XIII — Under the Cherry Blossoms
The Women of Japan
No woman of the Orient has in recent years enlisted so much of the world’s attention as the woman of Japan. This interest has bordered upon real fascination. If the comparative alertness of mind has caused the Japanese men to be called the “Oriental Yankees,” the attractiveness of the women might give them the right to be compared to the “Southern Beauties.” They have been much written about and the world has read of them with keen appreciation.
Japanese civilization is comparatively modern. The islands owe much to Corea and China for the development of their letters and the refinement of their social life. Their alertness of mind and receptivity of character mark them among all the peoples of the Mongolian stock. This flexibility of temperament is no less true of the women than of the men, and it is partly these mental traits which give to the Japanese their attractiveness.
The women of the several strata of society present marked differences in Japan, as in other countries. This was more true in the days of feudalism, when the lines were more rigidly defined than now; though the influences of the feudal system are still perceptible and will long endure. But the women of court and castle, the women of the military class, and the women of the shop and of the soil, with all that was nationally common, lived a very different order of life. These differences are inevitable and, of course, abiding.
The chief glory of every Japanese woman is in becoming the mother of sons. And while daughters are not unwelcome, as is the case among some Oriental people, yet their birth is never so much the cause of rejoicing as is the coming of boys into the world. On the occasion of such an advent, messengers fly, notes are sent by friends, and all friends and relatives must visit the new arrival in the home. The visitor who brings his congratulations, must add to them toys, articles of dress, and the like—besides the dried fish or the eggs for good luck. The poor mother must well-nigh tax her already weakened strength to the very limit of physical endurance in receiving visitors and their congratulations. It is the father, or some chosen friend, who selects the newcomer’s name, and if it be a girl, that of some attractive object in nature is usually chosen, it not being regarded as specially appropriate or as involving any compliment to name a child for a friend or loved one. This duty of naming the child occurs on the seventh day, and on the thirteenth, it is carried to the temple and placed under the special guardianship of some deity. After this the little one becomes accustomed to the ordinary routine of eating, sleeping, and crying. Very soon it may be seen on the streets and in public places strapped to the back of an older sister, or it may be a brother; and it is not long before the babies themselves are interested in the play of the older children, to whose backs they are securely fastened.
As our little girl emerges from babyhood she finds the life opening before her a bright and happy one, but one hedged about by proprieties, and one in which from babyhood to old age, she must expect to be always under the control of one of the stronger sex. Her position will be an honored and respected one only as she learns in her youth the lesson of cheerful obedience, of pleasing manners, and of personal cleanliness and neatness. Her duties must always be either within the house, or, if she belongs to the peasant class, on the farm. There is no career or vocation open to her: she must be always dependent upon either father, husband, or son, and her greatest happiness is to be gained not by the cultivation of the intellect, but by the early acquisition of the self-control which is expected of all Japanese women to even a greater degree than of the men. This self-control must consist not simply in the concealment of all outward signs of any disagreeable emotion,—whether of grief, anger, or pain,—but in the assumption of a cheerful smile and an agreeable manner under even the most distressing circumstance. The duty of self-restraint is taught to the little girls of the family from the tenderest years; it is their great moral lesson and is expatiated upon at all times by their elders. The little girl must sink herself entirely, must give up always to others, must never show emotions except such as will be pleasing to others about her; this is the secret of true politeness and must be mastered if the woman wishes to be well thought of and to lead a happy life. The effect of this teaching is seen in the attractive, but dignified manners of the Japanese women,—even of the very little girls. They are not forward or pushing, neither are they awkwardly bashful; there is no self-consciousness, neither is there any lack of savoir faire; a childlike simplicity is united with a womanly consideration for the comfort of those around them. A Japanese child seems to come into the world with little savagery and barbarian bad manners, and the first ten or fifteen years of its life do not seem to be passed in one long struggle to acquire a coating of good manners that will help to render it less obnoxious in polite society. How much of the politeness of the Japanese is inherited from generations of civilized ancestors, it is difficult to tell; but my impression is that babies are born into the world with a good start in the matter of manners, and that the uniformly gentle and courteous treatment they receive from those about them, together with the continual verbal teaching of the principle of self-restraint and thoughtfulness of others, produce with very little difficulty the irresistibly attractive manners of the people.
