Japan by the Japanese/Chapter 31

Many a book about Japan has been written in English, but hardly any has brought to light the social position of the Japanese woman, her work and influence in Old Japan. Superficial observers from the West, therefore, have sadly misunderstood our women, and have supposed that they have always been as insignificant and unimportant in society as the Chinese and Corean women. The present condition of women in Japan and their outlook cannot be justly estimated unless we understand something about their position in the past. Therefore, in treating of women’s position in Japan, I think it desirable to begin with a brief account of our women in the past, and then to state the origin and progress of women’s education in the present, together with what women’s education should be in the future.

The part women played in Old Japan was very remarkable, especially before the arrival of Buddhism and Confucianism. Men and women were almost equal in their social position. There was then no shadow of the barbarous idea that men were everything and women were nothing. Women’s power even in politics was great, and history tells us that there were nine women who ascended the throne in olden times. Women in general were not inferior to men either physically, or mentally, or morally. They were noted for their bravery, and distinguished themselves in the field of battle. In the literary world they were not less noted for their brilliant productions. The moral conduct was most blameless, and commanded universal respect. Their natural temperament was cheerful and optimistic, and charmed the sterner sex. Such being the attainments and characteristics of women in ​olden times, we can fairly believe that they were as well educated as men were, although there were not existing any institutions of instruction for women.

This was the springtime of Japanese womanhood, when it blossomed undisturbed, and exerted a strong and beneficial influence on the life of Old Japan. The introduction of Buddhism and Confucianism, however, began to create great changes in the position of women. And yet so powerful were women in Society when these two religions came to Japan that their rapid spread in our country was due to the earnest endeavours of women. The pioneers of Japanese Buddhism were women, and the honour of being sent to India for further investigation of the religion fell upon three women—Jenshinni, Jenzoni, and Keizenni. Not only in religious, but also in political and literary, life, women played a remarkable part for many years after the introduction of Buddhism and Confucianism. Many of the greatest of the old Japanese classics were produced by women of this age. Active and influential in Society as women continued to be for a considerable length of time after the coming in of Buddhism and Confucianism, yet the influence of these religions manifested itself in the gradual lowering of woman’s position to one of comparative insignificance.

This state of things was strongly marked in the feudal age. The social environment of the age and the prevalence of Buddhism and Confucianism worked hand in hand to bring about the subjection of women. This was still more the case when the Tokugawa Government came into power. Orders and classes of Society were rigidly formed. Women were entirely submerged and their activities were never allowed to go even one step outside the household. If there was any education for women at that time, it was only in the line of woman’s etiquette—sewing, weaving, cooking, the art of tea-service and of flower-arrangement, besides some elementary lessons in writing and reading. Their intellectual education was wholly neglected. As to their moral education, the famous doctrine of the three obediences for girls—unconditional obedience to parents when young, obedience to husbands when married, and obedience to children when old—was daily taught and strongly emphasized. Thus women were put under trying conditions, and had apparently no hope of emancipation. This was, indeed, the winter-time of Japanese womanhood, when her life seemed almost crushed under the cold ground of an oppressive social system.

With the introduction of Western civilization, another spring season for women dawned, and the life and powers which had been so long suppressed in them began to come forth. Just as the spring sun breaks the ground and causes the seed of a ​plant to germinate, so Western civilization has broken the hard and artificial social system of our country, and given freedom to women to develop their powers and to make their influence felt in Society at large.

Everything underwent a transformation under the influence of European civilization. The educational system was completely changed and modelled upon that of the Western nations. Both the Government and the people realized that the root of European civilization lay in its education, and that only through a reform of the educational system could Japan rise to the plane of European civilization. When once educational reform began, then the value and importance of women’s education, which had been entirely neglected up to that time, came to be felt. Schools of various grades for girls as well as for boys were established throughout the country. Schools wholly devoted to the education of girls were first established by Christian missionaries. The Government also greatly encouraged this reform, and made attendance at the schools of elementary grade compulsory for girls as well as boys from the age of six to twelve years. When public normal schools were established, the Government opened the doors to women as well as to men. A little later the Imperial High Normal School for Women was founded. This was the highest institution of learning for girls before the University for Women was founded some years ago.

