JAPANESE WOMEN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6120, 5 March 1898, Page 3

JAPANESE WOMEN.

These are the women who have been exalted by Sir Edwin Arnold and condemned by Pierre Loti. For my own part (says a writer in the Lady) I found them during my three years' residence in Japan the rnost fascinating little creatures, and far from being the mere dolls they are so often imagined to be. They dress prettily, have charming manners, amuse themselves very much like children, it is true ; but behind that there is u depth of character which very few foreigners suspect. The Japanese woman looks well after her house ; if she is a woman of high rank, she sees that her servants are competent; if she is a coolie's wife, she carefully fulfils her household duties before taking her pleasure. The Japanese woman reminds you of a bee, as well as of a buttflrfly. The women of high rank meet at each other's houses, discuss dress and such literature as women are supposed to be acquainted "with, 'admire the kakemono (hanging-picture) which is in the room on that particular day> drink tea out of diminutive cups without handles, and, of course, smoke their tiny pipes. The obi (broad sash) is the most discussed article of dress, being at the same time the most expensive. A handsome obi costs anything from 50 yen (£5), and, as new colours and designs come in each season, the purchase of a new obi is a matter for deliberation. Ladies often invite their friends to come and see the store of kimonos (dresses) they have laid in for the ensuing season. The Japanese ladies, who some years ago dressed in European clothes, have returned to the national costume, and therein they are wise, for if a Japanese lady, in her delicately-coloured kimono, with her olaborafcelj'-dressod hair and spotless tabi (socks) and sandals, is charming to look at, she is jußt the reverse in foreign dress. (The ladies-in-waiting on the Empress still wear European dress.) A curious fact is that the Japanese, who have such exquisite taste in their national dress, have absolutely none in European dress ; they have no senßO of colour then. One sees in the dresses of the ladies belonging to the Court the most amazing and distressingcontrasts. Some ludicrous stories are told of the difficulties Japanese ladies have had when adopting the European costume. I know personally of a lady who complained of the tediousness of dressing in the morning. Upon being asked why she found it so tedious, she replied, " Oh, the corsets take so long to lace up !" The foreign lady to whom she was speaking said, "Why, l do not lace mine every day." " Then, how do you got into them ?" asked the Japanese. LTpon the answer being given to that question, the discovery was made that the poor little Japanese lady had been wearing hers back to front, and so, of course, had been obliged to lace them every day ! There are now several schools in which the English language is taught to girls, and it is hoped that this will lead to a more general intercourse between Japanese and foreign women, and that in time Japanese women of the higher class may have more liberty. The women of the lower classes are free to go about— to the theatre, to the hundred and one shews which are always going on in the different quarters of a large town, to the shops to look at obis and hairpins, to the temples — but the higher class woman, beyond receiving her women friends in her own house and visiting them in theirs, has very little amusement. The great curse of women, high and low, in Japan is — the mother-in-law ! Women in Europe who complain of their mothers-in-law hare no idea of what a Japanese mother-in-law can be, and generally is. From the day of her marriage, a bride owes absolute obedience to her husband's mother, who often makes the young wife miserable in a thousand ways. In a marriage between a European wife and Japanese husband (marriages which do exist, although comparatively rare), the mother-in-law is generally the difficulty. My advice to any English girl wishing to marry a Japanese would be, "Do not choose the eldest Bon." The eldest son is bound to take his wife to live in his parents' house; the younger ones need not do so. I know of a foreign lady married to a Japanese who had lived a considerable time in Europe. So long as the couple remained in Europe they were perfectly happy, but as soon as they went to Japan the mother-in-law appeared. At last", after submitting to much trying behaviour on the part of her mother-in-law, the wife told her husband she could endure it no longer. He snd she then arranged a plan by which the fact was to be made plain that English daughters-in-law, ab all events, were not slaves. When next the husband, wife and mother-in-law were together, the wife said to her husband, " Take off my boots, and bring mo my slippers." The husband obeyed, to the utter astonishment of his mother, for it is an unheardof thing for a Japanese to be ordored by his wife. When the slippers had been brought, the wife sent her husband into another room for her shawl. " Put it on my shoulders," said she, when he returned. She was immediately obeyed. At this, the mother-in-law's indignation knew no bounds. She left the house next day, declaring she would never consent to live with a son who complied with such requests of his wife's. However, although the mother-in-law is such an important factor, it must not be supposed that the wife has not any influence over her husband ; on the contrary, the Japanese woman, in every rank of life, through her defer-ence to hor husband's wishes, her unfailing courtesy, her devotion to her children, her perfect womanliness, has a power over her husband none the less real because it is obtained, not by an assertion of equality, but by the exercise of womanly qualifier.