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WORKING WOMEN OF JAPAN
* * * * * *
[Illustration: LIBRARY OF CHRISTIAN PROGRESS]
_Volumes Issued_
The Church a Community Force. _By Worth M. Tippy_
The Church at the Center. _By Warren H. Wilson_
The Making of a Country Parish. _By Harlow S. Mills_
Working Women of Japan. _By Sidney L. Gulick_
Social Evangelism. _By Harry F. Ward_
_Cloth, 50 Cents, Prepaid_
ADDITIONAL VOLUMES TO BE ISSUED
* * * * * *
[Illustration: A FARMER'S HOME]
WORKING WOMEN OF JAPAN
by
SIDNEY L. GULICK
Twenty-five years a missionary in Japan, Professor in
Doshisha University, Late Lecturer in the
Imperial University of Kyoto
Author of
_Growth of the Kingdom of God; Evolution of the Japanese;
The White Peril in the Far East; The American
Japanese Problem; The Fight for Peace_
1915
Missionary Education Movement of the
United States and Canada
New York
Copyright, 1915, by
Missionary Education Movement of the
United States and Canada
Dedicated
to
SHINJIRO OMOTO
in appreciation of more than a decade
of untiring service
for the
Working Women of Japan
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
PREFACE ix
I SOCIAL CLASSES IN JAPAN, OLD AND NEW 1
II FARMERS' WIVES AND DAUGHTERS 8
III DOMESTIC INDUSTRIES IN FARMING FAMILIES 24
IV SILK WORKERS 32
V WIVES AND DAUGHTERS OF ARTIZANS AND MERCHANTS 36
VI _KOMORI_ (BABY-TENDERS) 42
VII HOUSEHOLD DOMESTICS 48
VIII HOTEL AND TEA-HOUSE GIRLS 52
IX FACTORY GIRLS AND WOMEN 61
X GEISHA (_HETAERAE_) 87
XI _SHOGI_ (LICENSED PROSTITUTES) 104
XII AMELIORATIVE EFFORTS 118
XIII THE MATSUYAMA WORKING GIRLS' HOME 137
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
A FARMER'S HOME _Frontispiece_
SEPARATING THE WHEAT HEADS FROM THE STRAW 16
AT THE LOOM 16
A FAMILY AT WORK IN A RICE-FIELD 28
TRANSPLANTING YOUNG RICE PLANTS 28
SPINNING COTTON THREAD FOR WEAVING 32
AT WORK IN A KITCHEN 32
CARRYING FAGOTS 44
BABY-TENDERS 44
AT WORK IN A SILK FACTORY 82
O HAMAYU (GEISHA) 92
MATSUYAMA WORKING GIRLS' HOME 156
GIRLS IN THE MATSUYAMA HOME 156
PREFACE
Japan is rapidly swinging into the current of an industrial civilization
imported from the West. How is this movement modifying her ancient
civilization? And, especially, what effect is it having on her homes and
on the character of her manhood and womanhood? These are questions of
profound interest to students of national and social evolution.
While many works on Japan consider these questions more or less fully,
they do so almost exclusively from the standpoint of the effect on men.
So far as is known, no work studies the problem from the standpoint of
the effect on women, who, it may be incidentally remarked, constitute
one half of the population.
One book, indeed, that by Miss Alice M. Bacon, on _Japanese Girls and
Women_, describes the homes, lives, and characteristics of Japanese
women. This important work should not be overlooked by any who wish to
know Japan thoroughly. Yet Miss Bacon's study is largely confined to the
higher and upper middle classes, who, though important, constitute but
one section of the women of Japan. To understand Japan it is also
needful to know the lives and characteristics of the working classes.
Especially important in the eyes of those who study social development
is the transformation that is taking place in the Japanese home because
of the influx of Occidental industrialism.
The purpose of this book is to give some information as to conditions
prevailing among working women, which conditions have called for the
establishment of institutions whose specific aim is the amelioration of
the industrial and moral situation. Two classes of workers have not been
considered--school-teachers and nurses.