Women’s education prospered steadily from about 1884 to 1891, when the period of reaction came. Girls who had received a modern education necessarily became broader in their ideas and more independent in their spirit. Their parents, however, who had been brought up in the old ways could not always appreciate and sympathize with the new ideas of their daughters, and a collision of ideas was often seen so strong as to seriously endanger the peace of the home. Although there were shortcomings on the part of the girls which led to unnecessary home troubles, yet conflict between the old ideas and the new in such a period of transition as our country had undergone could not possibly be avoided. The unenlightened public, however, was unable to understand this situation, and saw in it only the evils of modern education. They thought that education would make women creatures of self-importance, full of affectation and conceit and of one-sided development. It was also thought that education would destroy the beautiful ideals of Japanese womanhood. Thus, the feeling against the education of girls rose to a high point. From this time of reaction the direction of education for girls manifestly changed and became conservative in its tendency. The intellectual side of education was rather made light of, while the moral side was greatly ​emphasized. The aim of a school, it was declared, was to make girls good wives and good mothers. So-called practical education was the cry of the age. The education of girls at this period was narrow in its principles and shallow in its instruction. This state of things continued for some years, during which the real educational movement for girls was at a standstill.

I was strongly convinced of the need of a fundamental reform in regard to women’s education in Japan. Before making public my views on the matter, I went to America for the purpose of making a thorough investigation of the conditions and principles of the educational system for women in that country. I spent there three years, during which I visited almost all the women’s colleges in the North. This visit to America afforded me great encouragement, and strengthened my conviction. In 1894 I returned, but was silent for some two years, during which I devoted myself to visiting girls’ schools, both public and private. In this way I formed my ideas on the subject of women’s education in Japan free from prejudices of all kinds, and I gave expression to them in publishing a book entitled ‘Woman’s Education.’ It is gratifying to note that this book attracted national attention, and was surprisingly well received and welcomed by the public. Strangely enough, it happened that the revival in women’s education began to take place just at that time. I do not mean that my book brought it about, but I fortunately hit the right time for expressing the views on girls’ education which I had entertained for years. The establishment of the Koto Jo Gakko (high schools for girls) was the outcome of the revival, and their number has been increased year by year. A still more remarkable fact is that the number of girl students has increased so fast that the existing high schools can hardly accommodate them all. So private girls’ schools for various purposes are being established here and there throughout the Empire. Books, papers, and magazines for girl readers are circulated in great numbers. A glorious age for girls’ education was thus ushered in.

Some eight years ago I started to carry out my long-cherished plan of establishing a University for women. I came up to Tokyo and started the movement. It was not long before such men as Marquis Ito, Marquis Saionji, Count Okuma, Barons Utsumi and Kitabatake began to sympathize with me, and promised to give me advice and support, so that I was able to open the present Women’s University on the 20th of April, 1901. This was the first institution of the kind not only in Japan, but also in the Orient.

There are three departments in the University. They are the Home Department, the Japanese Literature Department, ​and the English Literature Department. When the University was first opened we expected to take in about thirty students in each department, but the number of candidates was unexpectedly large, so that about a hundred students were received into each of the first two departments, making about 250 in all. In the Preparatory Department attached to the University were enrolled 300 pupils. Thus the University opened with 500 students the first year, while in the second year the number increased to 800, and in the third year to 1,000. These facts sufficiently show how much importance our nation puts upon the education of its daughters to-day, and how earnestly our girls desire to receive the benefits of modern education.

The problem of what the principles of women’s education in the future should be is a subject greatly under discussion.

Up to this time women’s education has been too much directed towards art, literature, music, and various other accomplishments of a similar nature, and has slighted their mental or intellectual discipline. This is a great mistake. A woman’s mind should be trained on its scientific and philosophical side. The importance of intellectual discipline for women cannot be overestimated. Women need to have their powers of observation and application cultivated. If their minds are well disciplined in these directions they will prove themselves very useful and successful in whatever work they undertake. Those responsible for women’s education in future should recognise this point, and put a due emphasis upon this intellectual training.

