Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1889-05-22
WOMEN In THE FAR EAST.
Curious Contradictions of Their Position
Their Advancement in Japan.
Miss Scidmore in Harper's Bazar.

far Eastern countries of Asia is most
curious and contradictory. While a girl
baby is considered an unkind favor of
Providence, the reverence paid the
mother of a large family is unbounded;
her permission is asked by gray
bearded sons TO do the most ordinary
things, and her sway appears to be au-
tocratic. The old patriarchal form of
lite being observed, the family is the
unit, the individual is a mere traction,
and the vote of the family council and the
Will OF the elders determine the action
OF any individual. All in this intimate
corporation are bound by the action of
the recognized head, and the women
more especially. In discussing this i'm
personal condition many outsiders insist
that the family relationship is not
marked by the same warmth Of feeling
and affection among Orientals as among
Occldentals; that the exaggerated rev.
erence paid to parents and ancestors is
cold, s~oulless and formal, a matter of
tradition, custom and etiquette, flial
piety being enioined by Contucius and
taught by the Buddhists; that while
such reverence is apparently paid the
mother of a family, it is all form and
conventionality, since she has no free
dom, no individuality, and hardly a
name, according to Occidental minds.
Confucius and the classics are filled
with scornful and contemptuous allu-
slons to women, and are the authori-
ties for the general belief in their in
ferlority. The of the middle
and upper classes in China are kept in
seclusion all their lives, given no voice
in the family councils until aged, and
are seldom taught the rudirnents of an
education.
In contradiction to this low and mis-
cradle estate of some millions of Chinese
women the present Empress dowager
and Regent of China is an anomaly
among female sovereigns. She is a Tar
tar by birth, literally and iguratively,
and Is strong-minded, independent, and
masculine, even to our Western ideas.
While no woman can occupy the dragon
throne, this Regent has governed the
Empire during a most stormy and crit
zeal period. She has kept the eighty
vast provinces together, and held in
loyal subsection the widest and most
cunning coterie of councillors. The Chi
nese Empress is an active and energetic
woman, and, besides the manly art of
statecraft, is given 70 outdoor and ath-
letic sports. Her feet are not dwarfed,
and riding, hunting, hawking, and arch
cry are her pastimes. No European has
ever looked upon her, but there is no
doubt of the existence Of this Oriental
Catherine the Great. She has V
undertaken any social reforms or at
tempted to widen the sphere of her fe-
male subjects.
In Japan women have always held a
position superior to that of their Asiatic
sisters. Their seclusion, eve in the old
days, was not so strict. They led a
freer and more outdoor life, and they
were educated to a certain extent. The
family idea and rule prevailed, and with
the exquisite politeness of those people
exalted Difference was paid the mother
of the family. The Confucian laws were
recognized there as we'll, and her duties
and obligations were strictly defined by
them. Her three great duties were
obedience to her father, her husband
and eldest son, as they in turn became
the head of her family.
Japanese women of the middle and
upper classes were taught to read and
| write the common language in the hira-
kama, or simple running characters, in
stead of the square characters Of the
classic language. All novels, plays and
newspapers are written in the hirahana,
and women are still the great novel
readers Of Japan. No woman attended
the theater before marriage. and the
upper classes not at all, the realism and
license of the stage being given as a
reason. A Japanese woman's education
| formerly comprised endless lessons and
| practice in the mysteries of etiquette,
learning to play the koto and samisen,
and to arrange bouquets. Women of
| literary taste were not at
court, and the screens in the Empress
suite in the old Kfoto Palace, are COW
! cred with autograph poems dashed of
by herself or her ladies in waiting.
| The present Empress of Japan is poetic
in her tastes, and has shown a great in
terest in Western literature. It is I'M
| der her lead that such reforms in the
| condition of women have taken place,
and in the court life she moves and
acts as any sovereign lady of a Europe
an country.
Since 1870 new laws have been made
regarding the legal status of women in
| Japan, and the people are still in transit
| ton between the old customs and the
new condition of things. Under the
present laws women can held property,
dispose of it, and manage their affairs
| on much better terms than are possible
to the women of some European ma
tions. They can testify in court, al
though they seldom do it, old prejudices
not being sufficiently overcome to al
low a woman's testimony to have much
weight with a Japanese judge.
The advancement of women has been
the most wonderful feature in the
progress of Japan during the last twen-
ty years. The Empress Haru has led
most of the movements, and founded
institutions and schools destined to as
sist Japanese ome to a higher and
more nearly equal intellectual and social
plane with men and with Western
women. Besides these institutions the
Empress is at the head of the Fujiu
lKiofu Kwai, a society for the advance
ment of women and aiming to secure
them higher and social legal estate.
Many Japanese men are members of
this society, and. earnestly devoted to its
ends, more especially those who. hav-
ing occupied official positions abroad,
have had the opportunity to
see and feel how different the
position of the m Of their
own families has been in for
eign countries, compared to what they
enioyed at home. The late Viscount