A Handbook of Modern Japan

by Ernest W. Clement

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Suitable works of reference on this chapter are scarce. “The Yankees of the East” (Curtis), chap, viii., and “The Real Japan” (Norman), chaps. iii. and xi., furnish some material. Dr. Masujima’s papers in the Transactions Asiatic Society of Japan on “The Japanese Legal Seal” (vol. xvii.) and “Modern Japanese Legal Institutions” (vol. xviii.) are quite instructive; and so is Longford’s “Summary of the Japanese Penal Codes” in vol. v. Some specific references have already been made in footnotes.

“Every Day Japan” (Lloyd) contains interesting material on these topics. Hozumi’s “Lectures on the New Japanese Civil Code” and “Ancestor Worship and Japanese Law” are very valuable.

CHAPTER XIII
THE NEW WOMAN IN JAPAN[119]

Outline of Topics: Not Western “new woman,” but abstract, legal new woman in Japan.—Woman in old régime; wife in old régime; lack of “home”; woman anciently honored.—Legal status in Old Japan, in New Japan; independent person; marriage; right of marriage; husband and wife.—Divorce,—by arrangement and judicial.—Concubinage; child of a concubine.—Prospects of new woman; openings for labor.—The “New Great Learning for Women.”—Enlarged educational advantages; new schools.—Women in business.—The Empress and the Crown Princess.—The woman question; further needs; women and Christianity.—Bibliography.

ANY intention of using the term “new woman” in a jocose or satirical way is disclaimed at the outset. It is not our purpose to refer at all to such a creature as that called “new woman” in the Occident; for it has not yet appeared to any great extent among the Japanese. It may be true, in some cases, that the modernized Japanese woman is “without gentleness or refinement,” and may be called a “parody of a man” or a “sickening sort of person.” But, as the “Jiji Shimpo” explains, “the process of the new woman’s evolution may be disfigured by some accident”; and “the new woman stands out with objectionable salience because her environment is so colorless.”

It is desired, in the first instance, to consider, not the new woman in the concrete, in the flesh, but the abstract, legal new woman that has been created by the new Civil Code of Japan. In looking through the translation of that document by Mr. Gubbins, we have been deeply impressed with the possibilities which lie before the women of New Japan through the rights and privileges vouchsafed to them under that code.

In Old Japan, as stated in a preceding chapter,[120] the constitution of the family was practically that of an empire, in which all other members thereof were subject to the despotic authority of the master. A Japanese woman was subject to the “three obediences”: as a maiden, to her father; as a wife, to her husband and his parents;[121] as a widow, to her oldest son, whether real or only adopted. A daughter might even be called upon, for the sake of her parents, to sacrifice her honor and enter a brothel; and she was still considered virtuous, because personal chastity was a lower virtue than filial piety.

A Japanese, like a Grecian, wife was to her husband a faithful slave, “something better than his dog, a little dearer than his horse”; she was both a drudge and a plaything, to be cast aside as capriciously as a child throws away a toy. She must tamely submit to having concubines brought, perhaps, right into the house at the will of her lord; or she herself might, under slight and flimsy pretexts, be divorced and sent back to her parents. The following “seven reasons for divorce” were laid down by a celebrated Japanese moralist: disobedience to father-in-law or mother-in-law; barrenness; lewdness; jealousy; leprosy or any like foul disease; garrulousness and prattling; stealing.

It is, therefore, a misnomer to speak of “Japanese homes” of the old régime, in the sense in which we use that little word “home” with all its depth and wealth of meaning and its associated thoughts of “love” and “sympathy.” Indeed, the word “home” cannot be perfectly translated into the Japanese language, and is generally transferred bodily with the pronunciation homu. And one of the far-reaching results of Christian mission work in Japan has been the introduction of the idea and the ideal of the Christian home.

It should, however, be constantly kept in mind that in the most ancient times women were highly esteemed, and even “used to play an important part on the political stage.” In Shintō the central object of adoration is the sun, which is worshipped as a goddess. There have been seated on the imperial throne of Japan eight empresses, one of whom is famous for her martial valor and military exploits. It was when Buddhism became powerful that Hindoo and Chinese conceptions of woman’s position moulded public opinion and thus eventually changed the manners, customs, and laws of Japan so as to relegate woman to an abnormally inferior position. As only one striking example out of many possible illustrations of the relative positions of man and woman, we note that, in the case of the death of the husband, the law prescribed mourning garments for thirteen months and abstinence from impurity for fifty days; but, in the case of the death of the wife, mourning garments for three months and abstinence for twenty days were sufficient.