One curious thing in a Japanese household is to see the formalities that pass between brothers and sisters, and the respect paid to age by every member of the family. The grandmother and grandfather come first of all in everything—no one at table must be helped before them in any case; after them come father and mother; and lastly, the children according to their ages. A young sister must always wait for the elder and pay her due respect, even in the matter of walking into the room before her. The wishes and convenience of the elder, rather than of the younger, are to be consulted in everything, and this lesson must be learned early by children. The difference in years may be slight, but the elder born has the first right in all cases. Etiquette, procedure, and self-control among the Japanese girls are the most important of the influences shaping a Japanese woman’s life.
Considerable respect is shown to the girl of the family by her brothers. The native and conventional politeness of the Japanese shows itself even in the names by which the children address one another. The parents may leave off the appellatives of respect, but brothers, sisters, and servants must treat the young lady with dignity, especially if she be the eldest daughter.
What preparation does the Japanese girl have for her position in the social fabric of her people? Fortunately for her, there is some effort made to fit her for her future duties. Quite early the daughter of a household begins to feel the responsibilities of home cares. Even those families which are able to provide ample domestic service will give to the daughter of the household the duty of making the tea and of serving it to the guests with her own hands. This is regarded as of greater honor to the visitor than if a servant had performed the task. The eldest girl of the family must learn to act in the place of the parents, should a visitor appear in their absence, or when the younger children need the care and oversight of an elder. In such matters as sweeping the rooms, preparing the meals, washing the dishes, purchasing viands, and sewing, the Japanese girl finds ample scope for a practical education to make her ready for the exactions of the life of a housekeeper when she herself shall become a wife and mother.
Besides these practical duties in which the girl is early trained, there is education in simpler mathematics and, to a degree, in literature and the art of poetry. She is expected to be familiar with the classical poetry of her country, more particularly the choice short poems, which are well known to both young and old Japanese. Education, in the stricter sense of the term, is on the increase among the girls of Japan, as well as among the boys and young men. Besides native schools, schools for the education of Japanese girls have been established by missionaries from Christian countries. And even higher education is making rapid strides, as is seen in the Kobe College for Women. But the advance of the state or public education during the past decade or more renders the foreign schools less necessary; and the private teacher, to whom the girls of the better families were formerly invariably sent, is gradually yielding to the larger school. And it may be said that to-day the girls are provided for, educationally, equally with the boys. Japan has made wonderful strides in educational matters, being receptive of new ideas concerning the common schools; but there are adjustments that must be made to the social ideals and customs of the people, because of the rise of the new education. Among these there is probably none more difficult and perplexing than that which grows out of the need of adapting the old ideas of early marriage for the daughter of a family to the growing demands and the enlarged opportunities for female education.
The Japanese girl has better opportunity to experience the pleasurable side of life than have girls of most Oriental lands. Her recreations are more numerous and varied. Among them are the annual festivals, such as the Japanese New Year, the several flower fêtes, and, above all, the Feast of Dolls, which has been thus interestingly described: “The feast most loved in all the year is the Feast of Dolls, when on the third day of the third month the great fireproof storehouse gives forth its treasures of dolls—in an old family, many of them hundreds of years old—and for three days, with all their belongings of tiny furnishings in silver lacquer and porcelain, they reign supreme, arranged on red-covered shelves in the finest room in the house. Most prominent among the dolls are the effigies of the Emperor and Empress in antique court costume, seated in dignified calm, each on a lacquered dais. Near them are the figures of the five court musicians, in their robes of office, each with his instrument. Besides these dolls, which are always present and form the central figures of the feast, numerous others more plebeian, but more lovable, find places on the lower shelves, and the array of dolls’ furnishings which is brought out on these occasions is something marvellous. Before Emperor and Empress is set an elegant lacquered service, tray, bowls, cups, saké pots, rice buckets, etc., all complete, and in each utensil is placed the appropriate variety of food. Fine silver and brass hibachi, or fire-boxes, are there with their accompanying tongs and charcoal baskets—whole kitchens, with everything required for cooking the finest of Japanese feasts, as finely made as if for actual use; all the necessary toilet apparatus—combs, mirrors, utensils for blackening the teeth, for shaving the eyebrows, for reddening the lips and whitening the face—all these are there to delight the souls of all the little girls who may have the opportunity to behold them. For three days the imperial effigies are served sumptuously at each meal, and the little girls of the family take pleasure in serving the imperial majesties; but when the feast ends, the dolls and their belongings are packed away in their boxes, and lodged in the fireproof warehouse for another year.”
