The Women of Japan.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXII, Issue XXI, 21 May 1904, Page 64

The Women of Japan.

I By

MAUD TAYLOR.)

Nowhere in the whole wide world are there women who are daintier, gentler, or more patiently-enduring than the fragile little ladies of Japan. When a girl is born her sex is probably somewhat of a disappointment to all concerned. but she is at once named after some beautiful natural object, sueh as Lotos, Sunshine or Snow, and on the thirtieth day is decked out in the most, gorgeous robes procurable, and is carried to a Shinto Temple, where she is placed under the protection of the presiding deity. CHILDHOOD. I lie childhood of the little Japanese girl is probably the happiest time of her life—often the only happy time in fact. She receives the tenderest care from her mother, who probably manages her more gently and courteously than the mother of any other nation would attempt to do; for self-con-straint in every way and the observation of the most elaborate etiquette is the unvarying rule of a'Japanese house-

hold—at least as far as its women are concerned. GIRLHOOD. The little maiden's training in the intricacies of domestic etiquette begins very early. She must learn to suppress all violent emotions, to control any feeling which would prevent her appearing smiling and gracious in the family eirele. Not only has a girl to regulate her behaviour towards her elders most scrupulously, but there are numerous formalities to be observed between brothers and sisters, as also between the elder and younger sisters. It is early instilled into the mind of the little Japanese girl that the greatest of all virtues is that of absolute and unquestioning obedience to her father, and later to her husband. However exacting and unreasonable the masculine demand may be, her part is to obey implicitly, and a Japanese wife is expected to make and keep a happy home in spite of all the difficulties caused by an ill-tempered, churlish husband. EDUCATION. In tlie more remote parts of Japan I he girl’s education still strikes us as being curiously “scrappy” and un-

methodical. Various teachers come to the house to give instruction in foreign languages. English ranking first at the present day, and the girls receive some musical training on the koto, an instrument resembling a harsh piano, and on the Japanese guitar or samisen. They are all taught flower-painting, and the arrangement of real flowers, this latter being considered a highly important art. Moreover, not content with the daily drilling at home in matters of etiquette, girls are given definite lessons in this subject, and in the ceremonial making and serving of tea, a function not to be confounded with the daily tea-drinking. As a matter of course they grow up entirely self-pos-sessed. always tactful and ready for emergencies—in fact it is almost impossible to conceive of a situation in which a Japanese girl would be at a loss to know how to behave. MARRIAGE. At sixteen or seventeen every girl marries, for should she remain unmarried her position as a more or less disgraced member of her father’s household would be quite unbearable. A young man who wants a wife induces a married friend to select a suitable girl: the friend arranges all preliminaries, the young couple meet at the house of a mutual acquaintance, and unless they conceive a dislike for each other, presents are exchanged, and the wedding takes place at the bridegroom’s horise. the curious marriage ceremony being neither religious nor legal in its character. The only act which is really necessary to make the marriage legal is the withdrawal of the bride’s name from the list of her father’s family as registered by the Government, and its insertion on the register of her husband’s family. DIVORCE. Divorce is only too easy in Japan, but the woman who is divorced is sent back childless to be the drudge of her father’s house, and to avoid this most Japanese wives will endure anything. When she is once married a girl becomes the property of her husband, in no sense a friend or confidante, but merely his housekeeper or head-servant. \ cry often he has no means of supporting her. and even so. he almost always takes her to his father’s bouse, where she becomes at once the slave of her mother-in-law from -whom she must bear anything, and bear it, too. with smiling courtesy. THE WIFE. A wife waits hand and foot on her busband; she is his valet, enters 9 room after him, picks up what he drops, and is served after him at table. In all but the wealthiest households the wife does much of the simple house-work; she is the first to be astir in the morning, and attends to the cooking and washing, besides doing all the sewing. Poor little wife! She has a very dull life as a rule; but the monotony is broken by certain festive seasons and by occasional all-day visits to the theatre. When visitors come they must be received and entertained with elaborate hospitality, and much time is spent in Japan over the complicated system of present-giving —on everp possible occr sion presents are sent even between mere acquaintances, and every one of these must be duly acknowledged, and a return present must be sent at the risrht time.

The greatest happiness of the little Japanese lady is probably to be found in her children, whom she seems to govern entirely by kindness, and the gentlest of reproofs. No child ever leaves the house or returns to it without going to the mother’s apartment and making a suitable leave-taking or greeting. GETTING ODD. Perhaps this is the only country in the world where women, far from being anxious to conceal their age. look forward eagerly to growing old as the time when their hard work, heavy responsibilities and the anxiety of serving many masters shall at last be over, and they will find themselves the real heads of the establishment, with subservient daughters-in-law. At thirty-five the average Japanese lady’ has a gentle, pathetically sad old face, which gradually loses much of its strained look as she assumes the proud position of O Ba San (grandma). THE NEW JAPAN. But the Japan of which I am speaking is rapidly disappearing. Changes are

everywhere on foot, and particularly in the districts most invaded by Europeans. Here the Japanese girl has already given up her graceful kimono (the (‘banning loose gown with wide sleeves open in front) for a coat and skirt: she goes to an excellent school where she works so hard as often to injure her health, and she is rapidly learning the value of independence, of some way of earning her own living which will prevent the necessity of becoming merely the property of any man willing to marry her.