Mr. Gubbins in the introduction to Part II. of his translation of the Civil Code, writes as follows:—

“The legal position of women in Japan before the commencement of modern legislative reform is well illustrated by the fact that offences came under different categories according to their commission by the wife against the husband, or by the husband against the wife, and by the curious anomaly that, while the husband stood in the first degree of relationship to his wife, the latter stood to him only in the second.[122] The disabilities under which a woman formerly labored shut her out from the exercise of almost all rights. She could not inherit or own property in her own name, she could not become the head of a family, she could not adopt, and she could not be the guardian of her child. The maxim, mulier est finis familiae, was as true in Japan as in Rome, though its observance may have been less strict, owing to the greater frequency of adoption.

“In no respect has modern progress in Japan made greater strides than in the improvement of the position of women. Though she still labors under certain disabilities, a woman can now become the head of a family and exercise authority as such; she can inherit and own property and manage it herself; she can exercise parental authority; if single, or a widow, she can adopt; she is one of the parties to adoption effected by her husband, and her consent in addition to that of her husband is necessary to the adoption of her child by another person; she can act as guardian or curator; and she has a voice in family councils.”[123]

Moreover, although it is true that for the performance of certain acts (Art. 14) a wife must obtain her husband’s permission, and that a wife’s acts may be annulled by her husband (Art. 120), yet it is explicitly stated that “a wife who has been permitted to engage in one or more businesses possesses in regard thereto the capacity of an independent person.”

But let us look a little more particularly into the provisions relating to marriage, divorce, etc. The marriageable age is 17 full years for men and 15 full years for women. Marriage takes effect when notice of the fact is given to a registrar, by both parties with two witnesses. From this it will appear that the ceremony is a “purely social function, having no connection whatsoever with law beyond the somewhat remote contingency of its being adducible as evidence of a marriage having taken place.” And here is where some Japanese Christians make an unfortunate and sometimes serious mistake, in thinking that the ceremony by a minister of the gospel is sufficient and registration is a matter of convenience. Without registration a marriage is not legal.

The right of marriage is not free, except to the head of a family.[124] All other persons, whatever their ages, can marry only with the consent of the head of his or her family. Men under 30 and women under 25 cannot marry without the consent of the parents; and minors in some cases must obtain the consent of the guardian or even of a family council.

In Art. 790 it is stipulated that “a husband and wife are mutually bound to support one another.” A husband manages the property of his wife, unless he is unable to do so, when she manages it herself. “With regard to daily household matters, a wife is regarded as her husband’s agent.”

There are two ways of effecting divorce: either by arrangement, which is effected in a similar way to marriage—that is, by simply having the registration of marriage cancelled—or by judicial divorce, which may be granted on several grounds specified in the Code. But divorce by arrangement cannot be effected by persons under 25 years of age, without consent of the person or persons by whose consent marriage was effected. And if the persons who effect this kind of divorce fail to determine who is to have the custody of the children, they belong to the father; but “in cases where the father leaves the family owing to divorce, the custody of the children belongs to the mother,” evidently because she remains in the family. In other words, children are chattels of the family.

The grounds on which judicial divorce is granted include bigamy, adultery on the part of the wife, the husband’s receiving a criminal sentence for an offence against morality, cruel treatment or grave insult such as to render living together unbearable, desertion with evil intent, cruel treatment or gross insult of or by lineal ascendants.

The new Civil Code indirectly sanctions concubinage by stipulating (in Art. 827) that “an illegitimate child may be recognized by the father or mother” by giving notice to a registrar. Such a child is called shoshi, but is not legitimized. It is, however, stipulated (in Art. 728) that between a wife and a shoshi “the same relationship as that between parent and child is established.” That seems clearly enough to mean that a wife must accept a concubine’s child as if it were her own, in case the father “recognizes” it. This would appear to be little, if any, advance over the old régime, where “the wife of the father,” as she was technically called, frequently had to accept as her own child that of a concubine.

Mr. Gubbins makes the following explanation of shoshi:—

“This term illustrates the transitionary phase through which Japanese law is passing. Japanese dictionaries define shoshi as the child of a concubine, and this, so long as concubinage was sanctioned by law, and the question of legitimacy never arose, was the accepted meaning of the term. The law of Japan, which, in the course of its development on western lines, has come to accept the principle of legitimacy, and to admit of the legitimization of children by the subsequent marriage of their parents, now recognizes an intermediate stage between legitimacy and illegitimacy.”

Such is the general outline of the legal status of woman according to the new Civil Code. It will undoubtedly be most interesting to watch the gradual evolution of a new woman in Japan as the outcome of this legislation. It remains to be seen how far the social status of woman will be improved. It is not at all likely that her actual position will be immediately advanced in any great degree. It is probable that custom will continue, for a while at least, to wield a mightier influence than the Code; and that, as Mr. Gubbins remarks, “the present transitional condition of Japanese society may favor a rule being honored more in the breach than in the observance.” But it will probably not be long before here and there certain women will claim the rights accorded by law[125] and will find a corresponding improvement in their social condition; and thus the general position of the Japanese woman will gradually be advanced.

