Articles
Plants in the Shade: Cryptogams as Queer Metaphor in Modern Japanese Discourse
Abstract
The now-archaic botanical term "cryptogam" was used to refer to ferns, mushrooms, and other plants thought to reproduce without producing seeds. In Japanese, however, the term cryptogam (inka shokubutsu) has been used as a metaphor for queer sexualities since shortly after World War II. Starting in the early 1950s, inka shokubutsu began to be used to refer to queer communities emerging in Tokyo and other urban centers and was subsequently adopted by mainstream media during the 1960s and 1970s. By the 1990s, however, the term had fallen out of use, as a new generation of LGBTQ activists argued that it had discriminatory connotations. This article shows how cryptogams emerged as a unique metaphor for queerness in Japanese literature and media over the course of the twentieth century and argues that debates over the term's meaning illuminate larger questions of queer representation and visibility in contemporary Japan. The now-archaic botanical term "cryptogam" was used to refer to ferns, mushrooms, and other plants thought to reproduce without producing seeds. In Japanese, however, the term cryptogam (inka shokubutsu) has been used as a metaphor for queer sexualities since shortly after World War II. Starting in the early 1950s, inka shokubutsu began to be used to refer to queer communities emerging in Tokyo and other urban centers and was subsequently adopted by mainstream media during the 1960s and 1970s. By the 1990s, however, the term had fallen out of use, as a new generation of LGBTQ activists argued that it had discriminatory connotations. This article shows how cryptogams emerged as a unique metaphor for queerness in Japanese literature and media over the course of the twentieth century and argues that debates over the term's meaning illuminate larger questions of queer representation and visibility in contemporary Japan.