The tradition of the #wakashu died out around 1860, when Japan was infiltrated both militarily and culturally by the West and broke with their more experimental traditions. ... Open attitudes are most evident in the stunning imagery crafted centuries ago, when gender was not conceived of as either binary or biological, but a fluctuating range of identities and performances, of pleasure and play.

The Androgynous 'Third Gender' Of 17th-Century Japan https://bit.ly/41GaozT