And, as a matter of fact, the status of woman in Japan is improving in practice no less than in theory, especially in the new openings for work that render her more or less independent of male support. For instance, although the work of weaving, formerly carried on by women in the homes, is now largely transferred to factories, with modern machinery, there is an increasing demand for female hands. This is also true in cotton mills, match factories, tobacco shops, and many other such places of work. Telephone exchanges, post-offices, railway ticket offices, printing offices, also find girls and women deft and skilful. In hospitals and schools, too, the Japanese young woman is finding her sphere. She is likewise showing her skill and taste in both artistic and literary employments. But in Japan, as elsewhere, this drift into industrial and other occupations is producing a scarcity of servants for housework.

Just as Kaibara’s “Onna Daigaku” (Great Learning for Women) was the standard for female education under the old régime, so New Japan most appropriately has a “Shin [New] Onna-Daigaku,” by Mr. Fukuzawa, the famous educator and writer. The following summary thereof is from the “Japan Mail”:—

“The ‘Sekai-no-Nihon’ reviews at some length Mr. Fukuzawa’s series of articles entitled ‘Shin Onna-Daigaku,’ which have now appeared in book form. We give in a brief form the gist of the reviewer’s remarks. Mr. Fukuzawa’s object in writing so much on the subject of women’s position in modern times is to endeavor to create a new standard for women. Hitherto the teaching of Kaibara Ekiken’s ‘Onna Daigaku’ has been accepted in all quarters. According to it woman occupies a subordinate position, and must on no account assert her independence or claim equality with man. While showing the untenableness of all such theories, Mr. Fukuzawa does not rush to an opposite extreme. He defines woman’s position in a remarkably common-sense way. He would not have women attempt to imitate men. They have their own spheres and should keep to them. When discussing the education of girls he insists on the necessity of making a special point of giving them a thorough drilling in household duties. They should have a knowledge of cooking; they should be taught how to make the most of money, how to manage servants, &c. Next to these things he attaches great importance to their being instructed in the laws of health. Among other subjects botany is to be recommended as specially suited to the female mind. He further argues that women should be taught Economy and Law. He thinks that a knowledge of these subjects will tend to develop their general intelligence, and save them from becoming the creatures of emotion. In olden times a woman carried a dagger in her girdle to be used as a last resource. In modern times a thoroughly enlightened mind will be her best protection against the dangers to which she is exposed. With the tendency to conceit which is said to be engendered by the kind of education recommended, Mr. Fukuzawa deals in his treatise, arguing that this tendency can be rendered harmless by instruction in the kind of demeanor that best becomes a woman.... Marriage according to the old methods Mr. Fukuzawa condemns, and the practice of having the father-in-law or mother-in-law living with the married couple should, he thinks, be discontinued. Marriage should be regarded in a serious light, and the duties and responsibilities it involves should be duly considered. Mothers should take pleasure in instructing their children, and should know enough to gain their respect. The whole system recommended is based on Western life and thought. This new Gospel for woman preached by a man who has spent his whole life in advocating reform, as one of his last messages to the nation, is, says the ‘Sekai-no-Nihon,’ very striking and likely to effect great good.”[126]

Within the past decade or so the educational advantages for Japanese girls have very largely increased; and the number of girls and young women availing themselves of these advantages has grown encouragingly. There has been a marked increase in the number of female pupils in public and private, including mission, schools of all grades; and there have been new institutions organized especially for young women, concerning two of which it is necessary to speak more particularly.

One is a kind of English normal school in charge of Miss Umé Tsuda, herself a type of the best kind of “new woman” in Japan. She was the youngest of the first group of Japanese girls sent over to the United States in 1871 to be educated; and ever since her return to Japan she has been trying to elevate the condition of her sisters. Her school is intended primarily to train young women to be efficient teachers, particularly of English. Another important institution is the University for Women, opened in 1901 in Tōkyō, the first of its kind started in the first year of the new century, as a harbinger that the Twentieth Century in Japan will be largely the women’s century.[127]

What the new woman in Japan is able to accomplish in business lines is well illustrated in the following paragraphs:[128]—

“Mrs. Asa Hiroöka, of Ōsaka, is well known in business circles as the actual guiding spirit and organizer of the famous banking firm of Kajima. A daughter of the Mitsui family, she was married at the age of 17 to Mr. Shingorō Hiroöka of Ōsaka a few years previous to the restoration. The Hiroöka family was one of those celebrated banking agents of the feudal barons who flourished at Ōsaka during the Tokugawa régime, and, like many of the rest, had its affairs thrown into disorder and was itself reduced to a precarious condition by the political convulsion of three decades ago. The Kajimaya, under which style the Hiroöka family conducted its business, would certainly have shared the same melancholy fate that overtook so many of its compeers had it not been for the resolute character and business capacity of Mrs. Asa, who assumed the sole direction of affairs, introducing sweeping changes in the organization of the firm, and in a remarkably short space of time succeeded in starting it on a career of fresh and increasing prosperity.

