PORTERS WITH CHAIR.—Native Drawing.
The Corean woman has little moral existence. She is an instrument of pleasure or of labor, but never man’s companion or equal. She has no name. In childhood she receives indeed a surname by which she is known in the family and by near friends, but as she grows up none but her father and mother employ this appellation; to all others she is “the sister” of such a one or “the daughter” of so and so. After her marriage her name is buried, and she is absolutely nameless. Her own parents allude to her by employing the name of the district or ward in which she is married. When she bears children she is “the mother” of so and so. When a woman appears for trial before a magistrate, in order to save time and trouble she receives a special name for the time being.
In the higher classes of society etiquette requires that the children be separated after the age of eight or ten years. After that time the boys dwell entirely in the men’s apartments to study and even to eat and drink; the girls remain secluded in the women’s quarters. The boys are taught that it is a shameful thing even to set foot in the female part of the house. The girls are told that it is disgraceful even to be seen by males, so that gradually they seek to hide themselves when any of the male sex appear. These customs, continued from childhood to old age, result in destroying the family life. A Corean of good taste only occasionally holds conversation with his wife, whom he regards as being far beneath him. The men chat, smoke, and enjoy themselves in the outer rooms, and the women receive their parents and friends in the inner apartments. The men seek the society of their male neighbors, and the women on their part unite together for local gossip. In the higher classes, when a young woman has arrived to marriageable age none even of her own relatives except those nearest of kin, is allowed to see or speak to her. After their marriage women are inaccessible. They are nearly always confined to their apartments, nor can they even look out into the streets without permission from their lords.
There is, however, another side. Though counting for nothing in society, and nearly so in their family, they are surrounded by a certain sort of exterior respect. They are always addressed in the formulas of the most polite language. The men always step aside in the street to allow a woman to pass, even though she be of the poorer classes. There is also a peculiar custom which exists in Seoul which exhibits deference to the comfort of the women. A bell in the castle is struck at sunset, after which male citizens are not allowed to go out of their houses even to visit their neighbors. Women, on the contrary are permitted the freedom of the streets after this time, consequently, as they are assured of safety, from seeing men or being seen by them, they take their exercise and enjoy the outdoors most heartily and freely at night.
Marriage in Corea is a thing with which a woman has little or nothing to do. The father of the young man communicates with the father of the girl he wishes his son to marry. This is often done without consulting the tastes or character of either, and usually through a middleman or go-between. The fathers settle the time of the wedding, and a favorable day is appointed by the astrologers. Under this aspect marriage seems an affair of small importance, but in reality it is marriage only that gives one any civil rank or influence in society. Every unmarried person is treated as a child. He may commit all sorts of foolishness without being held to account. His capers are not noticed, for he is not supposed to think or act seriously. Even the unmarried young men of twenty-five or thirty years of age can take no part in social reunions or speak on affairs of importance. But marriage is emancipation. Even if mated at twelve or thirteen years of age, the married are adults. The bride takes her place among the matrons and the young man has a right to speak among the men and to wear a hat.
The badge of single or married life is the hair. Before marriage the young man who goes bareheaded, wears a simple tress hanging down his back. In wedlock the hair is bound up on the top of the head and is cultivated on all parts of the scalp. Young persons who insist on remaining single, or bachelors who have not yet found a wife, sometimes, however, secretly cut off their hair or get it done by fraud in order to pass for married folks and avoid being treated as children. Such a custom however is a gross violation of morals and etiquette.
On the evening before the wedding the young lady who is to be married invites one of her friends to change her virginal coiffure to that of a married woman. The bridegroom-to-be, also invites one of his acquaintances to do up his hair in manly style. On the marriage day in the house of the groom a platform is set up and richly adorned with decorative cloths. Parents, friends, and acquaintances assemble in a crowd. The couple to be married, who may never have seen or spoken to each other, are brought in and take their places on the platform face to face. There they remain for a few minutes. They salute each other with profound obeisance but utter not a word. This constitutes the ceremony of marriage. Each then retires upon either side; the bride to the female, and the groom to the male apartments, where feasting and amusement after fashions in vogue in Chosen take place. The expense of a wedding is considerable and the bridegroom must be unstinting in his hospitality. Any failure in this particular may subject him to unpleasant practical jokes. On her wedding day the young bride must preserve absolute silence both on the marriage platform and in the nuptial chamber. Etiquette requires this at least among the nobility. Though overwhelmed with questions and compliments, silence is her duty. She must rest mute and impassive as a statue.
It is the reciprocal salutation before witnesses on the wedding dais that constitutes legitimate marriage. From that moment a husband may claim a woman as his wife. Conjugal fidelity, obligatory on the woman, is not required of the husband, and a wife is little more than a slave of superior rank. Among the nobles the young bridegroom spends three or four days with his bride, and then absents himself from her for a considerable time to prove that he does not esteem her too highly. To act otherwise would be considered in very bad taste and highly unfashionable.
JAPANESE WAR SHIP “YOSHINO.”
(During the Attack on Wei-hai-wei, August 17th, 1894.)