A look at sexuality in Japan.

1. Kyanah Murphy
8th May 2015
JPN 245
Smith
Yuri, Yaoi, and Female Sexuality
In the world of Japanese anime and manga, there are two genres: yuri and yaoi. Yuri,
which means ‘lily’ in Japanese, is the term used to identify homosexual love between two
females. More specifically, yuri focuses on the emotional and sexual relationship between two
females. This genre is also known as ‘girls-love’ or shojou-ai by Western fans. The genre is
aimed at a female audience, however there is some yuri targeted at males as well. Similarly, yaoi
or boys-love (shonen-ai), by contrast, is the term used to identify homosexual love between two
males. More specifically, yaoi focuses on the emotional and sexual relationship between two
males. This genre is also aimed to a female audience.
Between yuri and yaoi, the prime function with these two manga genres revolve around
female sexuality and how women are able to express and explore their sexuality. This
exploration appears unconventional, so I intend to uncover why female sexuality would be
explored through the means of same-sex fantasy. As such, in this paper, I want to explore how
yuri and yaoi function in accordance to female sexuality and how these two genres are similar as
well as differ from one another.
To begin, yaoi is actually an acronym that comes from the first syllables of the Japanese
phrase “YAma nashi [no climax], Ochi nashi [no point] and Imi nashi [no meaning]”, which
references a lack of romantic plot development in yaoi and places more emphasis on the sexual
nature of the story. This type of writing is similar to the PWP (Plot, What Plot?) genre of 'slash'

2. fiction written by amateur female writers in America. ‘Slash’, similar to yaoi, is imagined sexual
scenarios between male characters of popular TV shows (McLelland 2000). Yaoi origins,
according to Japan Powered’s Chris Kincaid in “Yaoi: History, Appeal, and Misconceptions”,
can be found in the 1970s as a different approach to shojo (female-targeted genre) of manga. It
should be noted that yaoi is written by females for female audience consumption rather than
homosexual consumption – homosexual manga geared for a homosexual audience is called bara
or ‘rose’. What made this genre different is that love is sought after between two males rather
than a female and a male. Another prime difference between this genre and shojo is that there is
stronger focus on emotional and personal development with the characters in the story (Kincaid
2013).
Within yaoi, there are two specific character roles given to the male protagonists of the
story: seme and uke. Seme refers to the “top” or “attacker” role. Uke on the other hand refers to
“bottom” or “receiver”. According to Kincaid, “While they do have sexual connotations (much
like the American slang “hitter” and “catcher”), they are derived from formal martial art forms”
(Kincaid 2013). The seme and uke are designed in a highly idealized fashion and demonstrates
who is (sexually) dominant within the relationship. Common characteristics of a seme character
include that of a stereotypical male anime character: older, taller, shorter hair, smaller eyes,
stronger chin, restrained, protective, and overall just more masculine in demeanor in comparison
to his uke counterpart. An uke then in contrast is a character that is sensitive and more feminine
than the seme. He is more androgynous in appearance, has bigger eyes, a smaller build, usually
younger, and overall weaker than the seme.
A good example of this yaoi trope can be seen in the manga, Little Butterfly by
Hinako Takanaga. The story of this manga revolves around a cheerful junior high

