JAPANESE WOMEN'S HISTORY

A study of the social status of women in Japan's medieval and Tokugawa period which 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 when studying Japanese women's social lives are spotty at best. There are more sources from the Tokugawa 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 bias of the author toward women. For these reasons, the following overview of women in medieval and Tokugawa society is incomplete, providing only snapshots of the kinds of lives women might have led in the medieval and Tokugawa 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 so 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 Tokugawa 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 later 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 mean to certify military agreements and arrangements between warrior groups. A further strategy was to give a daughter or other woman of one's family to another family to serve as hostage 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 was off fighting elsewhere.

The Tokugawa Period
The relative social and political stability that characterized the pre-modern period (c. 1603-1868) also produced changes in women's lives. Most notably, Neo-Confucian values and ethical pronouncements about the proper role for women in society dictated a rigid patriarchal system in which women were subservient to fathers, husbands, and in old age, to their sons. It should be stressed, though, that the Neo-Confucian ideal and the reality of women's lives could be quite different. There were always exceptions to the official status women were expected to occupy. Nevertheless, the official Neo-Confucian perspective was quite telling in its attitude toward women and women's place in Tokugawa period society.

According to one of the most important Neo-Confucian texts (Higher Learning for Women), a woman should always be obedient, first to her parents, then to her husband and his family, and finally, in her old age, to her sons. Further, a woman should exhibit such qualities as working hard without complaint, frugality, and humility. This text also explains that a married woman could be justifiably divorced if her husband found her to be disobedient, unable to bear children, or in bad health.

This Neo-Confucian text (Higher Learning for Women) was a moral guide for women and not a historical description of women's actual lives. There is ample evidence to suggest that women did not merely live a life of subservience to men and that the Neo-Confucian ideal may have been breached as often as it was met. Older women whose children were grown had more freedom of movement than young wives. There were also occasions when a woman married a man who was adopted into the woman's family, often because that family had no male heir.

The man in this case would assume the name of the wife's family. There is evidence that women living under this kind of material arrangement had at least somewhat more control over the household than women who married outside of their own family. Lower-class women often worked in the homes of the wealthy and only later married. Although marriage was often arranged for women by the males in their families, in some instances, rural girls had more personal choice in selecting husbands than did urban girls.

The idea of strategic marriages intended to create alliances between families has already been mentioned. Furthermore, the use of women as hostages was employed to control the political machinations of potential rivals. This phenomenon was in practice of alternate attendance at Edo (the former name of Tokyo) required of daimyo by the shogunate. In years when the daimyo returned to his domain, the daimyo's wife had to remain behind in Edo. Women were used, in this instance, to keep the daimyos loyal to shogunal authorities.

Although prostitution certainly existed in the medieval period, it became institutionalized and supervised by the shogunate in the Tokugawa period. Licensed brothels, known as pleasure quarters, existed in major cities. The prostitutes were controlled by the brothel owner and had typically been forced into prostitution as a result of poverty. There was a distinct difference between the karayuki-san and geisha. Geisha were professional entertainers. They did not rely on sex for entertaining men. They had their instruments, singing, playing musical, and dancing while karayuki-san entertained the clients with conversation and sexual gratification.

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