from Tōji Scroll, Tengu Zōshi (1296)

Unexpectedly,  this semester I’ve dealt with the topic of chigo (稚児).  What is chigo? Here’s a paragraph from the term paper I’ve just submitted:

In Medieval Japan, chigo was legitimized as a sexual object in religious institutions.  “According to the Chigo kanjō shiki, the purpose of this abhiṣeka (Buddhist anointment) ritual is to introduce the chigo into the compassionate realm of Kannon and to achieve his identification with this bodhisattva, through his becoming a ‘ideal chigo […]  As we recall, having sex with an avatar of Kannon transmutes desire into deliverance, whereas having sex with an uninitiated chigo, a profane body, will cause one to fall into the three evils destinies[…]   [T]he chigo whom the priest rapes is at the same time a potential savior, and the priest rapes him while worshipping him as an avatar and a double of the emperor.” (Faure 1998: 261)  Not surprisingly, chigo as sex objects also appear as the heroes of love stories in medieval tales.  Paul S. Atkins, referring to several titles of these tales collectively grouped as Chigo monogatari, introduces the narratives as such:  “In most (but not all) of the stories, a monk falls in love with a chigo, and typically the results are disastrous.  Tales in which a monk falls in love with a woman tend to take on a comic tone, but when the beloved is a chigo, the tale often ends tragically.  The chigo may be kidnapped, falsely accused, or attacked. Others may attempt to kill him, or he may actually be slain. Perhaps the chigo dies of lovesickness, but he is just as likely to drown himself or to trick others into murdering him.  After death, it may be claimed that the chigo was the avatar of a god or bodhisattva.” (2008: 952)  For the last aspect, Bernard Faure, referring to Margaret Childs, compares the story of Aki no yo no monogatari – recognized as “representative of the genre” (1998: 242) – and Chigo Kannon engi. The former, a story filled with tragic love, rivalry between temples, deaths, and destruction, turns out be a “upāya of the bodhisattva Kannon to bring about the monk’s salvation” (ibid.); for the latter, “the bodhisattva Kannon appears as a young novice to reward the devotion of a monk and bring him salvation” (ibid.) Here, sex is recognized as a reward instead of a upāya.  “According to Childs, this text suggests a kind of sanctification of homosexual relationships within the Buddhist community.” (ibid.) 

As one may expect, I have had to read all those medieval Japanese tales and scholarly literature on the topic of homosexual love between children and monks.  It would have been an extremely hard time for me if it weren’t about something Medieval – something you may speculate or interpret, yet nothing can really be proved.  Imagine: what if the practice really exists today?

I’ve no problem with homosexuality.  Rather, I’m against all sorts of religiously-sanctioned wrongdoing.  In this case, it is pedophilism.  Buddhist  pedophilism – too unrealistic, huh?  Right, that was something in the Kamakura period, which is unimaginable nowadays.  How’s about Catholic pedophilism in the 21st Century?  No, that’s not religiously legitimized, yet I am very curious if there would be any “esoteric explanation” among the priests to justify the behaviors.  We never know…

Talking about “religiously-sanctioned wrongdoing”, pedophilism looks archaic.  Meanwhile, how’s about…
– To wage a war in the name of X;

– Not to let women travel alone in the name of X;

– To discriminate some particular others because their existences are not allowed according to “the book”… etc.

Killing.  Raping. Bullying. Discriminating.  These can’t be resolved simply by cultural relativism.  There must be a law, an absolute law, to protect the rights of *all individuals*.  This law must be secular in itself.  This is the law of universal human rights.

I don’t know how come I think of these contemporary issues while talking about medieval chigo. Hmm… Maybe, that’s because of my own belief that any knowledge produced should be used for the betterment of people’s lives.  I just can’t stop thinking about real people of our time, real problems of our time.  Could it be destiny that I’ll never be a historian (or, an art historian)?  Never mind.

I just hope that religious pedophilism doesn’t exist.  Neither the secular one.