Gay samurai. Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? Military intelligence, jumbo shrimp, compassionate conservative, gay samurai – yet there was a time in Japanese history when Japanese warriors, and Japanese society, wasn’t just accepting of queer life, but actively encouraged it.

But for a very long time, gay love was an accepted part of Japanese society. While there’s a lot of evidence that gay love was popular in Japan for hundreds of years, the Tokugawa period (1600 – 1868) really put it out there. Called “nanshoku” -- which means “male colors” but was the nearest ancient Japan had to “queer” – gay life in Japan was obvious, active and flamboyant: commoners, court officials, royalty, priests, and especially Samurai were obviously, actively, screwing around with each other.

But it wasn’t just fooling around on a futon, because for samurai nanshoku was also a way of bonding warriors and clans together -- battlefield romances turning into lifelong partnerships and alliances. Nanshoku was also an added dimension to novice and master relationships: during this time a young man trained under a master samurai in more than one way, and in more than one version of “sword play.”

What’s more remarkable than how common all this queer love was is how much it was celebrated and acknowledged. Samurai – while not exactly being able to walk through castles and courtyards hand-in-hand – were pretty much free to do whatever they wanted with each other.