3. school student Kojima and his quest to befriend the loner student, Nakahara. As their relationship
builds, Kojima learns that Nakahara has a lonely life at home, with an absent father and a
mentally ill mother. As their relationship continues to grow, Kojima and Nakahara realize that
they both harbor romantic (and later sexual) feelings for one another. As the story progresses,
Nakahara decides to apply to a high school far from home to escape his home life and Kojima
decides to apply to the same school as well in order to remain with Nakahara although he has
lower marks in school compared to Nakahara.
Kojima and Nakahara easily fit into the uke and seme roles, respectively. Kojima is the
smaller, has bigger eyes, softer or sensitive one, as he is cheerful, naïve, and cries easily. Kojima
also appears quite androgynous as a beautiful boy (bishonen). Nakahara on the other hand is
taller, has smaller eyes, is more reserved, and more masculine than Kojima.
By contrast, in the manga and anime Cardcaptor Sakura by the all-female mangaka
(manga artist) team CLAMP, there is a same-sex couple within the story that is more subtle with
their relationship but still ever present. Toya Kinomoto and Yukito Tsukishiro are the same-sex
couple within Cardcaptor Sakura, portraying seme and uke respectively. In this series, the
couple is not a forefront couple, as the story does not revolve around them. However, much like
Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune from Sailor Moon, their relationship is subtle but seen within
the story and regarded as a normal, regular relationship.
One important aspect of both yaoi and yuri is that though the characters in these genres of
manga involve couples in a same-sex relationship, yaoi and yuri are actually not considered
homosexual and are not intended for an LGBT audience. Rather, yaoi and yuri is intended for
female consumption. With this knowledge, these characters, and storytelling style set into place,
the question becomes, how does this genre of manga (and anime) function if it is aimed at a

4. female-targeted audience? According to "The Love Between ‘Beautiful Boys’ in Japanese
Women’s Comics" by Mark McLelland, the primary representation of this type of male
homosexuality can be seen as an expression of women’s sexuality (McLelland 2000). Through
examination, McLelland finds that boys’ love is popular among women is due to women being
are in control and feeling safe in the realm these males are in. McLelland explains that the reason
why Japanese women seek boys-love manga is due to the fact that women are faced with
viciousness in regards to sex on a regular basis. The men in Japanese sexual media are typically
depicted as hyper-masculinized, hyper-sexualized, and animalistic. Within the realm of boys’
love, the boys are drawn to look beautiful and androgynous – making it easier for women to be
removed from reality and perhaps even insert themselves into the role story through the
androgynous males (the androgynous males look heavily female).
Yaoi is not contained strictly to Japan. Yaoi has found its way across the ocean and into
different countries. To find out how other countries receive yaoi, Mark McLelland examines the
online global community from both a US standpoint and an Australian standpoint in "The World
of Yaoi: The Internet, Censorship and the Global ‘Boys ‘Love’Fandom”. In this article, the topic
of yaoi and the non-pornographic community of those that read yaoi is used to counter
pornographic claims or criminalization of sexual fantasies that may involve fictional children
within the online world. Unlike the Japanese, both the US and Australia views of yaoi have been
linked to pornography, which is a sharp contrast in how this genre is viewed by these countries.
To further draw a difference in how Japan and the West view boys love, McLelland informs that
“…in anglophone culture homosexual narratives are highly segregated and excluded from
children’s media, in Japan, homosexuality is an ‘essential feature’ and ‘part of the everyday

5. landscape’ of girls’ comic books” (McLelland 2005). It should be noted that according to
Kincaid, not all yaoi contains explicit sexuality within their stories.
Going off of the differences between Japan and the West in terms of yaoi, McLelland
continues with “…yaoi deals with homosexual and not heterosexual interaction; given the
broadly homophobic nature of society in general, homosexual interactions are held to be
inherently offensive by many. Thus, a yaoi story which simply depicts two boys showering,
sleeping or kissing together may well be deemed ‘offensive’ by a ‘reasonable person’ whereas
similar representations of a heterosexual nature would cause no offense” (McLelland 2005). This
would be due to the fact that in Japanese culture, there is plentiful pornographic print media
created for women and girls, of which yaoi is not exempt (McLelland 2005). That is to say,
unlike in the Anglophone cultures, pornography or any sexualization, is not just for men to
consume.
On the other hand, there is the subgenre of yuri, the female counterpart of yaoi. Yuri
origins, according to Chris Kincaid of Japan Powered in “Yuri’s History and a Love Suicide that
Raised Awareness”, can be traced back to the 1900s, with Yoshiya Nobuko at the core, as the
woman to first pen Japanese lesbian literature. During this time, Japan was also beginning to
study same-sex attraction. As Japan was beginning to study same-sex attraction, the first all-girls
school was founded. What really brought same-sex attraction among females to the forefront of
attention in Japan was when two Niigata Prefecture school girls killed themselves in 1911. This
suicide was reported to be due to their love for each other was forbidden. This incident became
the first recorded case of a lesbian love suicide in Japan. Fast forward five years after this event,
Nobuko wrote her best-selling girls fiction, Flower Tales, which focused on girl romance. Years
later in 1972, the first manga to feature elements which became the pillar of yuri was The Rose of