Besides the special festivals and holidays, there is opportunity all the year round for the little girls to play their merry games of ball and battledoor and shuttlecock, which they do with keen delight and with much grace of movement. The tales of wonder which are told them are a perpetual source of pleasure; for they have their Jack, the Giant Killer, in Momotaro, the Peach Boy, with his wondrous conquests, and many other tales to kindle their youthful imaginations. Among these are the early ancestral exploits, which tend to keep alive love of country. The Japanese girl may be seen occasionally in the theatre, seated on the floor with her mother and sisters, taking into her memory impressions of heroism and self-sacrifice, through the historical dramas which present the early experiences of patriotism and passion which characterized the fathers of old. Thus, the Japanese girl grows up to womanhood and is a finished product five or six years earlier than is an English or American girl. At sixteen or eighteen she is regarded as quite ready herself to take up the active duties of life.
The preparation given to the girls of Japan has been justly criticised in that, while furnishing the future woman with remarkable powers of observation and of memory, with much tactfulness and æsthetic taste, with deftness and agility of the fingers, there is little to strengthen the powers of reason and to cultivate the religious and spiritual side of the nature. Music is almost the sole possession of women, and many of them play the koto (a stringed instrument with horizontal sounding boards, not unlike the piano in principle) and the samisen, or “Japanese guitar,” with great grace of touch and manner, but with little music, as adjudged by the Occidental ear;—however, standards differ. So, too, the artistic arrangement of flowers is an art much loved by the women of Japan. Their education and their daily occupation tend to cultivate the emotional at the expense of the intellectual side of life. Hence, much refinement but less strength, and the best and cleverest women of Japan, therefore, are attractive rather than admirable.
The diminutive size of the Japanese women, their pretty hands and feet, their taste in ornamenting shapely bodies, give them a personal attractiveness rarely surpassed. To what an extent the lowness of stature among the Japanese is to be attributed to their habits cannot be determined. It is the shortness of the lower limbs that is chiefly at fault; and the habit, early contracted, of sitting upon the legs bent horizontally at the knee, instead of vertically, inevitably arrests the development of the lower limbs.
The Japanese women have luxuriant, straight, black hair. The wavy hair which Western women prize so highly is not beautiful in the eyes of the ladies of Japan. Curly hair is to them positively ugly. They spend much care upon the arrangement of their tresses, and their mode of hairdressing is elaborate. Even the women of the poorer classes will visit the hairdressers. The locks are first treated with a preparation of oil, and then done up in the conventional style so familiar to all from pictures of Japanese women. This is expected with many to remain intact for six or eight days.
At present the modes of dressing the hair of female children and growing girls, as well as of married women, vary according to taste and circumstances. In ancient days, however,—and the custom still prevails in some of the more conservative regions,—the hair of the female children was cut short at the neck and allowed to hang down loosely till the girl reached the age of eight years. At about twelve or thirteen, the hair was usually bound up, although frequently this was delayed till the girl became a wife. In the romantic poem of Mushimaro, The Maiden of Unahi, we find this custom referred to, as well as the custom of secluding the young girl from the eyes of her would-be suitors:
“For they locked her up as a child of eight,
When her hair hung loosely still;
And now her tresses were gathered up,
To float no more at will.”
As a rule, the women wear no head covering whatever, except that which their luxuriant hair furnishes. In the coldest weather, however, they wrap the head gracefully in a headgear of cloth. Gloves are rarely seen upon the dainty hands of the women, and shoes are worn only when out of doors.
