is the Japanese word for hermaphroditism, which is also used in a broader sense for androgyny.[1] [2]
Beyond Japan, the term has come to be used to describe a commonly pornographic genre of eroge, manga, and anime, which includes characters that show primary sexual characteristics from both females and males.[1] In today's language, it refers almost exclusively to characters who have a female or overall feminine body, but have both female and male primary genitalia (although a scrotum is not always present, while breasts, a penis, and a vulva are). The term is also often abbreviated as futa(s), which is also used as a generalized term for the works themselves.[2]
The most accredited etymology of the word comes from an emakimono, a type of painted hand scroll, titled "Yamai No Soushi" (Scroll of Illness), drawn between the heian and kamakura period. In it are several depictions of individuals who possess traits of both typical male and female genitalia. The word futanari is used in the passage "You shall see how they possess both male and female roots. Truly they are of both forms/kinds/or aspects (futanari)."[3]
Japanese folk religion created diverse fantasies related to sexual characteristics. Traditional vocal pieces that date back hundreds of years deliver rough evidence that a change of gender was not ruled out, and that the representation of the gender was used to worship deities such as Japanese: [[dōsojin]], which sometimes had ambiguous gender, being neither male nor female. Gary Leupp adds that the origins might even reach back to the origins of Buddhism, since the deities would not necessarily have a fixed or determinable gender.
Likewise, the belief spread that some people could change their gender depending on the lunar phase. The term was coined to describe such beings.[2] Japanese traditional clothing, which made distinguishing men from women more difficult, as in other cultures, presumably might have had an influence on this development.[2] To restrict women from accessing prohibited areas and to avoid smuggling by hiding items in the belt bag, guard posts were assigned to perform body checks. Historical records indicate that guards liked to joke about this matter quite frequently, resulting in various stories and even poems.[2] Whether anatomical anomalies, such as clitoromegaly or unusual physical development, led to these assumptions remains an open question.[2]
Until 1644, when onnagata actors were required to adopt male hairstyles regardless of the gender they were portraying, actors playing characters such as female warriors capitalized on the interest in the futanari quality, which was common in both samurai and commoner society.[1]
Originally, the Japanese language referred to any character or real person that possessed masculine and feminine traits as futanari. This changed in the 1990s, as drawn futanari characters became more popular in anime and manga. Today, the term commonly refers to fictional hermaphroditic female characters. Futanari is also used as the term for a specific genre within hentai-related media (pornographic anime or manga) that depicts such characters.
If the genre exists primarily in manga and anime, it also exists with real actresses who wear oversized strap-ons as if they were an integral part of their bodies, reinforcing the idea that futanari is an extension of the lesbian strap-on theme.[4]
Futanari manga became popular in the 1990s and quickly became a part of the industry, cross-pollinating with multiple genres.[5] Toshiki Yui's Hot Tails is a well-known example of the genre in the West.[5]