_KOMORI_ (BABY-TENDERS)
The great poverty of the majority of the people renders necessary, as
already noted, not only the utmost economy in the home, but also a high
degree of industry, and the beginning of productive labor at an early
age. As soon as the child has completed the elementary education, and,
in cases of exceptional poverty, even before that, he or she must begin
to do something of value and earn a living, at least in part. In the
case of farming families, younger children care for the youngest and
share in the household duties, thus relieving the mother and elder
children, enabling them to aid the husband and father in the field. But
the positive agricultural or industrial work which girls of from ten to
fifteen can do is insignificant, yet they eat as much as a grown
person, and hence comes the search for suitable openings for such
workers. This is found for many of the younger girls in the homes of the
middle and upper classes, where they go as _komori_ (baby-tenders).
Girls even as young as ten leave their homes and go out to service. They
receive food and lodging, in some cases a garment in summer and one in
winter, and sometimes in addition a small cash stipend. A komori thus is
usually the daughter of a poor family who goes into a well-to-do family
to aid the mother in the care of her infant. Her chief duty is to carry
the infant, sleeping or waking, on her back for many consecutive hours
during the day. In addition to this she aids a little in the household
work, washing dishes and cleaning the house, her hours of service being
unlimited. In some families she may be called on at any hour of the
night to carry the baby, if it is restless or fretful and needs to be
"jiggled" to sleep! A komori is employed by the year, but usually
without specific contract, her parents sometimes receiving a few yen[3]
when she enters upon service. Her time is entirely at the disposal of
her mistress and she goes to no school, receives no regular instruction,
and no training other than that which comes incidentally from
association with members of the family. Long hours each day are spent on
the street with an infant on her back, playing hop-scotch and other
games with other komori.
[3] A yen has the value of forty-nine cents.
In a few places efforts are being made, I am told, to provide these
baby-tenders with educational advantages, but the movement is as yet
small. Buddhists are said to be particularly active in this matter.
[Illustration: CARRYING FAGOTS BABY-TENDERS]
A blind man in Matsuyama, a Christian of my acquaintance, put out one of
his daughters to service as a komori. After two years of such life,
poverty-stricken though the family was, he brought her home again, for
the child of fourteen, so far from learning anything good, was learning
many things bad on the street, and was being dwarfed in mind by the
long hours when she was wholly without mental stimulus. The life of a
komori will of course vary much with the nature of the family by which
she is employed, but at best the service cannot fail to stunt the growth
of both body and mind.
I heard not long since of a boy who became a komori. His father had died
a drunkard, leaving the family ruined financially. The mother and
children were accordingly distributed among the creditors to work off
his debts. The little boy of eight went with his mother, and, so long as
she lived--some three years--life was endurable for him, but after her
death he was made increasingly miserable. Long hours by day and many
interrupted nights, unkind words, and unutterable loneliness vexed his
orphaned spirit, until he could endure it no longer, and planned to run
away. The stern master however discovered him doing up his bundle, and,
to prevent his escape, ordered his few possessions, even his clothing,
to be taken away. In spite of this he slipped out one night in the
darkness and hid in a barn in a neighboring village until morning, when
he was taken pity on by some children who shared a kimono or two with
him, and so he got away. With increasing years he led a wild, roving
life; at eighteen he became a murderer and was imprisoned for life,
escaping the death penalty on account of being a minor. In prison he
first heard the Christian gospel of God's forgiving love, of peace and
hope and joy. This "good news" he accepted, and learned to read, that he
might read the New Testament, which he committed to memory. Upon the
death of the Empress Dowager, in 1896, his penalty, with that of many
other prisoners, was remitted, and now for fourteen years he has been
living a life remarkably fruitful in Christian service.
But, to return to our subject, we note that not all komori are children.
Superannuated old women who have neither strength nor brains for
anything else also act in this capacity, their conditions of service
and wages being the same as those of girls. I have tried to get some
idea as to the number of komori in Japan, but have been able to find no
statistics. One gentleman assures me that at least one family in five of
the middle and upper classes employs a komori. As the number of families
in Japan, exclusive of farmers, is 3,981,940 (1912), this would make
about 796,000 komori; but many well-to-do farming families also employ
komori, so the total number in Japan would be not far from 1,000,000. A
lady however assures me that this estimate is altogether too high, and
thinks that not more than one family in twenty has the means to employ a
komori. If this is true, then the number is in the vicinity of 250,000.
In either case, the system and its nature are clear, and the numbers of
children sent out to service at a tender age is not inconsiderable. The
attention of educators and parents is being directed to the dangers to
infants of this komori system, to say nothing of the harm it does to the
girls themselves.