The costume of the Japanese women was, and in great measure still is, marked by simplicity and sameness of cut. There is no variation of style—fond as the women of the country are of dress. In the material used and in the color, however, they have ample scope for the display of their exquisite taste, their individuality, and their wealth. The age of the woman may aiso be determined with considerable accuracy by her manner of dress, for a Japanese woman has no sensitiveness on this score. The girl baby is clothed “in the brightest colors, and largest of patterns, and looks like a gay butterfly or a tropical bird. As she grows older, colors become quieter, figures smaller, stripes narrower, until in old age she becomes a little gray moth, or a plain-colored sparrow.” The hair and head ornaments also vary with the age of the wearer; so that one who is acquainted with the Japanese mode can read the age of his lady friend within a few years, at most. The V-neck is the uniform fashion in Japan, and when a woman of the better classes is properly clothed in her native costume she presents a most graceful and attractive appearance. When appropriate, she wears a sort of cloak fastened with a cord, and the familiar kimono made without any plaits, lapped over in front and confined with a broad sash which is looped in a big bunch at the back to conceal the plainness of the kimono. This sash, or obi, and the collar, or eri, are usually of the finest silk the women can afford, and are altogether the gayest portion of the habit. When a Japanese woman is at her best, she may be imagined to have just stepped from a group painted upon some artistic fan, especially when in the hands are the umbrella and the lantern. The women of the poorer classes, however, are often meagrely clad—sometimes too scantily so for decency. They peddle their wares or work in the fields, barefoot and almost naked. The shoes of a Japanese lady are so constructed that they may be easily taken off before entering the house, as is the custom. There is first put on a short stocking, or tabi, which reaches a little above the ankle and fastens in the back. This is made after the fashion of a mitten, that the great toe may be separate from the others; for a cord is to pass between the toes to hold in the geta, or “shoes.” There are several styles of these; some are partly of leather, to cover the toes on rainy days; some are merely straw sandals; while others are of wood, which are clumsy and lift the feet quite above the ground, and when worn make much noise along the streets.
In Japan, the disgrace of not being married does not arrive so early in the young girl’s life, as is the case in some countries of the East. And yet, even here it will not do for a woman to wait until the age of twenty-five without having made her peace with the god of matrimony. Usually, however, marriage, which to a Japanese woman is almost as much a matter of course as death itself, comes at the age of sixteen or eighteen. Here, too, the girl of the land of the Cherry Blossom is given more freedom of choice as respects the question who her life partner shall be than is generally true in the East; but marry she must. The inevitable Eastern “go-between” is of value here. The first steps in Japanese courting are undertaken by him in consultation with the parents of the girl who it is thought will make the inquiring young man happy. Opportunity is given, at the home of some mutual friend, for the couple to meet and pass upon each other’s qualities. If there is mutual admiration, or, indeed, if the young people find no reason why they should not be joined in marriage, the engagement present, a piece of silk, used for the girdle by the groomsman, is given, and finally arrangements are made for the wedding.
WOMAN’S TASTE IN JAPAN
After the water-color by Charles E. Fripp
There is no variation of style—fond as the women are of dress. In the material used and in the color, however, they have ample scope for the display of their exquisite taste, their individuality, and their wealth. The age of the woman may also be determined with considerable accuracy by her manner of dress, for a Japanese woman has no sensitiveness on this score. The girl baby is “in the brightest colors. As she grows older, colors become quieter, figures smaller.” The hair and head ornaments vary with the age of the wearer. The V-neck is the uniform fashion in Japan, and when a woman of the better classes is properly clothed in her native costume she presents a most graceful and attractive appearance.
