Guarantor-lover.
When a boy learned the art of the samurai, he often lived in a couple with a mature man. The elder man taught the boy martial arts, etiquette, the code of honor, and used him to gratify the passions. This was called the “sudo”, which means “the way of the boy to a teenager.”
When the boy was 13 years old, usually he swore allegiance to the teacher and lived six more years with him. It was considered perfectly normal. A Japanese poet wrote: “A young man without a co-signer older lover is likened to a young girl without the groom.” Such relations indeed were treated like a marriage.
