In “Women and Inheritance in Japan’s Early Warrior Society,” Hitomi Tonomura examines how women lost property rights and social position between the Heian period and the Tokugawa regime due to ever ossifying Confucian norms in Japanese institutions and civil strife. She evaluated the rights women of the early warrior era enjoyed such as appointing heirs, inheriting property from their parents, and property ownership independent from their husbands, and explained that the decline in rights was due to a variety of economic challenges and social shifts. Tonomura uses reliable primary sources to construct her argument that women lost property rights as a result of fiscal hardship and intensifying familial rivalries, but she fails to recognize that they had few rights to begin with. …show more content…
“Women entered the ‘age of warriors’ with secure legacies from the previous eras,” she claims (Tonomura 595). Among daughters, there was often a favorite, called the “primary daughter (597), who stood to inherit more than her sisters. Adding a son to the family, however, meant that the primary daughter inherited less. Divorce and separation was also possible for women, a right that wasn’t exercised in Western society until centuries later. Another example Tonomura gives is that unless given directly to their husbands, the property of a wife after she dies goes back to her natal family (598). To justify her arguments, Tonomura uses a variety of primary sources including trial records, Goseibai Shikimoku, and stories written at the time. After writing about these property rights, Tonomura proceeds to explain how many of them were taken away during the Kamakura
once married, women lost all property rights to her husband (did not matter how rich or how poor they were
What values do warriors abide by? There are universal similarities between all warrior codes, such as bravery and honor, but the specific distinctions vary according to the cultural values. These warrior codes have a big influence on the warrior ideologies in The Tain and Rama the Steadfast and ultimately determine their warrior practices. In The Tain, characters are very concerned with individual prowess and maintaining their reputation, whereas in Rama the Steadfast, their concern with pursuing their dharma leads them to justify the violent acts. Their warrior codes influence their ideologies and practices—characters are forced to face the consequences of the violent acts they are committing and as a result question their way of life.
Musui’s Story is the exciting tale of a low class samurai’s life towards the end of the Tokugawa era. Although one would normally imagine a samurai to be a noble illustrious figure, Musui’s Story portrays the rather ignominious life of an unemployed samurai. Nonetheless, this primary account demonstrates the tenacity of samurai values and privileges present at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. The social status of samurai had been elevated to such a state that even someone like Musui was easily able to gain influence in everyday affairs with his privileges. Not only that, but he had retained his values as a warrior and still kept great pride for his arts in weaponry.
Known for her work as a historian and rather outspoken political activist, Yamakawa Kikue was also the author of her book titled Women of the Mito Domain (p. xix). At the time she was writing this work, Yamakawa was under the surveillance of the Japanese government as the result of her and her husband’s work for the socialist and feminist movements in Japan (p. xx-xxi). But despite the restrictions she was undoubtedly required to abide by in order to produce this book, her work contains an air of commentary on the past and present political, social, and economic issues that had been plaguing the nation (p. xxi). This work is a piece that comments on the significance of women’s roles in history through the example of Yamakawa’s own family and
“What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is mine” (Women’s Rights). This quote may sound ridiculous. However, this quote gave a clear reflection of women’s lives before the 1900’s; women were not considered “people”. Once a woman got married, she lost all their rights! This continued until Ontario passed The Married Women’s Property Act in 1884. The movements for the right of married women grew in momentum as other provinces began passing the Act too. Before the Act was passed when women married, all of her possessions turned over to the husband. The husband could spend all of his wife’s money and leave her, although immoral, he would not be found guilty. Wealthy families tried to put a stop to the chance of their daughter’s wealth being taken advantage of by creating prenuptial contracts. These contracts were signed before the couple got married; it outlined...
War played a central part in the history of Japan. Warring clans controlled much of the country. A chief headed each clan; made up of related families. The chiefs were the ancestors of Japan's imperial family. The wars were usually about land useful for the production of rice. In fact, only 20% of the land was fit for farming. The struggle for control of that land eventually ga...
Even though married women could not own property or anything of the sort, single women were able to own land, make a contract, initiate lawsuits, and pay taxes. Even with the privelages bestowed upon the...
