The Importance Of Life In Early Modern Japan

In Japan, the Tokugawa regime actively supported Neo-Confucianism. Many provincial lords founded schools to teach literacy and Confucian scholars. During this era, it was believed that women and men possessed different essential capacities and functions. Some of the reasons for this assumption were their behavior expectations, position with the family, legal rights, public status, education, and types of works. A better explanation of life in the early modern Japan can be found on the writings by Kaibara Ekiken, a Confucian scholar of the early Tokugawa Era. The primaries resources that he wrote are Common Sense Teachings for Japanese Children, a manual for tutors in aristocratic households, and Greater Learning for Women, a discussion of moral precepts for girls. In this writings we learn how the Japan society had different expectations for women and men. These expectations were taught to children slowly as they were getting older. Also, the social status was an important part in the learning process of the children because of the expectations for upper class were higher.

They were taught to respect their elders and their seniors, to treasure their relationships, to honor the rules and behave properly, and to be humble. However, the teaching process for children of wealthy families was different because they had different expectations. “Those who are born in the high-ranking families have the heavy obligations of becoming leaders of the people, of having people entrusted to their care, and of governing them” (Gainty, Denis, and Walter D Ward, pg.132). They were expected to learn how govern people in order to avoid disaster with the