WOMEN’S CLUB

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 258, 28 September 1940, Page 8

WOMEN’S CLUB

TALK ON JAPAN. Members of the Manawatu. Women’s Club met at Messrs Collinson and Cunninghanie’s tearooms yesterday afternoon, when Mrs A. E. Manslord presided and the hostesses .were Mesdames T. Simpson, It. 13- Robertson and J. H. Nash. Orange and gold Iceland poppies with; greenery 'decorated the tea tables. Mrs It. S. Law gave violin solos, accompanied by Mrs Morgan and Miss M. Cranston, recitations. The secretary (Mrs N. V. Ballinger) read a letter received by a member, Mrs J. L. Davies, from Mrs Kain. mother of the late Flying-Officer E. J. Kain, giving news of Mrs Davies’s son, Mr Oakden Davies, who is now serving overseas and was a passenger on the same ship as Mrs Kain travelled on. Mrs Robertson introduced the speaker, Rev. Clarence Eaton, who gave an interesting talk on “The Women of Japan.” There was an almost universal admiration for the Japanese woman, the speaker said- Thoujjh not lacking in physical attraction, she was generally short and stout. The men were not fine physically, although well-knit and powerful, but the women were so different that they seemed to belong to another race. They were superior in intellect and character to the men and, some writers said, to all their sex. Sir Edwin Arnold said they were the most gentle, the best mannered, the most modest and the most self-sacrificing women in the whole world. The Japanese woman was the best for her inches in the whole human race. There was something in her daintiness and charm that made her a paragon of her sex. Arnold slimmed his impressions up as “that ceaseless grace of manner, that simple joy of life, that universal alacrity to please; that almost divine sweetness "of disposition which places Japanese women in these respects higher than any other nation ; the women seem to me, semi-angelic. What were the forces that had gone to the making of these paragons among women, if the claim were conceded ? They were the product of 2000 years training and-a traaition that had bred in them complete subordination to the male, and dependence. The Japanese woman was known as “the honourable lady of the back room.” She was submissive to wait upon her Husband's least request. There was no male in all the world so waited upon as a Japanese man. From the age of seven boys and girls were separated and the women were brought up traditionally to take a position almost of slavery. Self-sacrifice and self-forgetfulness were natural to the Japanese woman brought up in this traditional atmosphere. Another root of the unusual characteristics of the Japanese woman/was the constant self-control and selfrepression, Mr Eaton added. No Japanese would ever be so lacking in self-respect as to display emotion. This habitual self-control was probably partly the result of climatic conditions. .They lived in a mountainous country constantly subject to earthquakes, and the character was bound to be influenced by tbe constant struggle with natural forces. Then there was the elaborate etiquette which had given rise to the accusation of hypocrisy and insincerity against the Japanese. But there was also innate courtesy, hos-: pitality and a reposeful'dignity resulting from this ceremonial. The chief training of Japanese was towards motherhood, and no woman was fully honoured until she was the mother of a son. The Japanese woman was a wonderful mother, probably because her affections were starved. There was no word for “love” in the Japanese language, and marriage was solely a matter of convenience. One of the most endearing qualities ill the Japanese character was the sensitiveness to beauty. This artistic temperament was reflected in the homes, uhere nothing ugly was ever found. Comfort ami convenience mattered nothing to the Japanese in comparison with beauty, and he would choose his home largely for its situation and surroundings. The houses were very simple and sparsely furnished. The' artistic temperament was also reflected in dress. Mr Eaton described the elaborate hairdressing and the kimono and richly-designed obi or sash. At 21 the Japanese girl gave up wearing gay colours and dressed in soft greys or similar shades. To understand her charm fully it had to be remembered that to the Japanese the essence of virtue, was cleanliness. Strange to say, the Japanese woman had to go to church to borrow 'her good looks, from wooden figures -which could bestow on the obedient worshipper a becoming complexion. There was tragedy in t'iic life of _ Japanese women, as the men were inherently coarse. At her marriage the Japanese woman wore white—the funeral colour in the East —to indicate that she was now dead to all but her husband. Obedience was her very life. Mr Eaton commented that in Japan, as in all countries where Christianity was not prevalent, women occupied a subordinate position and it was to he hoped that some day they would attain to that wider and happier life which Christianity brought to women. To-day the oklor Japanese deplored a tendency in the young people to drift towards the cities and abandon old customs, Mr Eaton concluded. Mrs Simpson thanked the speaker and performers.