The reader will naturally ask what the native religions have done to
help women meet the modern situation. The answer is short; practically
nothing. They are seriously belated in every respect. For ages the
native religions have served by doctrine and practise to hold women down
rather than to elevate them. The doctrine of the "triple obedience" to
father, to husband, and when old to son, has had wide-reaching and
disastrous consequences. It has even been utilized for the support of
the brothel system. Popular Buddhism, especially during the feudal era,
has emphasized the inherent sinfulness of woman; some have even taught
that her lightest sins are worse than the heaviest sins of man. The
brothel system flourishes in certain districts where Buddhism is most
strongly entrenched. Brothels abound in the immediate vicinity of famous
and popular temples. I have yet to hear of a Buddhist anti-brothel
movement or a Buddhist rescue home for prostitutes. Japanese
philanthropy, under the impulse of Buddhism, did indeed start early and
attain striking development at the hands of Imperial and princely
personages. Men and women of lowly origin also attained high rank in
the annals of Buddhist philanthropy. With the decay of Buddhism in
recent centuries, however, little philanthropic activity has survived.
With the revival of Buddhism Buddhists have again undertaken
philanthropic work; they have established orphan asylums, schools,
ex-convict homes, and various benevolent enterprises for the poor, the
old, and invalids; but not yet do they seem to appreciate the moral and
industrial situation, or undertake anything commensurate with their
numbers and resources. The conception of private enterprise for the
amelioration of industrial difficulties and moral need is still the
almost exclusive possession of Christians.
The closing chapter describes one institution in which the Christian
ideal is applied to the moral and industrial situation in one small
town. It serves as an illustration of what is being done by Christians
in other places and along many other lines as well. Christianity is
being accepted in Japan, not so much because of its doctrine, as
because of its practical methods of inspiring and uplifting manhood and
womanhood. While the purpose of this book is, as stated, to describe the
industrial condition and the characteristics of Japanese working women,
back of this purpose is the desire to show how the Christian gospel,
when concretely expressed, takes hold of Japanese working women in
exactly these conditions and becomes to them "the power of God unto
salvation."
The problems of life are substantially the same the world around, for
human nature is one; and the heart with its needs, desires, temptations,
defeats, and victories is essentially the same, East or West. The
problems created by industrialism do not differ, whether in Germany,
England, and America or in Japan and China. And their fundamental
solution likewise is the same.
Let not the reader assume that the discussions of this volume give
adequate acquaintance with the working women of Japan. It deals with
only a few specific classes and inadequately even with them. A more
comprehensive treatment would doubtless be enlightening. Limitations,
however, of time and space forbid a more adequate discussion.
And let the reader be wary of generalizing certain criticisms herein
made and applying them universally to all classes of women. Many years
of life in Japan have led the writer to a high estimation of the
character as well as the culture of Japanese women.
Especial thanks are due to Colonel Yamamuro for valued criticisms and
suggestions in the preparation of this work. The responsibility,
however, for its statements rests upon the writer. The limitations of
this book none can feel more than he.
CHAPTER I
SOCIAL CLASSES IN JAPAN, OLD AND NEW
In old Japan, next to the Imperial family and court nobles, came the
feudal lords (_Daimio_), upheld by the warrior class (_Samurai_), below
whom in turn were ranked the three chief working classes,--farmers,
artizans, and tradesmen. These three classes produced and distributed
the nation's wealth and paid taxes to their respective feudal lords by
whom the warriors were supported. Below all were day laborers and
palanquin bearers,--in those days a large and important though a
despised class, for they lived entirely by bare, brute strength, lacking
all special skill. Still lower were the _eta_ or pariah class, excluded
from towns and villages, except when they entered to do the foulest
work, such as digging the graves of criminals and the slaughtering of
animals, and curing their skins. And lowest of all were _hi-nin_,
literally translated "non-humans." These were beggars and criminals, who
would not or could not work. The name, popularly given, well indicates
how they were regarded.
With the fall of the feudal system, in the early seventies, society was
reorganized. Those above the Samurai were divided in 1886 into five
grades, not counting the Imperial princes, namely: prince, marquis,
count, viscount, and baron. These constitute to-day the hereditary peers
of Japan, and possess considerable wealth and, of course, overwhelming
prestige.
They numbered, in 1903, 1,784 families. Besides the 1,784 heads of these
families, there were 1,786 male and 2,485 female members of these
families of rank. The number of these peers is constantly being
increased by Imperial favor, the conferring of rank being the customary
method of rewarding distinguished service. According to the _Japan Year
Book_ for 1914, the number of peers in 1911 was 919, there being 17
princes, 37 marquises, 101 counts, 378 viscounts, and 386 barons.
Promotion from one rank to another causes constant change in the numbers
of the various ranks.
The _Samurai_, deprived of their swords and military privileges, were
given the name _shizoku_ (Samurai families) and were paid off in lump
sums, thereafter being thrown on their own resources. There are 439,154
shizoku families, numbering altogether 2,169,018 individuals. The
remaining classes were designated as _heimin_ (common people).
Statistics show that they number 8,471,610 families, totaling 44,558,025
individuals. The eta were elevated, hence popularly called _shin-heimin_
(new common people) and allowed to live anywhere and take up any
desirable calling. The hi-nin also were classed along with the rest of
humankind. As a matter of fact, the eta and hi-nin were but a small
fringe of the whole population, the descendants of the former being now
estimated at something less than one million, and those of the latter
amounting to about 35,000.
With the national reorganization it was inevitable that the new
executive offices from the highest to the lowest should be given to men
of experience. At first, therefore, the reorganization amounted to
little more than a great shuffle of names and titles. Peers took the
highest governmental positions, while Samurai and their sons as a rule
filled the lower posts. Many Samurai, however, received no appointments
and had to go to work. In time, as education has progressed, sons of
farmers and merchants have become qualified and have been appointed to
government offices. The new departments, such as the educational, the
postal and telegraph offices, the railroads, and especially the army and
navy, call for large numbers of efficient men. These posts are filled
almost entirely on the basis of fitness. While ancestry is not entirely
ignored in the making of appointments, nevertheless old class
distinctions are gradually being obliterated.
The fortunes of the women have naturally followed those of the men. All
families that lost their hereditary income had to go to work; this was
true chiefly of the Samurai. Where the men were fortunate, the women
could maintain the old customs, limiting themselves to their familiar
domestic work, with a servant or two to help, but tens of thousands of
Samurai families found themselves reduced to the direst poverty; women
having generations of genteel ancestry were forced to enter the ranks of
the workers.
Let us define what we mean by a working woman. Women whose husbands or
parents provide the support of the family are not to be included in this
term. These women may, and indeed doubtless do, labor abundantly and
fruitfully in the home; their time is fully occupied. Probably no
working women toil more diligently or for longer hours than do these
wives and mothers in hundreds of thousands of homes, in most of which
there are no servants. All the cooking, sewing, and housecleaning is
done by them, so that they are indeed workers. But they are not
"working women." They are the true gentlewomen of Japan, whose culture,
graces, and charms are not easily described.
By "working women" we mean only those women who, in addition to the
regular duties of the home, must share in the labor of earning the daily
bread. In Japan the number of such is exceptionally large, if compared
with that of some countries of the West. They may be divided into eleven
classes, according to the nature of their occupations, namely:
school-teachers, nurses, clerks and office girls, farmers, home
industrial workers, factory hands, domestics, baby-tenders, hotel and
tea-house girls, geisha, and prostitutes. Omitting the teachers and
nurses, these are the classes whose conditions, numbers, education, and
character we are now to study. Taken as a whole we do not hesitate to
say that the working women of Japan, while probably lower in point of
moral and physical energy and personal initiative than corresponding
classes of the West, are not inferior to them in point of personal
culture. And if civilization is defined, as it should be, in terms of
personal culture rather than in those of mechanical contrivances and
improvements, then Japan will surely take her place among the highly
civilized nations of the world.