Yobai

{{short description|Discreet unmarried sex in Japanese tradition}} {{Italic title}} {{Redirect|Night crawling|other uses|Nightcrawler (disambiguation)}} __NOTOC__

{{Nihongo||夜這い|'''Yobai'''|lead=yes|extra="night crawling"}} was a Japanese custom of premarital sex usually practiced by young unmarried people. It was once common all over Japan and was practiced in some rural areas until the beginning of the Meiji era and even into the 20th century.{{refn|<ref name="Dew2012">{{Cite book|author=Josie Dew|title=A Ride in the Neon Sun: A Gaijin in Japan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TClPXjnugboC&q=Yobai&pg=PT380|date=2012-08-02|publisher=Little, Brown Book Group|isbn=978-1-4055-1969-4|pages=380–}}</ref><ref name="Dalby2009">{{Cite book|author=Liza Dalby|title=East Wind Melts the Ice: A Memoir Through the Seasons|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VBR6h5tZ9toC&pg=PA252|date=2009-02-01|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-25991-1|pages=252}}</ref><ref name="Mente2011">{{Cite book|author=Boye De Mente|title=Japan's Cultural Code Words: Key Terms That Explain the Attitudes and Behavior of the Japanese|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xorTAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT296|date=2011-07-12|publisher=Perseus Books Group|isbn=978-1-4629-0062-6|pages=296}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Report: International Conference on the Problems of Modernization in Asia, June 28–July 7, 1965 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vUkrAAAAMAAJ |date=1966 |location=Seoul |publisher=Asiatic Research Center, Korea University |page=713}}{{Full citation needed|date=October 2025}} Full citation for the volume: {{JSTOR|2051160}}.</ref><ref name="Stevens2010">{{Cite book|author=John Stevens|title=Tantra of the Tachikawa Ryu: Secret Sex Teachings of the Buddha|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tjlLXu_8u6QC&pg=PT41|date=2010|publisher=Stone Bridge Press|isbn=978-1-61172-520-9|pages=41}}</ref><ref name="Campbell2008">{{Cite book|author=Clare Campbell|title=Tokyo Hostess: Inside the Shocking World of Tokyo Nightclub Hostessing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z66XIV5ptt0C&pg=PT64|date=2008-12-08|publisher=Little, Brown Book Group|isbn=978-0-7481-1208-1|pages=64}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|script-title=ja:東京大学アメリカ太平洋研究|trans-title=University of Tokyo, Pacific and American Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fwo0AQAAIAAJ&q=Yobai|year=2006|publisher=東京大学大学院総合文化研究科附属アメリカ太平洋地域研究センタ|pages=222–4}}</ref><ref name="Ryang2006">{{Cite book|author=Sonia Ryang|title=Love in Modern Japan: Its Estrangement from Self, Sex and Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tkOUAgAAQBAJ&q=Yobai&pg=PA30|date=2006-10-19|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-98863-0|pages=30–}}</ref><ref name="Japan Studies Review, Volumes 2-4">{{Cite book|title=Japan Studies Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iygOAQAAMAAJ&q=Yobai|year=1998|publisher=Southern Japan Seminar|pages=48, 50}}</ref>}}

== Description == At night, young unmarried men silently entered houses with young unmarried women. A man would silently crawl into a woman's room and make his intentions known. If the woman consented, they would have sex. By the morning, he would leave.<ref name="Dew2012" /><ref name="Dalby2009" /> The girl's family might know about it but pretend they did not.<ref name="Dalby2009" /> It was common for young people to find a spouse like this.<ref name="Dew2012" /><ref name="Mente2011" />

According to ethnologist Akamatsu Keisuke, the practice varied from place to place. In some areas, any post-puberty woman, married or unmarried, could be visited by any post-puberty man, married or unmarried, from the village and even by men from other villages and travellers. In other places, only married women and widows could be visited, while single girls could not. And there were variations; for example, the "closed type" ''yobai'' was a custom in which only men from the same village had the right of visitation.<ref name="Ryang2006" />

== See also == * Ngayap, practice by the Iban in Borneo * Night hunting, nighttime courtship custom in Bhutan

== References == {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== {{Refbegin}} * {{Cite book |last=Bornoff |first=Nicholas |date=1992 |chapter=Yobai |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780671742652/page/108/mode/2up?q=Yobai |title=Pink Samurai: Love, Marriage & Sex in Contemporary Japan |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780671742652 |url-access=registration |publisher=Pocket Books |isbn=978-0-671-74266-9}} * {{Cite book |last=Constantine |first=Peter |year=2013 |orig-year=1994 |title=Japan's Sex Trade: A Journey Through Japan's Erotic Subcultures |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NgrRAgAAQBAJ&q=Yobai&pg=PT65 |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |pages=65– |isbn=978-1-4629-0395-5}} * {{Cite book |editor-last=Yanagida |editor-first=Kunio |year=1969 |title=Japanese Culture in the Meiji Era |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3GYUAQAAIAAJ&q=Yobai |volume=4: ''Manners and Customs'' |translator=Charles S. Terry |location=Tokyo |publisher=The Toyo Bunko; Centenary Culture Council (Kaikoku Hyakunen Kinen Bunka Jigyookai) |oclc=16740054}} * {{Cite book |last1=Kim |first1=Chong Ik Eugene |last2=Chee |first2=Ch'angboh |year=1969 |title=Aspects of Social Change in Korea |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1fxwAAAAMAAJ&q=Yobai |publisher=Korea Research and Publications}} * {{Cite book |last=Matisoff |first=James A. |year=2004 |editor-last=Saxena |editor-first=Anju |chapter=Areal Semantics—Is There Such a Thing |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gdqy7PKHUXQC |title=Himalayan Languages: Past and Present |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gdqy7PKHUXQC&q=Yobai&pg=PA362 |series=Trends in Linguistics |location=New York; Berlin |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |pages=362 |isbn=978-3-11-017841-8 |oclc=54024128}} {{Refend}}

Category:Human sexuality Category:Japanese folklore Category:Japanese traditions Category:Night in culture Category:Sexuality in Japan Category:Sleep