JAPANESE GIRLS AND WOMEN

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 5372, 3 September 1904, Page 10

JAPANESE GIRLS AND WOMEN

BY EItXKST YOUNG. Vnthor of “Tho Kingdom of the follow Robe,” ole. (Special Coal ri bn! ion to tho “N. /• Times.”) [ALI, HIGHTS tiKSKKVJen.] Jlo.it English people have fox inert their ideas of Japanese girls from pretty postcards and from repmventali'ms of jrif'M l.v aided plays such as Hie “Ger-.ha." They are, in consequence. ,t fo regard Ihe hie of the average .xapailfMJ (VOiiiiin as resembling that of i butterfly— gay, careless and sunny, aas a more .‘■eriotis error of j' idg...nt eonimilled. Japanese women as v. hoi s do not resemble "Mimosa San" jr.v more than Englishwomen as a whole .vvmblo (lie chorus girls of a Christnas

pantomime. First let me 101 l two little stories by way of removing the erroneous estimate already formed, ami thou wo .shall he in a position to glance at the life of tno Japanese woman from a now point ol view. Story number one:—Tn 1895, Japan fought China, and won—-thats on old story. Tiie commander of the warship 'A kagi was Sakamoto. When the great naval battle was fought in the Yellow ,Soa, ho loci his ship into the thickest of the fight, and there met his death. A messenger was immediately dospatccd to carry the sad tidings to his family, llfis aged mother met tho officer 'who brought tho .story, and heard him with dry eyerj to the hitter cud. Then she looked into his face, pain struggling ■with pride in every movement of her ibody and her countenance, and without %-toah in her eye, or a quiver in her voice, she remarked, ‘‘So it seems by your tidings that my son has been of idrao service this time/’ There is little of the butterfly about that. 'And' yet. the old lady is a fair typo ofthe mothers of Japan. Story number two. It happened'in tho same war,, and tho heroine of tho tale was push over twenty. She had not long boon married, and her husband was » soldier. Ho went, to China, and there bo laid down his life. When tho girlwife heard of his dqatli. she sent away J,er servants, set her house in order, wrote farewell, letters, t.o .hor, friends, dressed herself in her bridal robes, knelt before the portrait of • her Ims-' band,, stabbed Jieraolf to tho heart, with a dirk, and wont to join her lost one in the land beyond tho grave. Thera is little of sun and carelessness iu that. And yot,'the heroine of tho story is a fair type of the young wives of Japan. , THEIR RESPECT FOR AGE. ■ The truth of the matter is, that- ow- . ing to centuries of training, tho character of wjiich I will presently indicate, the Japanese woman has learnt to suffer without hysterics, and .to obey without argument. Tho keynote of her whole existence is obedience, cheerfully and willingly rendered to all those to whom’ custom has decided that it shall bo Tendered. ■ All over'tho East, perhaps the first 'diing that strikes the observant European is tho respect and reverence with which children treat nob only their parents, but all who are older than themselves. This, is particularly noticeable in Japan, and tho first lesson the growing girl learns, is to do what she is told ay her elder relatives, without questioning the reasonableness or the justice jf the command. The older sister takes x precedence of the younger in all matters, and is always addressed by a title which conveys to tho listener tho fact that she- i* the elder sister. >■■■' In tho next place she is taught that (household- duties are not’ to bo shirked and handed over to servants. She must learn to cook, to bargain with itinerant vendors, to wash, and to wait like a servant. If her father has guests that ho wishes to honour, she must stand behind his seat, hand him the several dishes, and fill his glass when it becomes empty. She sees nothing menial in such an occupation. She understands and appreciates tho glory of cheerful sorjrioa. She learns to wash clothes, and not to trust them to a laundress. In this operation she always uses cold water, and never handles soap. Instead of ironing out her silks and cottons, sho places them on smooth boards and beats them dry and oven. She has, of course, no pictures, no dust, and no furniture to polish. But aho goes down on hands and knees, and cleans the outer verandah, she rolls up the folding mattresses in tlio morning, and puts away tho mosjuito curtains tliat have sheltered them «U during the night. Do not imagine that it is only tho lower classes that perform those tasks. Every Japanese girl, ibclow tho rank of tho very highest, can ■perform and does perform every duty of domes tie service when required. Sho has learned toi work. THE YOUNG- MARRIED WOJIAN. Sho has not, however, learned to flirt, and she is not “fast,” nor does sho know Dr practice the arts by which Western maidens seek to attract the youth of their own land. But when sho is about sixteen years of ago, her father chooses v, husband for her, and this choice sho accepts without murmur or complaint. Jt is hor destiny. Sho has always expected to bo married in this way, and has never even contemplated tho possibility of being, an old maid. When she :pots married she goes to live nob merely ■with her husband, but with her husband’s family, for tlio newly-wedded son does not dream of setting up a, house hr himself. In this now homo, Uio young wife is merely a member of tho family and not a ill.stress. Sho is at tho beck and call if her mother-in-law, and her first duty Is not to her husband, but to her husband's parents. (Hew happy must be fiio girl who marries a man with no nu-ents!) She is practically a now servant for her mother-in-law. Tho wife does nob occupy a position if equality with her husband, even when the parents do not exist. In this case iho is the housekeeper, the chief scrrant. the ordcror of all feasts and coremonies, and little else.. Sho rarely appears in public with her husband, and if sho does it is as his attendant, to follow and wait upon, him. Even tho Empress hersolf is hot exempt from personal service upon the Emperor. When morning dawns, tho wife rises first, puts out tho light of tho little lamp that has burnt all night, makes jher toilet, dresses hersolf, rouses the servants, helps to get tho breakfast, and when all is ready, wakes her lord Bnd master. When this same lord and Snastcr set?. out for business, the wife

