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A study of the social status of women in Japan's medieval and pre-modern
period underscores the fact that social structure was not just a matter
of social class but also of gender roles, both between and within
specific social classes.
Historical sources for studying Japanese women's social lives are
spotty at best. There are more sources from the pre modern period than
from the medieval, but the shortage of information to create a sustained
narrative of women's lives extends throughout the medieval period and
especially into the first half of the pre modern period. Documents
written by women are sparse compared to those written by men. Those
written by men that include comments and observations about women
invariably bear the particular biar of the author toward women. For
these reasons, the following overview of women in medieval and pre
modern society is necessarily incomplete, providing only snapshots of
the kinds of lives women might have led in the medieval and pre-modern
period.
Medieval period
In the medieval period (c. 1185-1603), a tradition that antedated the
period continued to be exercised, reflecting the social value that women
had in a predominantly patriarchal society. This tradition was for a
lesser family to marry daughters into other more influential families to
secure ties to these families. This practice was meant to establish
strategic relationships between families. While this practice was
particularly effective when it involved social and political elites, it
reportedly also occurred at regional and village levels, as well.
Prior to the medieval period, the aristocratic Fujiwara family would
marry daughters into the imperial family in order that the Fujiwara
would gain additional power and access to ruling authority. Not only was
there the direct connection to the daughter, but children born of the
daughter's marriage created ongoing Fujiwara connections. Thus, for
instance, if an aristocratic family married a daughter to an emperor,
sons of that union would become emperors and have grandparents in the
aristocratic family.
Using daughters as a commodity to buy political power and economic
advantage continued in the medieval and pre-modern period (c.
1603-1868). However, in this time period, key alliances were created
through marriage by the warrior class. This was especially the case in
the latter half of the 16th century when various provincial leaders (daimyo) vied with one
another for military control of the country. Daughters were married into
other warrior families as a means to certify military agreements and
arrangements between warrior groups. A further strategy was to give a
daughter or other woman of one family to another family to serve as
hostages for some political or military end.
This view of women in the medieval period, however, is tempered in
part by the fact that there were instances of women as warriors.
Especially warrior wives were sometimes trained in the martial arts,
such as the use of different kinds of weapons, with which they would be
expected to defend their homes and domains if their husband were off
fighting elsewhere.
Continued on
part II »
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