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Himejoshi
| Synonyms: | 姫女子, Himes, himejo |
| See also: | yuri fan, femslash, himedanshi, fujoshi |
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Himejoshi (姫女子, "princess girl") is a Japanese slang term for female fans of yuri media.[1][2] It is said to be derived from the yuri manga magazine Yuri Hime.[3] sometime around 2011-2012.[4] and is a mirror to "fujoshi" (female fans of yaoi/boys' love). The term has become far more popular in English-speaking fandoms than in Japanese ones. On sites such as twitter, tumblr and tiktok, himejoshis are sometimes collectively called himes.[5]
In Japanese fandom spaces himejoshi is used interchangeably with other more general terms such as yurijoshi (百合女子, "yuri girl"), "yuri ota" (百合オタ, "yuri otaku") and yurizuki (百合好き, "yuri lover"), while in published manga yuri fans tend to be referred to using the latter terms, rather than the former.[6][7][8] This may be due to other manga publishers wishing to avoid using himejoshi because of its association with Yuri Hime magazine, or simply that "yuri otaku" and "yuri lover" are easier to understand at a glance.
Use Outside of Japan
Himejoshi's usage outside of Japan grew in the late 2010s and fans questioned if there was a term they could use to identify themselves by in a similar manner to how female BL fans use "fujoshi". While examples of this question can be found in 2012,[9] it became more frequently asked on Reddit in 2016,[10][11] however it wasn't until 2017 when a user on Stack Exchange asked once more, noting the lack of consensus from Reddit, was himejoshi and himedanshi brought up as terms with a somewhat similar meaning.[4] The answer given on Stack Exchange was linked back to several months later in the r/anime topic "What's the opposite of a fujoshi called?"[12]
Following this, himejoshi's use slowly grew and it was added to Urban Dictionary on January 9, 2018.[13] A year later in January, 2019 Danbooru renamed their yurijoshi tag and wiki entry to himejoshi,[14] and the "Yuri Fan" article on TV Tropes added a paragraph noting the uses of "Himejoshi/danshi", "Yurijoshi/danshi" and "Yuri Ota".[15] Additionally, this Fanlore entry was created the next month on February 17, 2019. All of this likely helped reinforce the usage as anyone looking to see if yuri fans had a term similar to fujoshi might find these pages, or they may have been referred to when asked about in forums or on social media.
Erica Friedman, a notable yuri acafan, also recounted being asked about yuri fans having a name at a 2019 Anime NYC panel, though she suggested the creation of a new name, yurijin ("yuri people"), in favor of himejoshi and himedanshi as to avoid gendered terms.[16] While yurijin has not seen widespread use on the level that himejoshi has, fans have also used "himejin" ("princess people") as a gender neutral term from as early as 2018,[17] though some have noted issues with the translation.[18]
From the 2020s himejoshi gained more use within the yuri fandom and overall animanga fandom.[19] It began being referenced in fanworks, memes, zines, and scanlation group names, while also being used in fan's usernames and bios.
Further Reading
- Yuri Fan? Hime-joshi/danshi? Or Yuriko? by Lady Myu, Duchess of Yuri (January 25, 2019)
- What is Himejoshi? - Yuri-ology video by Lilah Lilium Lily (July 23, 2024)
References
- ^ Pixiv Encyclopedia page for "姫女子"
- ^ Mafali (2 April 2018). "姫女子の意味と由来・特徴・姫女子か診断するチェック項目". uranaru [ウラナル]. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
- ^ Danbooru wiki for "Himejoshi"
- ^ Jump up to: a b senshin, in response to Maroon (April 20, 2017). "terminology - Is there any equivalent to the "fujoshi"/"fudanshi" descriptors for yuri fans?". Anime & Manga Stack Exchange. Archived from the original on 2021-06-12. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
- ^ what's himes? — people who like yuri, himejoshi and himedanshi are the feminine and masculine forms, himejin is gender neutral. "hime" means "princess" retrospring question to @umbre_eons. (April 6, 2024)
- ^ Yurizuki-kun to Yurizukizuki-kun (百合好きくんと百合好き好きくん), a manga published from 2015 - 2017.
- ^ Ore ga Fujoshi de Aitsu ga Yuri-ota de (オレが腐女子でアイツが百合オタで), a manga published from 2016 - 2017.
- ^ Yuri-ota ni Yuri wa Gohatto desu!? (百合オタに百合はご法度です!?), a manga published from 2020 - 2022.
- ^ "Question". A thread on 4chan's /u/ board. 14 Dec 2012.
- ^ What are yuri fans called? r/anime on Reddit. Dec 14, 2016.
- ^ What should Yuri fans be called? r/anime on Reddit. Dec 28, 2016.
- ^ What's the opposite of a fujoshi called? r/anime on Reddit. July 8, 2017.
- ^ hime-joshi at Urban Dictionary
- ^ Himejoshi Wiki Page History. Danbooru. Jan 1, 2019.
- ^ Yuri Fan article on TV Tropes edit history. Jan 11, 2019.
- ^ AnimeNYC Event Report, Pt. 2 – And the Winner is…! Okazu. (November 18th, 2019).
- ^ Hey, how widespread are the gender neutral fujin and himejin used? Tumblr Ask. (May 5, 2018)
- ^ Comment by kaktuss42 on r/yurimemes "I see people use himejin as a neutral option, but I find that a bit awkward of an option since it roughly translates to "Princess-ian" or "person with expertise about princesses"."
- ^ Google Trends for Himejoshi, its usage begins to spike in 2020 and continues to grow the following years.