Among the many programs undertaken by the Japanese government
between 1868 and 1945 was one designed to make of Japanese women "good wives
and wise mothers. " The principal vehicle used in the effort to produce paragons of
domestic virtue was the school system. The field materials collected in the mid-
1930s by Ella Lury Wiswell in the agricultural community of Suye-mura include
excellent firsthand information on the degree to which the policy was effective,
particularly with respect to reducing the incidence of premarital. sexual activity,
premarital pregnancy, and divorce.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bellah, Robert N.1967 "The Japanese Emperor as a Mother Figure: Some Preliminary Notes." Paper presented to the Colloquium of the Center for Japanese and Korean Studies, University of California at Berkeley.
2.
Embree, John F.1939Suye Mura: A Japanese Village. Chicago : University of Chicago Press.
3.
Jones, Thomas Elsa1926 "Mountain Folk of Japan: A Study in Method." Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University.
4.
Kawashima, Takeyoshi1948Nihon shakai no kazokuteki kosei (The Familistic Structure of Japanese Society). Tokyo: Nihon hyoronsha.
5.
Kawashima, Takeyoshi and Kurt Steiner1960 "Modernization and Divorce Rate Trends in Japan ." Economic Development and Culture Change 9,1, Part 2:213-239.
6.
Kikuchi, Dairoku1909Japanese Education. London: John Murray.
7.
Koyama, Takashi1961The Changing Social Position of Women in Japan. Paris: UNESCO.
8.
Okamura, Masu1973Changing Japan: Women's Status. Tokyo : International Society for Educational Information .
9.
Sebald, William J., trans. 1934The Civil Code of Japan. Kobe: J. L. Thompson.
10.
1936The Criminal Code of Japan. Kobe: J. L. Thompson.
11.
Sievers, Sharon L.1981 "Feminist Criticism in Japanese Politics in the 1880s: the Experience of Kishida Toshiko." Signs6,4:602-616.
12.
Smith, Robert J. and Ella Lury Wiswell1982The Women of Suye Mura. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
13.
Steiner, Kurt1977 "Postwar Changes in the Japanese Civil Code." Washington Law Review, Special Edition:97-123.
14.
Tsubouchi, Yoshihiro and Reiko1970Rikon: hikaku shakaigakuteki kenkyu (Divorce: A Comparative Sociological Study) . Tokyo: Sobunsha .
15.
Yuzawa, Yasuhiko1970 "Rikon no zogen to sono naiyo: rikonkan ni miru sei ishiki no henyo" (Flunctuations in Divorce and Their Significance: Changes in Sexual Attitudes as Seen in the View of Divorce). Jurisuto zokan (Jurist:Special Number): 193-203.