The marriage ceremony is not at the home of the bride, but at the house of the groom, to which the bride is taken, her belongings, such as her bureau, writing desk, bedding, trays, dining tables, chopsticks, etc., having gone before. The giving of presents is often profuse. But it is not the bride and groom alone who are remembered; the groom’s family, from the oldest to the youngest, the servants, even the humblest, are presented with gifts by the members of the bride’s family. The gifts to the newly wedded pair are often very practical, consisting of silk for clothing or of articles of household use; and it is not uncommon for a bride to receive dress goods enough to last her her lifetime. The ceremony itself is simple and impressive. Friends and relatives generally are not present. The bride and groom are there, of course; besides these are the go-betweens of the couple, and a young girl, whose duty it is to take the cup of saké, or native wine of Japan, and press it successively to the lips of the contracting parties, emblematic of the coming joys and sorrows of their common married life. The wedding guests, who have been waiting in the next room, now appear with their congratulations, and merriment and feasting follow. On the third day after the marriage, the bride’s parents must give to the couple another wedding feast. At this the bride’s relatives receive presents in return for the large number of gifts sent by them on the wedding day to the household of the groom. Announcement of the marriage is not sent out until two or three months later; it is then made in the form of an invitation, sent out by the bride and groom, to an entertainment at their house. Acknowledgments of the bridal presents sent by friends must, of course, be made. This is done in sending to those who remember the young pair gifts of kawaméshi, or “red rice.”
It will be seen that there is in the conduct of a wedding in Japan neither legal nor religious sanction. The only prescribed formality is the erasure of the bride’s name from the register of her father’s family and its insertion in that of the husband’s. She is no longer a part of the genealogical tree. She lives with and is a part of the groom’s household. The exception to the custom is found in the yoshii, or “young man,” who becomes a part of his wife’s family, taking her family name and repudiating his own. This is done when in a family there are no boys who may inherit the estate and name. Some youth is then found, usually a younger member of a household, who can be induced to leave his heritage and unite himself with a brotherless daughter of another house. He cuts himself off absolutely from his own people and raises up heirs for his wife’s people. But he has not the standing and authority of the woman’s husband, for he becomes the servant of his mother-in-law, and may be sent back to his people if he does not conduct himself in a way acceptable to his wife’s family; or if they should weary of his presence. Ordinarily, children are scarcely regarded as of the mother at all—the blood is all the father’s. The low social standing of the mother in no way impairs the rank or respectability of the children. The past few decades have witnessed many notable changes in Japan, and there is a reaching out after legislation that shall make the marriage relation more satisfactory and permanent, for divorces have been the frequent cause of great hardships, especially upon the women, who have little opportunity to earn an honorable living when once the marriage tie has been broken. Home life is kept comparatively pure in Japan, but the price is enormous. The abandoned woman carries on her business or has it carried on for her with shameless openness. The ideals of purity are far higher among the women than among the men. And yet, chastity is not regarded as the highest virtue among Japanese women as among northwestern people. Obedience to the will of the husband stands first in the list of virtues. Thus, Japanese women have often been known to sell their chastity in order that they might save their husbands from debt or disgrace, and they have received the plaudits of the public for what is styled their fidelity to their husbands’ interest.
In few, if any, countries of the Orient do the women appear in public as the equals of their husbands. The Japanese women of the lower social classes, when they go out with their spouses, follow on behind, bearing whatever burden is to be borne. In trains or crowded rooms it is the women who stand, and not the men. Japanese gallantry is not shown in such public courtesies as are commonly offered to women in the United States. The wife does not begin her wedded life with the thought of equality with her husband; and, in law, he is greatly her superior unless, happily, her husband should be motherless. Next to her duties to her parents-in-law, the wife’s great concern is to be a good housekeeper, rather than a companion for her husband. She must, with due self-control and even with smiling face, humor the whims and the vices of her lord and master, even though he bring another woman into the home. But it may be said that the Japanese husband extends to a legal wife comparative respect and even honor, if, as the mother of children, she fulfils well her duties. Third in line of demand upon a wife’s care, stand the children. In them the Japanese mother takes delight; and here the self-control which she has learned almost from the cradle stands her in good stead and beautifully exhibits itself, for she seldom loses her temper or scolds her children. Even the wealthy women come in contact with their children and personally guide their lives. The training of the girls is almost entirely in the hands of the mother; and the domestic cares of routine life are under her skilful direction. In the rural districts the activities of women are enlarged by the part they take in the making of the crops, the running of the rice fields, the production of tea, the harvesting of grain, and the care of the silkworms, the bringing of products to market, and the like. But the freedom they thus enjoy makes amends, in a measure, for the more burdensome work of which their sisters of the city know nothing.
