Chigo

In Japan premodern a chigo (稚児) is a boy of about seven to fourteen years in training in a Buddhist monastery. The nearest French translation is "novice".

This word can have a second meaning derived from the first: it denotes a young boy loved by a monk in the context of a relationship that is both initiatory, emotional and very often sexual.

Vocabulary

The word chigo稚児(approximate pronunciation: /tʃi.go/) consists of two characters:

• 稚 chi = child
• 児 ko = child, boy

Literature

A particular genre is chigo monogatari, which tells a love story between a monk and a novice - eg Aki no yo nagamonogatari 秋夜長物語(Long story for an autumn night), the anonymous author recounts the linking Keikai and young Umewaka.

Saying

A popular saying clearly expressed the priority given by the monks to their young companions:

Ichi chigo nor Sanno.

First the chigo then the god of the mountain. [[[1]]]

• Tôzô Suzuki, Koji Kitowaza Jiten, Tokyodo Shuppan, 1956, p. 59 (trans. BoyWiki)

See as well

Related articles

• Buddhism
• Chigo Monogatari
• Japan
• Monk

Notes and references

1. ↑ Japanese transcript and English translation by Margaret H. Childs in " Chigo Monogatari, love stories or Buddhist sermons? "p. 1. (Downloadable article：https://www.academia.edu/1011023/Chigo_Monogatari._Love_Stories_or_Buddhist_Sermons)