I’ve talked a lot recently about “secret projects.” One of my secret projects was this essay, which was orignally written for the first volume of Yuri is My Job, by Miman, available in English in January 2019 from Kodansha Comics.

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From the Diary of a Catholic Schoolgirl –

“Dear Diary – This morning began with cheerful greetings echoing through the clear blue sky. Today we girls, dressed in our tidy uniforms, passed in ordered lines under the tall gates, greeting Maria-sama as she smiled down upon us.”

Or something like that.

As manga fans – as Yuri fans – in the west, we surely have asked ourselves “Why is Yuri so often set in a Catholic school? And why “sisters?” surprisingly, there is an answer to this question. Around the time Japan entered the international stage, schooling for adolescents of both sexes was a prominent social cause in the late 19^th century. In Japan, just as in America and Europe, it was often religious organizations that oversaw this education. Single-sex schools became popular for children of the growing middle class.

In order to curb adolescent passion in these schools, traditions were founded that focused admiration-tinged-with-desire on strictly maintained hierarchies.

Influenced by sexology studies in the early part of the century, scientific research delved into the psychology of them same-sex relationships.

“As a result of our studies, we can say that there are two kinds of same-sex love {dousei no ai).The former … is a case in which the females make a vow of sisterhood and promise to be with each other in life or death. This is nothing more than a passionate friendship, and there is nothing in this relationship that is shameful or despicable. Thus, in this case, the love is a mutual love but is no more than an extremely close friendship.”

(Quoted in Yoshikawa Toyoko. 1998, from Suzuki, Michiko (August 2006). “Writing Same-Sex Love: Sexology and Literary Representation in Yoshiya Nobuko’s Early Fiction”. The Journal of Asian Studies. 65 (3): 575)

Girls’ literature of the early 20^th century in Japan focused on these relationships, presenting them as passionate, yet platonic bonds of sisterhood. Intense emotional relationships between older students and younger were transformed into sisterly feelings. Japanese girl’s magazines were filled with letters and stories of these heart-pounding feelings for older or younger “sisters.”

While some Japanese feminist writers were working in the context of social change, in magazines and literary publications, like Seitō (Bluestocking) other feminist writers, such as Yoshiya Nobuko took their work to popular culture outlets including these girls’ magazines, and wrote “Class-S” stories to create a literature by and for women and girls.

Yoshiya’s 1920 novel Yaneura no Nishojo established many of the tropes we still see expressed in literature and manga. It takes place in a boarding school, run by a religious organization. The protagonists are sharing an isolated attic room, there is a piano duet, and a moment when they choose to leave that protected world and go “outside.”

Other writers pursued the ideal of passionate platonic relationship, focusing on the sisterly aspect. Kawabata Yasunari and Nakazato Tsuneko wrote Otome no Minato, a classic girl’s novel that focused on this “extremely close friendship” of an older girl and younger, modeled on the Japanese sempai-kouhai relationship, but with the added affection of “sisterhood.”

In the late 20^th century, this foundation of girl’s literature became fixed as Yuri was born amidst the upheavals of the 1970s. Popular literature had detailed these affairs of the heart, mostly set in Catholic schools – so, when girls’ manga later wanted to tell this same story, immediately these tales were given the “exotic” setting of private religious schools.

The, arguably, first Yuri manga, Shiroi Heya no Futari by Yamagishi Ryoko, is set in a Catholic school in France. When passions run high, desire is not redirected into sisterly affection…with tragic consequences.

At the turn of the 21^st century, Konno Oyuki’s novel series Maria-sama ga Miteru (the anime of which made it to English as Maria Watches Over Us) resurrected the concept of the intense platonic connections between “soeur” in a Catholic school. In this series, Konno gave a whole volume to the consequences of romantic love between two girls, placing “love between girls at a Catholic school” among the firmament of Yuri tropes. This launched a renaissance of Yuri at private girls school stories, both serious and parody, from Sweet Blue Flowers, to Strawberry Panic!.

In the meantime, in fandom-focused areas of Japan, maid, and then butler, cafes began to spring up. Catering to fans’ desires to be taken care of, these cafes are still a fixture in parts of Tokyo – and at fan events across the globe. Visitors to Akihabara and Ikebukuro will be greeted by cute girls and dashing young men on the street in fantasy-inspired uniforms,  ready to pour tea or decorate pancakes with grace and charm.

So it makes perfect sense that Miman-sensei combined the two for a trope-filled Yuri romp in Yuri is My Job!. Welcome to a salon where maidens with pure hearts serve you delicious sweets, admire their “schwestern” and vie to be the Blüme, the most popular girl at the school.

Welcome to the salon at Liebe Gakuen, where you will always be greeted with “Gokigenyou” and able to enjoy the sisterly affection of the young women who serve you.

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Publications mentioned:

“Suzuki, Michiko (August 2006). “Writing Same-Sex Love: Sexology and Literary Representation in Yoshiya Nobuko’s Early Fiction”. The Journal of Asian Studies. 65 (3): 575 quoting Yoshikawa Toyoko. 1998, ‘Nihonhon no ‘lezubianizumu’: 1910 nendai no shōsetsu ni egakareta lezubiantachi”
 

[Lesbianism in Modern Japan: Lesbians Depicted in Novels of the 1910s}. In Sei gensō o kataru {Talking about the Myths of Sex/Gender),vol. 2 of Kindai o yomikaeru {Rereading Modernity}, ed. Kondō Kazuko, 75-110. Tokyo: San’ichi shobō.

Seitō (Bluestocking). Literary journal. Tokyo, Japan. 1911-16, Seitō-sha.

Yaneura no Nishojo. Yoshiya Nobuko,Tokyo, Japan: Kokusho Kankoukai, 2003. Originally published 1920.

Otome no Minato. Kawabata Yasunari and Nakazato Tsuneko, Tokyo, Japan. Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha, Ltd. 1938.

Shiroi Heya no Futari, Yamagishi Ryoko. Tokyo, Japan. Hana to Yume Comics 1971

Maria-sama ga Miteru, Konno Oyuki. Tokyo, Japan  1994-2012. Shueisha

Maria Watches Over Us. Grimes, Iowa, 2008-2010, RightStuf.

Sweet Blue Flowers, Shimura Takako. San Francisco, USA, 2017, Viz Media.

Strawberry Panic!, Kimino, Sakurako, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 2007-8, Seven Seas Entertainment.

Strawberry Panic!, New York, NY, USA, 2007-8, Media Blasters.

Today I hit a major milestone in what I’m calling the “Big Book o’Yuri” – the definitive book on history, influences, key series, definitions, and random things I want to write about, etc, etc. This monster project, which is going to cover approximately 100 years of the genre we love is halfway done! Yay! (mind you, halfway not counting formatting, citing, editing, images, etc….)

In honor of this momentous occasion, I am working on my first-ever “Patron Only” content! Get this glimpse of the definitive on Yuri book by subscribing to Okazu! All patrons who are subscribed at any level will get a peek behind the screens at some of the newest content on October 8th.

Your patronage makes it possible for me to do the work of writing what will be the most comprehensive book about Yuri ever. Every dollar helps and will get you a look at brand-new, non-Okazu content.

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