dysfunctionalrobit:

virovac:

I kind of doubt the frequent propsosal that tomorrows episode might reveal Yugiri died from lesbophobia,  but I’m not sure from what little I know about the era she came from.

There apparently was a growing hostility to homosexual acts at the time (she diead one year into the Meiji period) when they had been in the past previously accepted, but all references I can find only discuss male homosexuality. Lesbian acts might have slipped under society’s radar for all I know.

Hello! I’m currently studying Japanese history so I can hopefully shed a bit of light onto this. I actually wrote about LGBT+ history in Japan last year, so my info may be a bit off due to time so bear with me lol.

Homosexuality was a really big part of the era right before the Meiji, which was the Edo era. It was considered very manly for a man to be with another man, which is why it’s so prominent in Japanese history, and also why we don’t see a lot of WLW in Japanese history. I believe it’s safe to assume that the commonality of male/male relationships was the same with woman/woman relationships. That being said, while Japan was getting more and more influenced by Western ideals, I don’t think that the damning of LGBT+ acts were heavily influenced until well into the Meiji Era (around the 1900s). If Yuugiri died during that first year (1868-69), I don’t think that it would be purely because she was a lesbian. 

I also think that depending on where she was regionally would have an effect on it as well (I haven’t like looked into where any of the characters are from, I just know whatever the anime says) because if she’s from around the Saga area it’s possible that LGBT+ acts were even more common around there. Saga’s in Kyushu which is the southern-most island of Japan and an area of Kyushu (Satsuma) was extremely steeped in the belief of samurai era MLM practices. Even today, Fukuoka (the largest city in Kyushu) is somewhat known for their LGBT+ strides, so while there is (I’m sure) a lot of heteronormativity in that region of Japan, there were/are still some pretty big LGBT+ moments that’s happened on Kyushu.

I don’t claim to be a genius on this topic, especially not with Japanese history (as I’m still in school and learning bits and pieces from mainly Western sources, as that’s what’s available to me) but I hope this might clear some things up??? If anyone knows more than I do feel free to correct me!