Yobai

Yobai (夜這い, "Night crawling") is an ancient Japanese custom that was usually practiced by young unmarried men and women. It was once common all over Japan and was practiced in some rural areas until the beginning of the Meiji period and even into the 20th century.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

Description

At night, young unmarried men would silently enter houses with young unmarried women. A man would silently crawl into a woman's room and make his intentions known. If the woman consented, they would sleep together. By the morning he would leave.^[1][2] The girl's family might know about it, but pretended they did not.^[2] It was common for young people to find a husband/wife like this.^[1][3]

According to ethnologist Akamatsu Keisuke, the practice varied from place to place. In some places any post-puberty woman, married or unmarried, could be visited by any post-puberty man, married or unmarried, from the village and even by men from other villages and travellers. In some places, only married women and widows could be visited, while single girls could not. And there were variations; for example, the "closed type" yobai was a custom in which only men from the same village had the right of visitation.^[8]

References

1. Josie Dew (2012-08-02). A Ride In The Neon Sun: A Gaijin in Japan. Little, Brown Book Group. pp. 380–. ISBN 978-1-4055-1969-4.
2. Liza Dalby (2009-02-01). East Wind Melts the Ice: A Memoir Through the Seasons. University of California Press. pp. 252–. ISBN 978-0-520-25991-1.
3. Boye De Mente (2011-07-12). Japan's Cultural Code Words: Key Terms That Explain the Attitudes and Behavior of the Japanese. Perseus Books Group. pp. 296–. ISBN 978-1-4629-0062-6.
4. Report. Asiatic Research Center, Korea University. 1966. p. 713.
5. John Stevens (2010-10-19). Tantra of the Tachikawa Ryu: Secret Sex Teachings of the Buddha. Stone Bridge Press. pp. 41–. ISBN 978-1-61172-520-9.
6. Clare Campbell (2008-12-08). Tokyo Hostess: Inside the shocking world of Tokyo nightclub hostessing. Little, Brown Book Group. pp. 64–. ISBN 978-0-7481-1208-1.
7. 東京大学アメリカ太平洋研究. 東京大学大学院総合文化研究科附属アメリカ太平洋地域研究センタ. 2006. pp. 223, 224.
8. Sonia Ryang (2006-10-19). Love in Modern Japan: Its Estrangement from Self, Sex and Society. Routledge. pp. 30–. ISBN 978-1-135-98863-0.
9. Japan Studies Review. Southern Japan Seminar. 1998. pp. 48, 50.

• Anju Saxena (2004). Himalayan Languages: Past and Present. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 362–. ISBN 978-3-11-017841-8.
• Kaikoku Hyakunen Kinen Bunka Jigyōkai (Japan) (1969). Japanese culture in the Meiji era. Toyo Bunko.
• Peter Constantine (2013-12-13). Japan's Sex Trade: A Journey Through Japan's Erotic Subcultures. Tuttle Publishing. pp. 65–. ISBN 978-1-4629-0395-5.
• Nicholas Bornoff (1992-08-01). Pink Samurai: Love, Marriage & Sex in Contemporary Japan. Pocket Books. ISBN 978-0-671-74266-9.