6. Versailles. This was also the first manga to include elements of yuri to be available in the
US. The Rose of Versailles cannot be classified as a yuri manga, but it did lay the foundation for
the future of the genre (Kincaid 2013).
Now we really start seeing a difference between yaoi and yuri and how it is received in
Japan. Girl romance is considered a normal phenomenon that Japanese school-girls do.
According to Deborah Shamoon in “Revolutionary Romance: The Rose of Versailles and the
Transformation of Shojo Manga, “…shōjo bunka (girls' culture) is [a] discrete discourse
premised on a private, closed world of girls that not only embraced close female friendships but
avoided heterosexual romance” (Shamoon 2007). Shamoon goes on to explain that the
relationships between these girls were described in terms of romance and were even sometimes
sexual. It should be noted that the girls that partake in this form of relationship were not in a
lesbian relationship in the current-day sense of the term. In Japan, “Same-sex love in this context
was neither an expression of a repressed inner self nor a subversion of a patriarchal system;
rather, it was a socially acceptable means of delaying heterosexual courtship until girls had
finished school and were available for marriage” (Shamoon 2007). Shamoon also mentions that
this form of relationship between two females was to promote sameness and loving the one who
looks like the self. These girls in these forms of relationships displayed the same modes of dress,
speech, and behavior (Shamoon 2007).
According to Hiromi Tsuchiya Dollase in her article "Early Twentieth Century Japanese
Girls' Magazine Stories: Examining Shojo Voice in Hananmonogatari (Flower Tales)," during
the early twentieth century, these romantic friendships between females were called “the
relationship of S (which stood for sister)” (Dollase 2003). This form of relationship between two
girls was socially accepted in Japan until the 1920s, when Western studies depicted this type of

7. same-sex relationship as abnormal, which lead to relationship of S types of relationships to be
forbidden. This in turn led to a rise in double suicides between girls. As such, relationship of S
began to disappear (Dollase 2003). However, there appears to be a theme of relationship of S that
appears in yuri manga.
A relationship of S type of relationship can be seen within the manga titled First Love
Sisters by Mako Komao, Reine Hibiki, and Mizuo Shinonome. With ‘Sisters’ in the title, a
reader is told right away that the story is based on a relationship of S between two girls. The
story revolves around Chika Matsusato and her visit to Tsunokamizaka Girls' Academy, where
she meets upperclassman Haruna Kizaki, who shows Chika around the school. Chika is
completely smitten by Haruna that she decides to attend Tsunokamizaka Girls' Academy and
befriend Haruna. Within the manga, there is nothing explicit depicting a relationship of a sexual
nature between the two girls. There are hints at romantic feelings and bonds, but there is nothing
concrete with the relationship. More often, they two girls are seen holding hands and not much
more, thus painting Chika and Haruna in a romantic friendship.
By contrast, there is a yuri manga that challenges the idea of girls leaving the relationship
once they are mature and available for marriage, titled Girl Friends by Milk Morinaga, in which
the main protagonists, Mari Kumakura and Akko Oohashi enter a romantic and sexual
relationship and do not part ways once they graduate high school. Rather, they remain in a
romantic and sexual relationship together, making it work while they are in college and trade
school respectively. Girl Friends effectively portrays a story of two girls falling in love with one
another in high school and coming to terms with their relationship, acknowledging that it is not
just a “typical” romantic friendship between two girls, but rather a relationship Mari and Akko

