homophile Japan to come along since Paul Gordon Schalow's 1990 publication of The Great Mirror of Male Love. It is appropriate that Schalow has written a clear and interesting introduction which follows the history of Japanese homosexuality for the beginning of this volume as well. Stephen D. Miller's preface as editor is also a good overview of aspects of Japanese homophile culture. The only real problem with the book is its title. If we are ever to have a more complete cross-cultural understanding of same-sex eroticism we will have to stop using the anachronistic term “gay” in reference to other historical periods and to other countries as well. The written words in this book are not about gay people but about Japanese people who participate(d) in homosexual behavior. This is not as petty an observation as it might first appear. The word gay, loaded with political and economic significance when applied throughout the universe and under varying circumstances tempts us to see the world in a template of eurocentric understanding. In this volume, an anthology of “homosexual” literature, might have served its readers better.
Having said that, PARTINGS AT DAWN is chock full of wonderful examples of writing which deal with the subject of homosexuality in Japan. The first eight chapters are tales of historic Japan involving Buddhist monks, court persons and prostitutes, among others. This sampler offers a variety of views through the key hole into Japan's past. Many of the stories have appeared in other volumes and have been translated before. Paul Gordon Schalow's translation of The Great Mirror and Maggie Child's translation of Kannon are two such examples. However, their appearance together in this edition provide the reader with an historical sense and an overview heretofore unavailable in any single volume on Japan. Furthermore, many chapters are prefaced with explanations and analyses by their translators which are often as valuable as the translations themselves.
The newer works beginning with William F. Sibley's translation of the correspondence between Minakata Kumagusu and Iwata Jun'ichi from 1931 to 1941 are a real and valuable contribution to the field of homophile studies in Japan. The letters reveal an awareness of the Japanese past as well as a burgeoning awareness by Japanese of Western homosexuality and are comparable to the early works of Iwan Bloch and Magnus Hirschfeld in Europe.
Mishima Yukio's brilliant analyses of the gender complexity in the role of the onnagata (also previously available) fits well in this diachronic tour. The interview with Takahashi Mutsuo and Aizawa Keiz™ reveals levels of understanding about sexuality in Japan that are a departure from eurocentric models. The ensuing poetry selections- some bawdy, some frank, some touching- expose a depth and complexity of the feelings of individual Japanese men regarding their own sexuality that is often missing in this sort of volume.
The excerpt from the best-selling Yes, Yes, Yes, by Hiruma Hisao won the 26th Bungei Literary Prize in 1990 and is a dark and disturbing view of the nature of alienation and sexual variance in modern Japan.
Under the artful hands of its editor this volume provides academics, Japanophiles and the curious with an overview of Japanese sexual variance that is as comprehensive as it is invigorating and revealing. It is a pity that there just wasn't more of it. Perhaps there will be another volume soon.
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