Editing Boys' love (section)

===Before 1970: The origins of ''shōnen-ai''===
[[File:MoriMari.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Mari Mori]], whose ''tanbi'' novels laid the foundation for many of the common genre tropes of {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen-ai}}]]
Homosexuality and [[androgyny]] have a [[Homosexuality in Japan|history in Japan dating to ancient times]], as seen in practices such as {{nihongo|''[[shudō]]''|衆道||same-sex love between [[samurai]] and their companions}} and {{nihongo|''[[kagema]]''|陰間||male sex workers who served as apprentice [[kabuki]] actors}}.{{sfn|de Bats|2008b|p=133-134}}{{sfn|McLelland|Welker|2015|p=6-7}} The country shifted away from a tolerance of homosexuality amid [[Westernization]] during the [[Meiji Era]] (1868–1912), and moved towards hostile social attitudes towards homosexuality and the implementation of [[Sodomy law|anti-sodomy laws]].{{sfn|de Bats|2008b|p=136}}{{sfn|McLelland|Welker|2015|p=7}}

In the face of this legal and cultural shift, artists who depicted male homosexuality in their work typically did so through [[subtext]].{{sfn|McLelland|Welker|2015|p=7-8}}  Illustrations by {{ill|Kashō Takabatake|ja|高畠華宵}} in the [[Shōnen manga|''shōnen'' manga]] (boys' comics) magazine ''Nihon Shōnen'' formed the foundation of what would become the aesthetic of ''[[bishōnen]]'': boys and young men, often in [[homosocial]] or [[homoerotic]] contexts, who are defined by their "ambivalent passivity, fragility, ephemerality, and softness."{{sfn|Hartley|2015|p=22}} The 1961 novel ''A Lovers' Forest'' by ''tanbi'' writer [[Mari Mori]], which follows the relationship between a professor and his younger male lover, is regarded as an influential precursor to the ''shōnen-ai'' genre.<ref name="Welker review"/><ref name="Mori Mari"/> Mori's works were influenced by [[European literature]], particularly [[Gothic literature]], and laid the foundation for many of the common [[Trope (literature)|tropes]] of ''shōnen-ai'', {{Transliteration|ja|yaoi}}, and BL: western exoticism, educated and wealthy characters, significant age differences among couples, and fanciful or even [[Surrealism|surreal]] settings.<ref name="Mori Mari"/>

In [[manga]], the concept of {{nihongo|''[[gekiga]]''|劇画}} emerged in the late 1950s, which sought to use manga to tell serious and grounded stories aimed at adult audiences. ''Gekiga'' inspired the creation of manga that depicted realistic human relationships, and opened the way for manga that explored human sexuality in a non-pornographic context.{{sfn|Brient|2008b|p=7}} [[Hideko Mizuno]]'s 1969 [[Shōjo manga|''shōjo'' manga]] (girls' comics) series ''[[Fire! (manga)|Fire!]]'' (1969–1971), which eroticized its male protagonists and depicted male homosexuality in American [[rock and roll]] culture, is noted as an influential work in this regard.{{sfn|Welker|2015|p=45}}