8. consider equal to that of a relationship between a boy and a girl. This is further emphasized when
Akko mentions that she wants Mari to be her wife.
Another challenge to this romantic friendship type of relationship is found within the
anime and manga titled Sailor Moon, between the characters Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune.
Both Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune are female high school students in a subtle relationship
with one another. Their relationship is framed mostly by use of dialogue between the two, with
occasional physical contact by means of holding hands or by holding each other. Dialogue
between the two female lovers can range from sexual innuendos to stating that they want to be
touching one another as they die in battle.
Kazumi Nagaike in “The Sexual and Textual Politics of Japanese Lesbian Comics
Reading Romantic and Erotic Yuri Narratives” concludes “…yuri/lesbianism provides certain
positive elements with which socially constructed femininity can be reconsidered. The female
characters in these narratives attempt to construct a female-oriented continuum (or homosocial
bond), and this provides a specific space within which female sexual desires and the ideological
possibility of escape from patriarchal-heterosexual structures can be openly discussed” (Nagaike
2010). Essentially, along with yaoi, yuri is also providing females with a space in which they can
explore their sexuality and homosocial bonds. With the aid of yaoi and yuri, this may help to
distinguish how, in the Japanese sociocultural context, femininity can be explored and explained,
thus liberating females from the patriarchal strictures which have been imposed on females
(Nagaike 2010).
Perhaps the normalization of Mari and Akko from Girl Friends, Kojima and Nakahra
from Little Butterfly, Toya and Yukito from Cardcaptor Sakura, and Sailor Uranus and Sailor
Neptune in Sailor Moon allows female readers to experience a world where they would not have

9. to leave a same-sex romantic relationship, especially in regard to an S type relationship. All these
characters are not separated by some means such as graduation or growing up, as mentioned by
Deborah Shamoon. These same-sex relationships are also not regarded as immature, but rather
they are viewed in a more normalized light. The characters are all in long-term romantic
relationships with same-sex partners, similar to those in a heterosexual relationship.
Erin Subramian’s essay “Women-Loving Women in Modern Japan” suggests that “Many
Japanese women do not consider the possibility that they might be attracted to other women”
(Subramian). Subramian gives many suggestions for why this may be the case, including the
expectation that most women will get married when they reach a certain age, regardless of the
previous kinds of relationships they may have had in the past. Women who are attracted to other
women believe they can only be happy if they live a “normal” heterosexual lifestyle, there is
pressure from parents and society in general to get married, and there is a negative lesbian
stereotype that exists in Japan (Subramian). As such, it is entirely possible that yaoi and yuri
allows women to explore a lesbian side to themselves, especially with such characters as Akko
and Mari from Girl Friends.
Looking at another article by Mark McLelland, “Male Homosexuality and Popular
Culture in Modern Japan”, McLelland examines how Japanese society looks at homosexuality,
especially from a homosexual perspective. During this examination, he looks once more to yaoi,
discussing how the bishonen (beautiful boys/youth) “…are not really 'men' but fantastic,
androgynous creatures created by Japanese women as an expression of dissatisfaction with
current gender stereotypes and the 'narrow life paths' which restrict women in the real world”
(McLelland 2000). This helps solidify the notion that yaoi is not considered homosexual, as
mentioned by Kincaid. To expand on this idea, McLelland states that:

