It’s a high level position in feudal society, usually referring to a lord’s bodyguard or someone who handles bureaucratic/military affairs in the lord’s place.
In Japan’s case the word is used to simplify a bunch of different ranks. Yasuke was Oda Nobunaga’s servant, bodyguard, advisor, and seemed to be a close friend as well.
It was also common for Japanese aristocrats to get intimate with their retainers. It’s very likely Nobunaga and Yasuke were sleeping together, since it’s well known Nobunaga preferred men.
The idea that Nobunaga “Preferred men” isn’t really well known. He maybe had a gay relationship with a person who held a similar post to Yasuke (Mori Ranmaru), but he also had multiple children with a concubine.
Now its entirely possible that he preferred having sex with his retainer to his concubine, who the heck knows. I certainly don’t. But I don’t think there’s much support for the idea.
But let’s accept that. Let’s even assume Nobunaga was gay as hell and any sexual encounter with a woman he had were out of duty or something. That still doesn’t mean we can just assume that Yasuke was a sex partner to Nobunaga. We don’t have any evidence for any kind of relationship like that between Oda Nobunaga and Yasuke as far as I’m aware, and I think we would if it was well known.
The relationship between a personal attendant like Yasuke or Mori Ranmaru with their lord would likely take the form of Shudo, a sort of formalized typically pederastic homsexual coupling. Shudo was expected to be at least somewhat exclusive, and Nobunaga was already supposedly with Mori Ranmaru.
What exactly is a retainer in this context?
It’s a high level position in feudal society, usually referring to a lord’s bodyguard or someone who handles bureaucratic/military affairs in the lord’s place.
In Japan’s case the word is used to simplify a bunch of different ranks. Yasuke was Oda Nobunaga’s servant, bodyguard, advisor, and seemed to be a close friend as well.
It was also common for Japanese aristocrats to get intimate with their retainers. It’s very likely Nobunaga and Yasuke were sleeping together, since it’s well known Nobunaga preferred men.
The idea that Nobunaga “Preferred men” isn’t really well known. He maybe had a gay relationship with a person who held a similar post to Yasuke (Mori Ranmaru), but he also had multiple children with a concubine.
Now its entirely possible that he preferred having sex with his retainer to his concubine, who the heck knows. I certainly don’t. But I don’t think there’s much support for the idea.
But let’s accept that. Let’s even assume Nobunaga was gay as hell and any sexual encounter with a woman he had were out of duty or something. That still doesn’t mean we can just assume that Yasuke was a sex partner to Nobunaga. We don’t have any evidence for any kind of relationship like that between Oda Nobunaga and Yasuke as far as I’m aware, and I think we would if it was well known.
The relationship between a personal attendant like Yasuke or Mori Ranmaru with their lord would likely take the form of Shudo, a sort of formalized typically pederastic homsexual coupling. Shudo was expected to be at least somewhat exclusive, and Nobunaga was already supposedly with Mori Ranmaru.
yeah you’re right. Honestly it’s a stretch and I was exaggerating. I forgot about Ranmaru entirely