Ryōsai Kenbo: The Educational Ideal of 'Good Wife, Wise Mother' in Modern Japan

Erscheinungsjahr 2015
ISBN: 978-90-04-28196-7
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 1, 218 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 318 g

Reihe: Intimate and the Public in Asi

Winner of the 2013 Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award.

The famous ryosai kenbo, or ‘good wife, wise mother’ role of women was not, after all, a traditional Confucian view but a modern construct. In fact, its first appearance in Japan, as Koyama Shizuko points out, was in the latter half of the nineteenth century – due principally to the influence of European ideas about women. Girls at the time were proud to fulfill their new role of contributing to not just the family but to the formation of the state. Koyama’s discovery has transformed how we see modern women’s history in Japan and the similar discoveries that have followed regarding China's ‘wise wife, good mother’ and Korea's ‘wise mother, good wife.’
Previous studies have interpreted ryosai kenbo thought, which was widely recognized in nationally-sanctioned educational standards, as a ‘backward’, ‘feudal’ or even ‘reactionary’ view of women, and therefore peculiar to girls’ and womens’ education in prewar Japan. As a result, ryosai kenbo thought was seen to be completely distinct from postwar views of women in Japan and Western Europe that have also emphasized the role of women as wives and mothers.
Here, however, ryosai kenbo thought is examined as a mode of thought inseparable from such issues as the formation of the modern citizen-state and the formation of the ‘modern family.’ Instead of reducing it to a specific, pre-World War II Japanese ideal of womanhood, Koyama argues that ryosai kenbo thought is, in fact, a modern mode of thought related to, and having much in common with, views of the qualities desirable in a woman both in postwar Japanese society, as well as in modern Western nations and beyond.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Koyama, Shizuko

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Volkskunde: Sitten, Traditionen, Mythen, Legenden
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Ethnologie Sozialethnologie: Familie, Gender, Soziale Gruppen
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Asiatische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface to the English Edition. vii
Preface. xi
List of Tables. xv
List of Key Words. xvii

Introduction: Approach to the Issues. 1
1 The Formation of Ryosai Kenbo Thought. 11
1. The View of Women in Edo-Period Instructional Texts for Girls (Jokunsho). 12
2. “Wise Mother” Theory in the Meiji Enlightenment Period. 21
3. The Emergence of Ryosai Kenbo Thought. 35
2 Ryosai Kenbo Thought and the Public Education System. 53
1. The Emergence of a Discourse on “Home Education”. 54
2. Home Education and the Public Education System. 60
3 The Causes of Change. 75
1. The Emergence of the “Woman Problem”. 76
2. The Shock of World War I. 89
4 The Reconfiguration of Ryosai Kenbo Thought. 97
1. The Reform of Girls’ Education. 98
2. A New Image of Ryosai Kenbo.120
3. Revision of the Girls’ Middle School Act.137
5 The Evolution of the Concept of Ryosai Kenbo in Morality Textbooks.157
1. Morality Textbooks up to 1911. 158
2. Morality Textbooks between 1912 and 1920. 165
3. Morality Textbooks between 1921 and 1932. 168
Epilogue: The Meaning of Ryosai Kenbo Thought. 181

Appendix 1: List of Morality Textbooks (Shushin Kyokasho) Consulted for this Study. 187
Bibliography. 193
Index of Persons. 211
Index of Subjects. 215

Über Autor(innen)

Koyama Shizuko, Ph.D. (2003), Kyoto University, is Professor of Human and Environmental Studies at that university. She has published monographs and many articles on the history of Japanese education and women.