10. Not only are the male characters not supposed to represent 'gay men,' they do not really
represent 'men' either… They are drawn in such a way as to suggest an androgynous
ideal: they have tall, slender bodies, high cheek bones and pointed chins, wide eyes and
long flowing hair. Also, they behave in a rather 'feminine' manner, expressing the
emotionality and vulnerability often associated with female characters in more
mainstream fiction” (McLelland 2000).
In contrast, homosexual Japanese men state that they do not identify with these bishonen
characters, thus cementing the idea that these bishonen are indeed for women to explore their
sexualities and fantasies. This also helps determine why yaoi (and by extension, yuri) is not
intended for an LGBT audience – homosexual Japanese men are not accurately represented in
yaoi. These men do not relate to these yaoi characters.
The exploration of sexuality through yuri and yaoi is not to suggest that all Japanese
women desire to be with other women. Some women may desire to be with a female but not all
of them. I believe, from looking at the reasons why women are drawn to yuri and yaoi is due to
the fact that Japanese women do not appear to have positive connotations in regard to sex.
Japanese women are not treated and represented in the way they want to be treated. Within the
pages of yaoi, women can place themselves in a realm they feel safe and control in – they can see
themselves within the pages, represented as the uke, engaging in a romantic and sexual manner
that they find to more accurately represent the form of relationship they desire. To further
strengthen this point, in Sarah Schulman’s book, My American History: Lesbian and Gay Life
During the Reagan and Bush Years, a Japanese woman had said to Schulman, “Images of male
homosexuality are the only picture we have of men loving someone else as an equal. It is the
kind of love we want to have” (Schulman 1994). As for yuri, I believe it allows for a woman to

11. explore romantic and even sexual possibilities with a female, seeing which direction the
relationship of S bond could go.
There are solid reasons as to why yaoi and yuri genres exist for women. I believe, from
my research, that the strongest reason why Japanese women explore their sexualities through
yaoi is due to the fact that they are misrepresented and mistreated in a heterosexual context. Men
are violent with women in a sexual context. These women believe that the only way possible for
a man to be loving is if they’re in a relationship of the same-sex. To actually relate to the
characters, one of the males takes on an androgynous role, thus making it easier for women to
imagine these loving male characters with women. As for yuri, I believe it allows women to
explore their relationships with other females – they can see what a relationship of S could be.

12. References
McLelland, MJ. The World of Yaoi: The Internet, Censorship and the Global “Boys’ Love”
Fandom, The Australian Feminist Law Journal, 23, 2005, 61-77
McLelland, MJ. (2000). Male Homosexuality and Popular Culture in Modern
Japan. Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context, (3). Retrieved
April 25, 2015, from http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue3/mclelland2.html
Nagaike, K. (2010). The Sexual and Textual Politics of Japanese Lesbian Comics Reading
Romantic and Erotic Yuri Narratives. Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese
Studies. Retrieved April 25, 2015, from
http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/articles/2010/Nagaike.html
McClelland, MJ. (2000). The Love Between ‘Beautiful Boys’ in Japanese Women’s Comics.
Journal of Gender Studies 9.1 Taylor & Francis Ltd. Retrieved April 3 2015.
Kincaid, C. (2013, May 19). Yuri’s History and a Love Suicide that Raised Awareness. Japan
Powered. Retrieved April 9, 2015, from http://www.japanpowered.com/japan-
culture/yuris-history-and-a-love-suicide-that-raised-awareness
Kincaid, C. (2013, March 24). Yaoi: History, Appeal, and Misconceptions. Japan Powered.
Retrieved April 9, 2015 from http://www.japanpowered.com/anime-articles/a-brief-
history-of-yaoi
Shamoon, D. (2007). Revolutionary Romance: The Rose of Versailles and the Transformation of
Shojo Manga. Mechademia 2(1), 3-17. University of Minnesota Press. Retrieved April
28, 2015, from Project MUSE database.

13. Dollase, H. T. (2003). Early twentieth century japanese girls' magazine stories: Examining shōjo
voice in hanamonogatari (flower tales). The Journal of Popular Culture, 36(4), 724-755.
doi:10.1111/1540-5931.00043
Subramian, E. (2011, March 28). Women-Loving Women in Modern Japan. Retrieved April 25,
2015, from http://www.yuricon.com/essays/women-loving-women-in-modern-japan/
Schulman, S., 1958. (1994). My American History: Lesbian and gay life during the Reagan/Bush
years. New York: Routledge.