is :■ * I lie door, ready with sandal, book, umbrella, nr any other obk-ei. her chief may lived. AN OLD AGE OF HONOUR AND JlEl’OSli. In 'in jo (he Japanese woman grow;, old. She loi-es her beauty at an early age, and at. thirty-live her cheeks have lii-;t, their colour, her eye-; their brightness, and her figure (hat plumpness and rol nudity that help to make tho little Japane-e maiden so pleasant- to look upon. But sho never regrets. She nev-T tries to look younger than sue isShe even wears !i"r clothes and dresses her hair in such a way as to indicate to those who can read the signs, the exact, number of years that have passed over her head. And why? Because tlio time has arrived when that obedience which has been her chief womanly virI hrongli Iho days of her youth and her trough the days of her youth and her prime, will now be rendered to her by be" own dc-eendants. She is now the tiappy mother-in-law who finds a new servant, in the wife of her sou. Sho may now rest from household labour, and be waited on fur the rest of her days. Sho looks forward to old ago as a period of honour and repose. , . Those who know anything of the history of Japan, will know that for many vein's the Emporftr was a more figurehead without power or influence. All tho real authority was in the hands of the Shoguns, and their great nobles tho dainiios. These latter were, at first served by the samurai, tho military and learned class, though the samurai became in time the real masters of the land, and it is their descendants who at tho present time are upholding the honour of Japan. The wives of these men have influenced tho present generation in Japan to such an extent that any account of Japanese women that failed to give .some short account- of them would bo hopelessly incomplete.

THE SAMURAI WOMEN. They were in earlier times the servants of the wives of the daimios, for whom they performed the most- humble offices, regarding it as a grand privilege to bo commanded by. the wives of such powerful men. But they could perform other duties besides those of the lady’s maid and the chamber-maid. They could fight. When the great,noble and his retinue were away, from,home it was their business to guard his house from his enemies. On such occasions they wore quilted trousers, a stiff cap and a great spear Cover. They .could handle tho long i spears and <the short sword, and have been known to fight a duel in defence of thoir good name and. reputation, or to avenge the death of thoir husbands upon assassins. Well, Japan has turned over a new leaf. The Emperor is once more upon his throne, and hij land is‘ being transformed slowly by western ideals. What of the bravo samurai women? They are at the present time the hope of Japan. As teachers, as muses, they still serve, and they still fight, but with peaceful weapons- They are the most intelligent of their sex, and are already doing much to raise the level of womanhood in their own country. , They have the unconquerable spirit, of the men, and one may venture to prophesy that they will in time achieve what is the avowed object of many of them, the establishment of the position of their sisters in tho home life upon another basis than that which depends merely upon tho . caprice of a man, be ho either husband or father.