On Tue, 21 Jul 1998, David Lerman wrote:

In several stories, Nodoka has suggested that Ranma marry Akane but have
Ukyou as a mistress and claims that this is a fine old Japanese custom.  

Two questions: 1) Is the mistress an accepted Japanese custom regarded as
tradition?

Well... depends on how you look at it, and what time period you're talking
about.  Historically -- as in samurai days and earlier, at least as far
back as the Tale of Genji -- for members of the nobility, it was almost
a matter of course.  The relationship with a man's mistress was almost as
formal as marriage, though with far less prestige, and each mistress
maintained a separate household.  A man would divide his time between his
various households, trying not to unduly neglect or favor any of the women
in his life.  A large part of the Tale of Genji is, in fact, the exploits
of Genji as he tries to balance his romantic relationships, and the
jealousy of one of his ladies towards another.

In modern times, however, that sort of thing just isn't done anymore -- it
would most likely be grounds for a divorce.  That's not to say some men
don't still take mistresses -- it's just that it's not nearly as widely
accepted or prestigious, and calls up more images of prostitution than
nobility.

               2) If so, why doesn't Kuno consider the idea?  Then his only
decision would be the choice of which to marry.

Can you honestly see him as able to make even that much choice?  And even
with his semi-samurai worldview, he'd still quite probably know how much
shame that would bring upon the mistress nowadays (due to 'this accursed
modern society'), and not want to blemish his loves like that.

-- 
Scott Johnson |
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