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University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
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Ito Noe: Living in freedom. A critique of personal growth in Japanese society
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ITO NOE: LIVING IN FREEDOM
A CRITIQUE OF PERSONAL GROWTH IN JAPANESE
SOCIETY
by
Lori Sue Shube
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(East Asian Languages and Cultures)
December 1996
Copyright 1996 Lori Sue Shube
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UMI Number: 1385161
Copyright 1996 by
Shube, Lori Sue
All rights reserved.
UMI Microform 1385161
Copyright 1997, by UMI Company. All rights reserved.
This microform edition is protected against unauthorized
copying under Title 17, United States Code.
UMI
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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
T H E G R A D U A T E SCHO O L
U N IV E R S IT Y PARK
LO S A N G E L E S . C A L IF O R N IA 9 0 0 0 7
This thesis, w ritten by
under the direction of h.£h»...Thesis Committee,
and approved by a ll its members, has been pre
sented to and accepted by the Dean of The
Graduate School, in partial fulfillm ent of the
requirements fo r the degree of
Dtam
n a t , J A 9 /9 6
THESIS. COM M ITTEE
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TABLE QE-CONTENTS
Section One
I. Thesis...........................................................................................p. 1
Section-Two
II. Translation: On The Tragedy of Woman’s Emancipation p. 32
Translation: The Truth About Anarchism...................................p. 35
Translation: Miscellaneous Impressions About Chastity p. 49
§ectian.Ihree
III. Bibliography, Sources in Japanese.............................................p. 58
Bibliography, Sources in English p. 59
ii.
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Lori S. Shube Professor George Totten
Ito Noe: Living in Freedom; A Critique of Personal Growth in Japanese
Society
Japan’s burgeoning era of Taisho democracy witnessed some of Japan's most
significant women thinkers. Ito Noe was a remarkable product of this era. From
childhood, her philosophy was decidedly passionate, yet assured. A unique
family life allowed her considerable freedom to develop her mind. