Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-12-26
women OF JAPAN
FOREIGN Misconceptions of
!. Womanhood in Empire.
3
WESTERN IDEAS SHOCK
!,
Modesty of the Maids, Wives and
Modesty of the Maids, Wives and
Mothers-Woman Writers
of Old Regimes.
From New York Japan Review

From New York Japan Review
- Civilizations meet first at their cages
and selvedges. Hence. judgments are
too quickly formed and prejudices are
very easily hardened. and these remain
unchanged for years. However sens'-
-hle man does not Judge of his neighbours
costume by its frayings and rawlings.
:. Yet how many Americans know any
.+hinp Of Japanese womanhood. except
from their own stage and fiction. or at
the eastern seaports? VIGOROUSLY the
region of unreality, as mapped out In
-.he drama novels and cheap picture
.plays. Is that in which most OF our peo-
nile travel to study Japanese life. Hence
the geisha and the wrong kind OF woman,
who dwells outside OF society. are taken
as types OF one-half of the human " OF
Japan, called of old the princess country.
Perhaps this had to be so at first Two
generations ago the japanese tnem-
selves were not very communicative Be
-sides this. the WORKS OF arr most easly
accessible = the Nishiki-ye- or cheap,
-brigh -colored pictures O. pubic women
of All sorts. were in al. the shops and
very easy to get. Americans stu mink
these specimens are TIP cal Japahese
ladies 1t takes long time to catch up
Even English tourists still look 10. pant
ed Indians in the streets o. Ne" YORK
Fiftv Years ago, no English-s aking
person could read Japanese doom Q,
STANDARD literature. HOY" tnen' SouIu
either people quickly and mutual learn
sahour each other after ages OF separa-
tion.
! Now. if / were a Japanese woman |
should be very proud OF my country, rsoe
and people. But I should blush. rather
than boast when / read In so many
European books. written usually by men,
and often by unmarried men lhal Tue
males of Nippon were ugly, unpieas-
ant .repIIlsive" etc, while the females
were paragons of all charm and loveil-
ness. No should discount heavily ali
such fattery. None the less would l
highest honor 10 be "a helpmeet LOT
him''-father. brother, husband or friend.
j could discover enough IN my countrys
history and civilization 10 make me nap
while in the long story Of my country's
somanhood. from empress 4 eta, /
Should ind enough for honest pride
;. For. with all honor to my sisters Oh
that they. like y ppon's womankind, had,
In the course of human evolution. risen
out of savagery. In the progress OF
civilization. they gained much put ~, We
ing them the palm of superiority al
some points and in some things. l SHOULD
feel that in others the status OF our
eountry's womanknd was dsunctiy
all generosity what history and the pres
ent reveal in favor of western woman
hood I should still lift up my voice with
my fellow patriots, for skoku- sW-noson
Preservation of the national refine
ments).
!. thousand years of our national an
mails give US a photograph of the past OF
our national life, and tell the exact truth,
Vastly better than personal likes or dis
LIKES. whether native or an alien. LOOK
ing into the mirror OF, history, | see re-
Gected both the real woman and the ma
honal excellencies. What, in detail, do
J. behold? z.-ss
FIN the prehistoric period. as reflected
b. mythology. before Confucian ethics
subordinated the sex SO completely ana
shut up all females in the home. l see
women in Japan treated with honor ana
reverence that quite equal the status
of Germanic womanhood. as pictured,
or as idealized by Tacitus. In these
pre-ancient days, much Of government
and all household order and social or
ganiZauon seem to- have come from her.
1t is amazing to note how potent an ele-
rnent she is in the narratives. and how
large a part of japanese civilization has
been wrought By women. Not TIL an
empress was on the throne did Budd-
bism, the greatest of all beneficent gifts
from the Asian continent and richest In
manifold blessings. make general prog
ress in Japan. When the military age
began in 1892, and the city of Kamakura
sose in the east. il was a woman. Itano.
magnificent piece of bronze work In the
world. If our country leads all Asia in
Art. as esthetic western people say. our
woman's part in art production is no
mean one.
Women in Literature.
1t is in literature. however. that our
Japanese women wrought a triumph that
nas no match In all the history of Europe
As the Teutonic peoples borrowed letters
and learned to read from the Romans,
and took their figures and mathematics
from tire Arabs, SO our ancestors re-
ccived the art of writing from China,
and arithmetic from India. In both
cases west and east the men wrote the
nrst documents for law. religion, bus
ness ard commerce, but in japan ii was
tle women who first created literature.
The ladies of the mikado's court actually
made theirs a literary language. COM
posing works of the imagination. Novels.
dramas. sketches of life. manners and
society. diaries, fiction In various forms
cropped from the Nippon womans pen
with d rapidity and fecundity that seems
marvellous. She made the golden age of
letters.
THINK OF a novel over 800 years old
Yet in = u l0o4. Miss Purple, as her
pame would be in English, wrote the
~Rornance Of Prince Cent?" which Is to-
day tne acknowledged standard of the
pure japanese language. In its de-
scFipttou OF art. dress. persons. opinions,
u reads a. il written last week. When
the American missionaries sought for d
Classic model, in order TO shape the YER
nacgIar diction of the Bible in japanese,
fAcy chose this book as the one without
a competitor. Now. If there Is any
parallel tn this in Europe. let us hear it.
IT ever since the medieval age Japa-
Rese women have enriched their ma
tfnnai literature Of the vital sort, and
some % the best writing of today is from
tho pens OF feminine authors.
~ the Ions line OF mikados-the old
est ruling dynasty in the world, showing
lie sohdity and perpetuity of japanese
s-ivlEZation-nine have been expresses
I'll these, two or three have been epoch
makers in civilization. Nearly all were
poets. Including especially the imperial
lady. Haruko, now dowager empress
Aho for over forty years was the be-
lived and efficient wife of Mutsuhito the
Great, the Meiji Tenno.
Unfortunately yet the names OF
japanese heToincS are In the west SC
strange as TO have little or no meaning
- a foreign ear. but who that knows the
resources IN Japanese history for fresh
Interpretations or presentations in iic-
ton, tie drama, art tableaux pageants
eli. but wonders whether i'll striking
PERSONALITIES and incidents. any country
Can excel Japan. For examples OF
AmaZonian vigor and valor, of boldness
and presence of mind in crises, of com
panionhood 10 the soldier-yes. even al
comrades in battle, defense. suicide OF
fFN.aGE In he. Of 1~..,t -