“About twenty years ago Moji, the present flourishing centre of the coal business, had scarcely come into existence; in other words, few people had yet commenced to turn their attention to the development of coal-mining. In this venture she encountered innumerable difficulties. In the first place, she had to overcome the determined opposition of the other members of the family. Their position was, in fact, so strong and persistent that she had to engage in the undertaking entirely on her own account and responsibility. She had thus to start afresh with little capital, except her own personal credit, and many were the hardships and disadvantages against which she had to struggle. But there is always a way where there is a will, and our fair but indomitable miner was ultimately rewarded with signal success, and succeeded in adding largely to the capital of the firm and in establishing her reputation as a resourceful organizer and a unique business woman.

“All the collieries in her possession have one after another been disposed of at profitable prices, and just at present she is devoting her whole attention to the expansion of the banking business of the firm. An eminently successful financier and business organizer, she is by no means indifferent to interests of a higher sort. Herself well educated, she takes a keen interest in educational matters, especially those relating to her own sex, being one of the principal supporters of Mr. Naruse’s scheme for a university for girls. By way of giving practical encouragement to the movement in favor of female education, she already employs some educated girls as clerks at her banks, and intends to place a new department which is about to be opened at those banks almost exclusively in the hands of female clerks.”

This chapter would, of course, be incomplete without a few words about the recent first lady of the land now Empress Dowager, who has proved herself to be in heartiest sympathy with the ideals of New Japan. As she had no children of her own, she adopted the entire nation and completely won their love; she was, indeed, the mother of millions. She is especially interested in educational and benevolent institutions; she is the active patron of the Peeresses’ School, the University for Women,[129] the Red Cross Society, and other philanthropic enterprises. In times of calamity her purse is always opened for a liberal contribution to the suffering.[130]

The lady now of special interest is Empress Sada, the young wife of the new Emperor. She was born in 1884, and was educated in the Peeresses’ School until her betrothal, when she was placed under private tutors. She was married on May 10, 1900, and is the mother of three healthy sons. The young rulers live a happy and congenial life.

H. I. M. THE EMPRESS

In conclusion, we make one more quotation, from Miss Bacon’s “Japanese Girls and Women,” as follows:—

“The woman question in Japan is at the present moment a matter of much consideration. There seems to be an uneasy feeling in the minds of even the more conservative men that some change in the status of women is inevitable, if the nation wishes to keep the pace it has set for itself. The Japanese women of the past and of the present are exactly suited to the position accorded them in society, and any attempt to alter them without changing their status only results in making square pegs for round holes. If the pegs hereafter are to be cut square, the holes must be enlarged and squared to fit them. The Japanese woman stands in no need of alteration unless her place in life is somehow enlarged, nor, on the other hand, can she fill a larger place without additional training. The men of new Japan, to whom the opinions and customs of the western world are becoming daily more familiar, while they shrink aghast, in many cases, at the thought that their women may ever become like the forward, self-assertive, half-masculine women of the West, show a growing tendency to dissatisfaction with the smallness and narrowness of the lives of their wives and daughters—a growing belief that better-educated women would make better homes, and that the ideal home of Europe and America is the product of a more advanced civilization than that of Japan. Reluctantly in many cases, but still almost universally, it is admitted that in the interest of the homes, and for the sake of future generations, something must be done to carry the women forward into a position more in harmony with what the nation is reaching for in other directions. This desire shows itself in individual efforts to improve by more advanced education daughters of exceptional promise, and in general efforts for the improvement of the condition of women.”

Miss Bacon, in her book, traces very clearly the progress that has been made in the condition of woman, and shows how “better laws, broader education for the women, [and] a change in public opinion” are still necessary. And she affirms that “we can feel pretty sure that, when the people have become used to these [recent] changes [of the new Civil Code], other and more binding laws will be enacted, for the drift of enlightened public opinion seems to be in favor of securing better and more firmly established homes.”

The following is also worthy of quotation: “It is not possible to understand the actual progress made in Japan in improving the condition of women, without some consideration of the effect that Christian thought and Christian lives have had on the thought and lives of the modern Japanese.”