A lesbian is a woman whose object of sexual and romantic orientation is the same sex (women), a concept used in modern and contemporary Japan in the contexts of both the sexuality concept and the subculture genre. This article describes mainly the culture of those concerned and the conceptual history, carefully distinguishing the commercial, objectifying abbreviation rezu.

Rezu / lesbian is a word of English origin denoting a woman whose object of sexual and romantic orientation is the same sex; in Japan it was introduced from the late Meiji period as a term of medicine and sexology. In the everyday-language sphere the abbreviation rezu circulated widely, but in the spheres of those concerned, of scholarship, and of recent media expression, the aspect in which that abbreviation functions as a discriminatory term has been pointed out, and there is a tendency to recommend the use of the full term “lesbian.” This article treats the history of the word, the gender-theoretical positioning, and the relation to the yuri genre in subculture.

Overview and the problem of terms

“Lesbian” is the neutral, formal term for a woman whose object of sexual and romantic orientation is women. The abbreviation rezu, by contrast, was widely used in late-twentieth-century Japan, but it has been pointed out repeatedly from the side of those concerned that it is often used mockingly and discriminatorily. Groups of those concerned, such as the “Lesbian Community,” “Women’s Forum,” and “LOUD,” have since the 1990s recommended the use of the full term “lesbian,” or “bian” (a pet form used within the community). Claire Maree’s On Being a Lesbian (2013) analyses the politics of the vocabulary around lesbians in Japanese, pointing out the way rezu has been used consumptively and objectifyingly in the context of adult works, and its divergence from the self-naming of those concerned. In this article the full term “lesbian” is used mainly for the description of the person-type, with rezu noted only where historical context and subcultural usage are at issue.

Etymology

“Lesbian” derives from the island of Lesbos (Lesbos) of ancient Greece. Because the woman poet Sappho (Sappho, late 7th to 6th century BCE), a native of the island, left poems thematising romantic feeling toward women, the name of Lesbos later became the etymon of a word denoting female homosexuality. English lesbian came to be used in its modern sense in the latter half of the nineteenth century, with circulation in the medical and sexological fields preceding; the OED dates the first attestation of the modern usage to the 1890s. Its introduction into Japanese came through the translation of sexology from the late Meiji to the Taisho period. Through the translation of Krafft-Ebing’s Psychopathia Sexualis (Japanese translation 1913), and of various works by Havelock Ellis, the terms “lesbian” and “lesbianism” circulated in the scholarly sphere.

History

Female homosexuality in premodern Japan

Historical records of female homosexuality in premodern Japanese society are fragmentary compared with male homosexuality (shudō, wakashudō). Edo-period ukiyo-zōshi and yomihon contain a few descriptions treating relations between women, and intimate relations between women in the Tokugawa shogunate’s Ōoku and in Meiji-period girls’ schools (“letters,” “esu”) were objects of record at the time. “Esu” derives from the initial of “sister,” and was widely used in girls’-school culture from the late Meiji to the Taisho period for an intimate relationship between an upperclasswoman and an underclasswoman. It was a relation centred on emotional and spiritual bonds, not necessarily accompanied by a sexual relation, but it is sometimes positioned as the prehistory of later female-homosexual culture.

The postwar homosexual movement

After the war, self-naming and social movement by those concerned took form, with the founding of “Margaret Members” (Japan’s first lesbian group) in 1971 and “Re-gumi Studio” in 1985 as turning points. From the 1990s several groups, such as “LOUD” and “Sukotan Kikaku,” were active, developing a movement for improved visibility and rights protection. From the 2010s the local-government introduction of same-sex partnership systems (starting with Shibuya and Setagaya wards in 2015) spread, and the institutionalisation of social recognition advanced. On the other hand, the legalisation of same-sex marriage remains unrealised as of 2026, with litigation and legislative movement by groups of those concerned continuing.

Relation to yuri

In the spheres of Japanese manga, fiction, and anime, a genre called “yuri” (lily), thematising intimate relations between women, has established itself. The etymon is said to go back to “yuri-zoku” (lily tribe), formed in the 1970s as the counter-concept to the magazine Barazoku (a male-homosexual magazine), and thereafter it took root as an independent genre name from the 2000s. The yuri genre is diverse in the shade of its sexual depiction, its target readership, and its presumed authorship, and does not necessarily depict lesbian individuals. Yuri no Shinri (2020) by Yukari Fujimoto and others analyses the way the yuri genre, not necessarily reflecting the reality of those concerned, has developed as its own literary sign-system. The relation between the yuri genre and lesbian culture is not simple: from those concerned, criticism is raised of yuri works carrying out idealised depictions divorced from the experience of real lesbians, while there is also a position that evaluates the aspect contributing to improved visibility.

”Rezu” works in subculture

In the sphere of adult works, works thematising relations between women circulate under tags such as “rezu,” “yuri,” and “onna-onna” (woman-woman). The form in which general readers and viewers consumptively appreciate relations between women is common, and the divergence from the culture of those concerned is a sphere discussed as a problem. The “rezu” genre in adult manga and adult video was systematised as an independent category from the 1990s. The contemporary situation is one in which a body of works aimed mainly at male viewers and a body of works aimed at women readers and LGBT individuals stand side by side; even under the same “rezu” or “yuri” tags, the two differ greatly in content, style, and ethical consideration. As forms of bodily contact, cunnilingus, mutual caress, and acts using toys are depicted; for the specific act-types this article refers to the related entries.

Relation to gender theory

Since second-wave feminism, lesbian experience has occupied a central place in the discussion of female subjectivity and the right of sexual self-determination. A lineage of English-language feminist and queer theory theorising lesbian experience, including Adrienne Rich’s “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” (1980) and Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble (1990), has been introduced into Japan since the 1990s. In the sphere of queer studies, the de-essentialisation and de-fixing of the lesbian category itself is discussed, and the centre of gravity of the argument is shifting from the lesbian as a fixed identity toward a positioning as one form of fluid sexuality. citation needed

Ethical caution

This article describes female homosexuality not as a sexually objectifying account but as a social, historical, and cultural phenomenon. Bearing in mind the aspect in which the abbreviation rezu functions discriminatorily toward those concerned, describing with sufficient consideration for the existence and dignity of real lesbians is an important principle in writing and editing.

See also

• Woman-woman (sexual act)
• Cunnilingus
• Chijo
• Hentai (deviant)
• Bisexual
• Gay
• Queer
• Yuri