Japanese Girls and Women

For the Latin-1 version of this e-book, letters with a macron over them have been represented as [=o], and letters with a breve as [)u].

Page numbers from the original book have been added to asterisks that indicate notes in the Appendix (e.g. [*3]) in order to make it easier to match them to their corresponding notes. Page 61 has two notes: [*61a] and [*61b]. Footnotes are in the same format, without the asterisks (e.g. [1], [2])

Please see the end of this book for more detailed notes on the text.]

By Alice M. Bacon

IN THE LAND OF THE GODS. 12mo, $1.50.

JAPANESE GIRLS AND WOMEN. 16mo, $1.25. In Riverside Library for Young People. 16mo, 75 cents.

Holiday Edition. With 12 full-page Illustrations in color and 43 outline drawings by Japanese artists. Crown 8vo, gilt top, $4.00.

A JAPANESE INTERIOR. 16mo, $1.25. In Riverside School Library. 16mo, 60 cents, net.

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY BOSTON AND NEW YORK

JAPANESE GIRLS AND WOMEN

BY

ALICE MABEL BACON

REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION

[Illustration]

BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge

Copyright, 1891, 1902, BY ALICE MABEL BACON.

All rights reserved.

To

STEMATZ, THE MARCHIONESS OYAMA,

IN THE NAME OF OUR GIRLHOOD'S FRIENDSHIP, UNCHANGED AND UNSHAKEN BY THE CHANGES AND SEPARATIONS OF OUR MATURER YEARS,

This Volume

IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

I. CHILDHOOD 1

II. EDUCATION 37

III. MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 57

IV. WIFE AND MOTHER 84

V. OLD AGE 119

VI. COURT LIFE 138

VII. LIFE IN CASTLE AND YASHIKI 169

VIII. SAMURAI WOMEN 196

IX. PEASANT WOMEN 228

X. LIFE IN THE CITIES 262

XI. DOMESTIC SERVICE 299

XII. WITHIN THE HOME 327

XIII. TEN YEARS OF PROGRESS 371

APPENDIX 423

INDEX 473

PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION.

In offering a revised edition of a book which has been before the public for more than ten years, there is little to say that has not been said in the original Preface. The work as published before, however, was always, to its author's mind, unfinished, for the reason that a chapter on household customs, which was necessary for the completion of the plan, had to be omitted because it could not be written in America.

This defect has now been remedied, and the chapter "Within the Home" contains the supplementary matter necessary to complete the picture of a Japanese woman's life. In addition to this a thorough revision has been made of the whole book, and the subjects discussed in each chapter have been brought up to date by means of notes in an Appendix. The reader will find these notes referred to by asterisks in the text.

Finally, a second supplementary chapter has been added, in which an effort has been made to analyze present conditions. From its nature, this chapter is only a rapid survey of the progress of ten years. It is not easy to write with judgment of conditions actually present. A little perspective is necessary to make sure that one sees things in their proper proportions. It is therefore with some hesitation that I offer to the public the result of two years' experience of the present state of affairs. If subsequent events show that my observation has been incorrect, I can only say that what I have written has been the "Thing-as-I-see-It," and does not lay claim to being the "Thing-as-It-is."

In closing, I would thank once more the friends whose names appear in the previous Preface, and would add to their number the names of Mr. H. Sakurai and Mr. and Mrs. Seijiro Saito, who have rendered me valuable aid in gathering material.

A. M. B.

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, November, 1902.

PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.