Paper short abstract:

This paper attempts to analyze the reconcilation of a semi-taboo sexual relationship such as brother-sister love by escaping to, and alignment with, the subordinate geographical sphere such as Manchuria, observed in cases such as Shimazaki Toson's _Vita Nova_ or Futabatei Shime's _In His Image._

Paper long abstract:

Levi-Strauss postulated incest taboo as the most basic code of a human society. It is the most fundamental semiotic function that a human-being acquires in order to enter the realm of culture. Hence, incest taboo is universal and observed by any known society.

If we, however, conceive of incest taboo slightly more loosely, i.e. if we take it to mean a taboo against a sexual relationship between the members of a certain kinship, cultural varieties emerge. Every society has its own specific kind of exogamous rule.

Brother-sister incest is normally considered as more or less universal. There is, however, a hypothesis that brother-sister incest was a common practice in ancient Japan, which is reflected in the usage of the word imo in the sense of a spouse.

This is a moot point, but the Japanese society in more recent stages clearly shows some residual features of such incest. For instance, in Tokugawa and Meiji period when the adoption at the early childhood of a future bridegroom was popular, he was invariably conceived as a (big) brother. Marriages between cousins (conceived as brothers/sister of the second kind) were also very popular.

The extremely popular motif of the contemporary comics/anime, featuring brother-sister incest may also be a residual feature of such a practice.

It is notable, however, that in justifying such a form of incest, often an inter-ethnic evoked. For instance, Toson Shimazaki attempts to overcome the scandal over his amorous relationship with his niece by traveling to Manchuria. In contemporary popular culture where representation of brother-sister incest abounds, often the Westernized or Americanized aspect of a sister is emphasized. Apparently, the transgression of ethnic boundaries is utilized in compromising other transgression in the field of non-normative sexuality.

This paper, analyzing cases of incest (brother-sister) and semi-incest (uncle-niece, cousins, etc.) in various modern cultural texts, attempts to demonstrate how the transgression of ethnic boundaries is utilized in compromising other transgression in the field of non-normative sexuality.