There is another point to which we should give attention in the education of our girls. We should conduct our schools in such a way that the school-life may never disqualify our girls for their home-life when they finish their study and return to their homes. Modern institutional education has many evils as well as advantages, and its greatest evil for girls is the danger of making them unfit for their future home duties. How to avoid this danger is a problem that remains to be solved in the future, not only in our country, but also in Western countries. The larger an institution grows, the greater the danger will become. In establishing the Women’s University I took special pains to make it as far as possible free from this danger. Although the University accommodates some 500 boarders who come from homes in far-distant parts of the country, yet it has been managed from the beginning in such a manner as to make the life in school as homelike as possible. This is a peculiarity of our University which has already been recognised by the public. Our dormitory, for instance, is made up of seventeen ‘homes,’ each containing not more than ​twenty-five students. They look upon their matron as their mother, and feel towards one another as sisters. Cooking, washing, setting tables, decorating the rooms, the economical management, and everything that concerns the house is under the control of the residents. Their daily life, therefore, reminds them of their home-life, and teaches them practical lessons on the building up of well-ordered and attractive homes. The girls who live on the premises of our University breathe something of a home atmosphere. The results hitherto attained in this respect do not at all completely satisfy us, but we are glad to say that our endeavours have not been fruitless, and we are encouraged to make greater efforts for the future in the hope that we shall be able to contribute to the world some new light towards the solution of this important problem. At any rate, we sincerely believe that harmony between girls’ school-life and their home-life must be one of the distinctive features of their education in the future.

Furthermore, we must bear in mind that the girls we receive into our schools are Japanese girls, not the girls of any other nation. Their past associations, their present condition, and their future needs must be taken into account in the aims and methods of their education. They need a peculiar education suited to their own sex. We must not fall into the error of foreign missionaries in planting a system of education in foreign countries, which is the cause of failure of their worthy and noble endeavours in the educational line. At the same time, we must reject the policy of education supported by men of narrow mind and national bigotry. We ought to be ready to adopt all the good things of Western nations, while preserving all that is best in our own. The aim and purpose of the education of Japanese girls should be to make them perfectly develop their innate gifts, and help them to assimilate the good qualities of their foreign sisters.

Women must be educated not only as women, but also as members of Society and citizens. The education of our girls hitherto has been very defective on this point. It has made women a little better qualified for their household duties than before, but not qualified for rendering service to Society. It has been entirely overlooked that a woman has duties to Society as much as to her family. In the education of the future we must look upon a woman in her broader relations, and endeavour to strengthen in her the consciousness that she is a member of Society, so that she may contribute something both directly and indirectly to Society at large.

Still further, women must be educated not only as members of Society, but also as souls. They must not be looked upon as things or instruments for practical uses, but as sacred human ​beings with faculties of mind and body that are capable of infinite development. We must educate women first as souls, then as members of Society, and then as women, or our education will never be perfect.

Lastly, I shall briefly state my view of the place of religion in the education of women. I strongly oppose the policy of education held by religious people, who try to teach a particular religion to the students of their schools, and who in some cases seem using education as a sort of bait for converting youths to their religion. Such policy will do harm rather than good both to the cause of education and that of religion as well. Education and religion ought never to be confused. I cannot, however, approve of the policy of anti-religious education resorted to by non-religious men, who try to insinuate into the minds of young students the principles of atheism, and make them think that religion is nothing but superstition and illusion. Education has no right to attack religious systems, and in so doing it deviates from its proper sphere. It is not right to antagonize any religion in a school any more than to teach and propagate it. We ought to avoid falling into both of these errors. Educators must have a spirit of tolerance to all religions, and allow students perfect freedom in adhering to any religion they choose; and at the same time ought to inculcate high moral principles of life, aiming at the spiritual edification of the students without interfering with their individual faiths. Such teaching will tend to strengthen the conviction of students in the essential and everlasting truths, and let alone the non-essential and valueless elements of their respective religions. So far and no farther can education go in religious instruction. The University for Women stands firm on this principle. It is not a religious institution like mission schools, nor anti-religious like some of our Government schools. The spirit of tolerance and sympathy towards all religions reigns over the institution. This attitude, we believe, is to be taken everywhere and in all times by those who devote themselves to the sacred work of education.