Kagema (陰間) is a Japanese term for historical young male prostitutes. Kagema were often passed off as apprentice kabuki actors (who often engaged in prostitution themselves on the side) and catered to a mixed male and female clientele. For male clients, the preferred service was anal sex, with the client taking the penetrative role;: 109 homosexual fellatio is almost unmentioned in Edo period (1603–1867) documents.: 121–122
Kagema who were not affiliated with an actual kabuki theatre could be hired through male brothels or teahouses specializing in kagema.: 69–72 Such institutions were known as kagemajaya (陰間茶屋, lit. 'kagema teahouse'). Kagema typically charged more than female prostitutes of equivalent status,: p111 and associated notes and experienced healthy trade into the mid-19th century, despite increasing legal restrictions that attempted to contain prostitutes (both male and female) in specified urban areas and to dissuade class-spanning relationships, which were viewed as potentially disruptive to traditional social organization.: 70–78, 132–134
Many such prostitutes, as well as many young kabuki actors, were indentured servants sold as children to the brothel or theater, typically on a ten-year contract.: 69, 134–135 Kagema could be presented as yarō (野郎, young men), wakashū (若衆, adolescent boys, about 10–18 years old) or as onnagata (女形, female impersonators).: 90–92
This term also appears in modern Japanese homosexual slang.
