Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Amakusa Shirō have been identified as historical bishōnen. Western audiences may perceive bishonen as effeminate, however Japanese do not, they are seen as something akin to how Westerners view angels they are wholly male. The bishōnen typically has the same traits as idealized female beauties in Japan: lustrous black hair, opaque skin, red cheeks, etc, but simultaneously retains a male body, making them aesthetically different from both men and women. The bishōnen was conceived of as 'aesthetically different from both women and men both the antithesis and the antecedent of adult masculinity'. The term arose in the Meiji era, in part to replace the by then obsolete erotic meaning of the older term wakashū, whose general meaning of 'adolescent boy' had by this point been supplanted by the new term shōnen.

The aesthetic of the bishōnen began as an ideal of a young lover, originally embodied in the wakashū ( 若衆, literally 'young person', although only used for boys), or adolescent boy, and was influenced by the effeminate male actors who played female characters in kabuki theater. Outside Japan, bishōnen is the most well-known of the three terms, and has become a generic term for all beautiful boys and young men. Last, bishota can be used to refer to a beautiful, pre-pubescent male child or a childlike male.

The term shōnen is used to describe boys of middle and high school age. Biseinen is to be distinguished from bishōnen as seinen ( 青年) is used to describe men who are of age, including those who have entered or completed tertiary education. Bichūnen ( 美中年) means 'beautiful middle-aged man'. The prefix bi ( 美) more often than not refers to feminine beauty, and bijin, literally 'beautiful person', is usually, though not always, used to refer to beautiful women. Yoshitsune, a historical bishōnen and his retainer Benkei view the falling cherry blossoms. These are often depicted with very strong martial arts abilities, sports talent, high intelligence, dandy fashion, or comedic flair, traits that are usually assigned to the hero/ protagonist role. Moreover, it breaks down stereotypes surrounding feminine male characters. Some have theorized that bishōnen provide a non-traditional outlet for gender relations. Reasons for this social phenomenon may include the unique male and female social relationships found within the genre. Today, bishōnen are very popular among girls and women in Japan. It has always shown the strongest manifestation in Japanese pop culture, gaining in popularity due to the androgynous glam rock bands of the 1970s, but it has roots in ancient Japanese literature, the androsocial and androerotic ideals of the medieval Chinese imperial court and intellectuals, and Indian aesthetic concepts carried over from Hinduism, imported with Buddhism to China. This word originated from the Tang dynasty poem Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup by Du Fu. īishōnen ( 美少年) ( IPA: ( listen) also transliterated bishounen) is a Japanese term literally meaning 'beautiful youth (boy)' and describes an aesthetic that can be found in disparate areas in East Asia: a young man of androgynous beauty. Gackt, a Japanese musician, is considered to be a living manifestation of the Bishōnen phenomenon.

Cute middle aged woman