Women did not control her own wealth, so therefore, a woman’s family wealth, was controlled by her father or her husband. Law 128 in the Code of Hammurabi states, “If a man take a wife and do not arrange with her the (proper) contracts, that woman is not a (legal) wife.”1 (Hammurabi 45). A woman would receive a dowry once she was married and left her family. A dowry is a financial gift such as money, property, or goods, which was a gift to her husband once they got married. Once a man married a woman, he then had access to the family’s dowry and the property, money, or goods were then, controlled by him. If the man were no longer married to the woman and if the woman died childless, then the dowry returned back to the father of her family. If the father has already passed away, then the dowry was returned to the woman’s brothers. If the woman had any children that were boys, then the boy, or brothers, would share equally2 (“WOMEN…”). If women wanted out of the marriage, then she would take the dowry with her and go back to her father’s house. The father would then receive the dowry back. Law 138 in the Code of Hammurabi says, “If a man would put away his wife who has not borne him children, he shall give her money to the amount of her marriage settlement and he shall make good to her the dowry which she brought from her father’s house and then he may put her away.”3 (Hammurabi 49). In reality
Though obtaining power may sound like an easy task, it’s easier said than done! A famous writer of short stories and poems, Rudyard Kipling, once said, “Four things greater than all things are,-- Women and Horses and Power and War.” And though power was the main goal for most people in Feudal Japan, some situations gave them a serious roadblock that made them rethink their plans. In The Samurai’s Tale, people are rushing for power; however, there are several things getting in their way.
“Women could not vote, and they were not considered able to handle their own financial affairs. A women could not borrow money in their own name, and when she married, her finances were placed under the control of her husband” (786).
At one time men were expected to be loyal to their lord and women were supposed to be loyal to their husband and family. During this women were allowed to own property and even inherit family property. They were expected to control the household budget and household decisions to allow men to serve their lord. When World War II hit it marked a shift in thinking about gender roles. The Japanese society went into the past of loyalty and courage to promote war effort during this crucial time. This is when women’s duty became to only have children. Women were looked at as keepers of the nation’s household even though many women worked in factories. During this war many “unused” women were drafted to sexually service military men. Soldiers referred to these women as “hygienic public bathrooms” or even as “semen toilets.” Japan was influenced by China to take on the confucian ideals in society. Confucian society focuses on the family and the roles of the genders in the household. Men are the heads of the household; women are dependent on the men. Women were expected to marry the men their family set for them, produce kids, and oversee the house. Women became not able to own property and became “slaves” to men in every way possible. It is believed that women’s happiness in life is only to be found in marriage. In this society women were to be married between 22 through 27 and if this was not met you were considered
In order to analyze how gender ideals in the Heian society were formulated and how they were expressed in the Genji Monogatari, it is necessary to have an understanding of the Chinese society from which they were derived. The Chinese works often alluded to in the Genji Monogatari are primarily from the Tang dynasty period of China(618-907AD), which formed the basis of the flourishing of Japanese culture during the Heian period.3 Therefore an analysis of Heian gender ideals must begin from the Tang dynasty court-life culture.
Early in Japanese history it was clear that woman played a clear and valuable role in the Japanese government, but as the years progressed there influence and power began to diminish. Two books about court culture during this time show evidence of this strain in power. The Pillow Book, by Sei Shonagon, is a journal composed of her thoughts and observations of what was going on around her, during the Heian Period. This document can be used to help understand the role that women played in Japanese society, as well as, how they were viewed by others. Another document that can be used to examine this topic is The Confessions of Lady Nijo, an autobiography of a concubine who served the emperor GoFukakusa.
Our preliminary class gave a brief, yet detailed outline of major events affecting the East Asian region. Within that class, prompted by our limited geographical knowledge of Asia, we were given a fundamental explanation of the geographical locations of the various events taking place in the region. In subsequent classes, we were introduced to the major wars, political shifts, and economic interests which shaped Japan, China and Korea to what they are today. We examined the paradigm of pre-modern Japanese governance, the Shogunate, and the trained warriors which defended lord and land, Samurai. In addition, we examined the socio-economic classes of Medieval Japan, which included the Samurai, peasants, craftsmen, and the merchants. We also examined pre-1945 Japan’s policies toward foreign entities, notably the Sakoku Policy, which sought to expunge all foreign presence and commerce in an effort to protect its borders and culture. 1945, however, saw ...
Shan-Loong, M. L. (2000, March 14). Tradition & Change –. Gender Roles in Japan. Retrieved