is a Japanese term for historical young male sex workers. were often passed off as apprentice kabuki actors (who often engaged in sex work themselves on the side) and catered to a mixed male and female clientele. For male clients, the preferred service was anal sex, with the client taking the penetrative role;[1] homosexual fellatio is almost unmentioned in Edo period (1603–1867) documents.[1]
who were not affiliated with an actual kabuki theatre could be hired through male brothels or teahouses specializing in .[1] Such institutions were known as . typically charged more than female sex workers of equivalent status,[1] and experienced healthy trade into the mid-19th century, despite increasing legal restrictions that attempted to contain sex workers (both male and female) in specified urban areas and to dissuade class-spanning relationships, which were viewed as potentially disruptive to traditional social organization.[1]
Many such sex workers, as well as many young kabuki actors, were indentured servants sold as children to the brothel or theater, typically on a ten-year contract.[1] could be presented as (young men), (adolescent boys, about 10–18 years old) or as (female impersonators).[1]
This term also appears in modern Japanese homosexual slang.