The geishas, or singing girls of Japan, are, physically speaking, among the most attractive examples of female grace. The word geishas means “accomplished persons,” and these girls are trained in the art of making themselves agreeable. They are accomplished in music, singing, and playing the samisen, witty in conversation, and beautiful in figure. Theirs is a regular occupation, their services being sought on occasions when entertainment is the chief concern. While these girls do not come from the higher social circles, some of them marry well and become the mothers of reputable families, while many others, yielding to the strong temptations incident to their employment, become the concubines of some well-to-do citizen or lead lives even lower in the moral scale.
Among the special occupations of women may be mentioned that of acting; for there are women’s theatres in which all the parts are performed by women. Men and women never appear on the same stage. In literature, two Japanese women have gained the distinction of having written the two greatest native works—works admittedly at the very acme of Japanese classics. One of these is Genji Monogatari, or “Romance of Genji,” and the other Makura Zoshi, or “Book of the Pillow.” The authoresses of the two masterpieces, both court ladies living in the eleventh century of our era, were Murasaki Shikibu and Seisho Nagon. To their names may be added that of a brilliant female contemporary Isé no Taiyu. The Emperor Ichijo, who reigned at that period, was a distinguished patron of letters. He gathered about him men and women of culture, and the more lasting literary monuments of his day are those written by women. The work of these gifted women is marked by ease and grace of movement, fluency of diction, and lightness of artistic touch.
Murasaki Shikibu was a lady of noble birth. She was, in her youth, maid of honor to the daughter of the prime minister of that day. This daughter, Jioto Monin, became wife of the Emperor Ichijo, and from this station of influence became a most valuable patroness of Murasaki, the talented authoress. She herself married a noble, and their daughter also became a writer of note, producing a work of fiction called Sagoromo, or “Narrow Sleeves.”
The chief work of this noted Japanese authoress, Murasaki, is what may be called a historic novel, Genji Monogatari, or “The Romance of Genji.” In this story the writer gives an accurate view of the conditions which surrounded court life in the tenth century of our era. From the romance of Gengi it may be seen, as a native Japanese critic has said, that “Society lost sight, to a great extent of true morality, and the effeminacy of the people constituted the chief feature of the age. Men were ready to carry on sentimental adventures whenever they found opportunities, and the ladies of the times were not disposed to discourage them. The court was the focus of society, the utmost ambition of ladies was to be introduced there.”
In those early days of Japanese life, it was not an unknown occurrence for a woman when plunged into the depths of some disappointment or overwhelming grief to take the oath of a religious recluse. “Her conscience,” says Sama-no-Kami, “when she takes the fatal vow may be pure and unsullied and nothing may seem able again to call her back to the world which she forsook. But as time rolls on, some household servant or aged nurse brings her tidings that the lover has been unable to cast her out of his heart, and his tears drop silently when he hears aught about her. Then, when she hears of his abiding affection and his constant heart and thinks of the uselessness of the sacrifice she has made voluntarily, she touches the hair on her forehead, and she becomes regretful. She may indeed do her best to persevere in her resolve; but if one single tear bedew her cheek, she is no longer strong in the sanctity of her vow. Weakness of this kind would be in the life of Buddha more sinful than those offences which are committed by those who never leave the lay circle at all, and she would eventually return to the world.”
There are many short Japanese poems which breathe of love, and tell of womanly charm. These short poems are highly prized, and many of them are familiar to the majority of the people. Among the women who won distinction as writers of love poems was the Lady Sakanoe, who lived in the eighth century. She was a woman of high position, being the daughter of a prime minister and wife of the viceroy of the island of Skioku. Her poems are among the most popular in Japanese literature, and some of them reveal a high order of imaginative power.
Japanese poetry, which has been described as “the one original product of the Japanese mind,” contains many references to woman, her loves, her laments, her passions, her ills. Sometimes the loyalty of a maiden’s love is set forth—as in a poem by the Lady Sakanoe in the Manyoshu:
“Full oft he swore with accents true and tender,
‘Though years roll by my love shall never wax old,’
And so to him my heart I did surrender,
Clear as a mirror of pure burnished gold.”
