Despite
the existence of more than seventy gay bars in Tokyo alone,
the subject of homosexuality is taboo in Japan. In the film
Okoge (1992) two 1990s lovers break the taboo
at a banquet of coworkers, though one lover eventually marries
a woman, whereupon the other lover divorces his wife to live
with a transvestite. Now in Taboo (Gohatto)
Nagisa Oshima takes us back to 1865, twelve years after Commodore
Matthew Perry’s black ships appeared in Tokyo Bay. A personal
militia of samurai was still protecting the shogun, whose
rule from Kyoto was being challenged by rival clans. The militia,
known as the Shinsengumi, triumphed at the Battle of Ikedaya
in 1864 over the Chosu and Higo clans, which resented the
shogun’s treaty with the United States. When the film begins,
Sozaburo Kano (played by Ryuhei Matsuda) and Hyozo Tashiro
(played by Tadanobu Asano) are being inducted into the militia
in a test match with Captain Hijikata (played by Beat Takeshi,
aka Takeshi Kitano). Kano is the eighteen-year-old son of
a rich merchant; when asked why he joined up, he responds
enigmatically that he seeks the license to kill. Tashiro,
the son of a poor peasant who is a few years older than Kano,
becomes sexually attracted to him. Soon, the two are rumored
to be lovers. Indeed, many of the samurai are dazzled by Kono’s
beautiful face and ponytail (rather than a samurai’s topknot),
though his swordsmanship is thoroughly masculine and his body
movements never effeminate. Gentle gossip among the samurai
about the two lovers, as if sex were a minor matter, betrays
a widespread desire to sleep with Kono. The samurai are too
poor to afford the prostitutes of Kyoto but never before did
they live with such a beauty as Kono. In due course another
samurai falls for Kono, performs anal intercourse on a passive
Kono, but soon is found dead. Sensing that the disorder should
be solved by introducing Kono to a prostitute, Commander Kondo
(played by Yoichi Sai) assigns Yamazaki (played by Masa Tommies)
to take Kono to the nearby whorehouse. But the scheme is unsuccessful,
as Kono will have nothing to do with any women, having professed
an unrequited love for Yamazaki. Next, Yamazaki is attacked
in the dark, but the attacker leaves a small sword behind.
When Tashiro’s small sword is observed to be missing, Kondo
assumes that he has been on the rampage again, so he orders
Kono to kill Tashiro, telling him that he and Hijikata will
be observing from afar. Kono then arranges to meet Tashiro
for a rendezvous, and then surprises him by drawing his sword,
whereupon Tashiro professes that he is innocent, but to no
avail, as Kono slays Tashiro. Filmviewers then know that Kono
was behind all the violence. In the end, Hijikata and Kondo
silently realize that Kono is the guilty one, and we are led
to believe that Hijikata goes off to kill Kono in order to
stop the turmoil in the militia. Based on two novellas by
Ryotaro Shiba, Taboo clearly informs filmviewers
that same-sex attraction has ancient roots in Japan, and that
lust of one man for another is an inevitable part of the human
condition, even if often inconvenient. The major puzzle presented
in the movie is why Kono joined the militia, and our only
clues are that he enjoys seducing men, but he never kisses
or shows emotion, he enthusiastically acknowledges orders,
his swordsmanship prowess declines after being admitted to
the militia, he submits to anal intercourse, and he kills
lovers. The obvious inference is that he was raped at an early
age, and thus works out his rage by first attracting lovers
and then killing them. Although discussion of gay life in
Japan today is taboo, more than seventy gay bars dot the landscape
of Tokyo alone, so the film appears to say that Japanese should
get over their timidity in dealing with the subject, while
also warning that sexual obsessions and sexual repression
can be carried too far. MH
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