[B]. Sir Edwin Arnold.
Another instance of the high spirit of Japanese women and their pride is shown in the following anecdote, described by a German writer, entitled ‘A Japanese Lucretia’:
In 1646 a nobleman named Jacatai was ordered to present himself before the Mikado, and was obliged to leave his wife behind. During his absence a former rejected suitor of the lady’s, taking advantage of his successful rival’s absence, came, with his retinue, and by force carried off the unfortunate bride to his castle. She, however, eventually managed to escape, and instantly determined to be revenged. Holding out distant hopes of pardon to the offender, she induced him to remain in the neighbourhood of Saccai until her husband’s return, when she gave an entertainment to all her relations and friends to welcome him back. In the middle of the banquet, which was held on the housetop, Lucretia suddenly rose up and stated what had occurred, saying: ‘I pray you to take my life now that I have been dishonoured, for I do not care to live.’ All present protested against the idea of punishing her for another’s crime, and her husband assured her he loved her none the less for what had happened. But her high sense of honour was not satisfied. ‘Will no one punish me?’ she said. ‘Then must I do it myself; but I pray you to avenge me.’ With these words she flung herself head foremost from the housetop and broke her neck. The culprit was instantly pursued, but escaped, only, however, to commit ‘hara-kiri’--the honourable despatch--by the dead body of the unfortunate lady whom he had wronged, but did not desire to survive.
From her youth a Japanese lady is taught to control her feelings, and the strange immobility that is so noticeable in the Empress is considered, from a Japanese point of view, the very highest mark of good breeding. During the war, when one of the Japanese Princes was away fighting in China, and exposed to every possible peril in that deadly country, his wife was asked if she was not terribly anxious as to her husband’s safety. ‘Oh no,’ she replied; ‘I am proud that my husband should be fighting for his country. If he is killed in the service of His Majesty, I should feel he was honoured above others who have not had the opportunity of showing their loyalty.’
The Prince, however, returned in safety, and he and his wife are living happily together; and one trusts the brave officer may have other ways of showing his valour than by his death.
Much has been said about mixed marriages in Japan. On rare occasions they are a success, but this is not generally the case, especially if the wife be the foreigner.
I was much interested in a European lady I knew who had married a Japanese officer. They were a very united couple, and, had it not been for the husband’s mother, all might have been well. But in Japan a wife is still entirely in subjection to her mother-in-law, who makes the most of this authority, in some cases reducing her son’s wife into a sort of upper servant. In the present instance, as long as her husband remained at home his wife was able to do pretty much as she pleased. When, however, the war broke out and he joined his regiment in China, the mother-in-law entirely regained the upper hand. The unfortunate daughter had to abandon her European customs, adopt Japanese dress for herself and her child, sit on the floor, and live principally on Japanese food. Nor was this all. During her husband’s absence the elder lady absolutely forbade her victim to accept any invitations or to receive any visitors except her Japanese relations and a few of their friends.
I managed, however, to gain admittance one day, and found my friend very miserable, shivering over a wretched charcoal ‘hibatchi,’ and without a single book or paper to distract her thoughts from her anxiety as to her husband’s safety. So great was the old lady’s power and influence that the Western woman did not dare to disobey, but had to submit in silence until her husband’s return home, when, I am glad to say, life once more became bearable to her.
The case is somewhat different when it is the wife who is Japanese. To begin with, no Japanese lady of gentle birth would ever think of marrying a foreigner. She would consider it a mésalliance of the very worst description. Therefore the Japanese wives whom one meets in society are of very humble origin, and generally know no language but their own. They are charming little creatures when young, pretty and gentle; but they have nothing in common with their husbands, and are looked upon more in the light of playthings than anything else. They have often, though, great influence with their husbands in their household, and succeed in bringing up their children as much like Japanese and as little like foreigners as possible. I fancy it is chiefly owing to the Japanese parent’s jealousy and the negligence of the foreigner that this is the case.