A large number of the love poems are sensual; yet, pure love breathes in many others, as in A Maiden’s Lament, a poem by the Lady Sakanoe, and in the Elegy written by Nibi upon his wife. The poet Sosei, also, has written words that speak to the heart:
“I asked my soul where springs the ill-crowned seed
That bears the herb of dull forgetfulness;
And answer straightway came; th’ accursed weed,
Grows in that heart which knows no tenderness.”
The mutual regard of husband and wife in early Japanese life is beautifully expressed in an anonymous poem in the Manyoshu. A wife laments that while other women’s husbands are seen riding along the road in proud array, her own husband trudges along the weary way afoot:
“Come, take the mirror and the veil,
My mother’s parting gifts to me;
In barter they must sure avail,
To buy a horse to carry thee.”
To which self-denying love, the husband graciously replies:
“And I should purchase me a horse,
Must not my wife still sadly walk?
No, no, though stony is our course,
We’ll trudge along and sweetly talk.”
There have been many able women in this land of the Cherry Blossom, and the Japanese people have not been blind to their claims to recognition as controlling forces. This is shown by the fact that no less than nine empresses have ruled the land. Some of them have been women of marked sagacity and influence. On the dim borderland of the mythical, for example, history shows us the heroic Empress Jingu Kogo, who, tradition says, was the conqueror of Corea, and the embodiment of all that is good and great in Japanese womanhood.
Among the women of Japanese legend is the Maiden of Unahi, the story of whose noble life and death has been often sung by the poets. Her tomb is to-day pointed out in the province of Settsu, between Kobe and Osaka. Such heroines of the earlier days have furnished inspiration for the women of Japan for many generations; and the ideals of domestic life are far higher than might be expected in a region of the world where women, as a rule, live out their round of life upon a general plane that is sorrowfully low.
The present generation in Japan has been truly blessed by the influence of an empress who is described as not only “charming, intellectual, refined, and lovely,” but also “noble and beautiful in character.” Haru Ko, born of noble parentage, became empress in the year 1868. Her husband had just come to the throne at the age of seventeen. This was the very year of the downfall of the Shogunate and the restoration of the imperial power. Though reared in seclusion at Kioto, the young empress began at once to measure up to the responsibilities which her position had in store for her. She proceeded to exert her influence in favor of the elevation of the women of her country. Without hesitancy, she mingled personally among the people, administering charity to them. Very early in her life as empress, in the year 1871, she gave a special audience to five little girls of the military class who were about to set out for America in order to study to prepare themselves for the larger life of womanhood in the new Japan. From the beginning of the school established for daughters of the nobility, who are expected to play an important part in the Japan that is to be, she has taken great interest in its progress.
The religious side of a Japanese woman’s life, as has been intimated, is remarkably undeveloped. In the portico of a certain temple in the interior of Japan is found this inscription: “Neither horses, cattle, nor women admitted here.” This may be taken as but one intimation of the fact that little in the way of religion is expected of the female sex. The introduction of Buddhism into Japan marked an epoch in the country’s history; but Buddhism has done little for woman, for she does not occupy so exalted a position under it as under the more ancient religion. Shintoism has its priestesses and Buddhism its nuns, but neither of these religions has brought any noteworthy blessing to the women of the kingdom. The ancient religions still influence their lives. The multitude of temples still claim the veneration of the people. Kioto retains its eminence as the chief seat of ecclesiastical learning, but the Western spirit has found an entrance into the land of the Cherry Blossom; traditional customs are yielding to its influence, and inveterate prejudices are bending before it.
The progress of Christian ideals has in recent years been rapid, and Western religious teaching has advanced with giant strides. Recent legislation has done something to increase the stability of the home by making divorce less easy. The putting of concubinage under the ban by not allowing the children of concubines to inherit a noble title, making this law apply even to the son of the emperor himself, who must also hereafter be son of the empress if he would inherit the throne, will also mean much for the elevation of womanhood in the land of the cherry and the japonica.