bishonen

Bishōnen (美少年. literally, "beautiful boy") is a specific Japanese aesthetic concept of the ideally beautiful young man. The prefix bi- (美) specifically refers to feminine beauty (bijin, lit. "beautiful person", refers to a beautiful woman.) The bishōnen is typically quite slender and not very muscular, with a tapered chin, stylish hair, and an overall effeminate or androgynous appearance. The aesthetic of the bishōnen began as an ideal of a young homosexual lover, likely arising from the effeminate male actors who played female characters in Kabuki theater. It is perpetuated today in anime and manga, especially shojo (girl) anime, shonen-ai, and yaoi. Most okama and homosexual characters in anime are bishounen. Some western anime and manga fans use the term (incorrectly) to refer to any handsome male character regardless of age, and some fans prefer to use the more all-encompassing 'bishie' (which may be equivalent to bijin, although that term is not popular). It is occasionally even used to describe some androgynous female characters (such as Lady Oscar in Rose of Versailles, Karou no Kimi and Hana no Saint Juste in Oniisama E), or any women with traits sterotypical to bishounen. Alternative spellings are bishonen and bishounen. Occasionally biseinen (lit. "beautiful young man") is seen as a synonym. However, biseinen also usually refers to a handsome man older than a bishounen, since the age range of a bishounen tends to be from 14-19, while a biseinen is often 20+. A handsome male below 14 is sometimes referred to as a bishota, although that is usually equated with a slight underage fetish.

Bishonen is a Hong Kong film about a gay romance. See: Bishonen (movie)

"Bishonen" is also the name of a song by Momus (musician).

Bishonen is also a brand of sake.

Utukki: Babylonian Mythology Was Never So 'Bishounen' is a manga web comic based on the myth of the Utukki.

Bishonen

See also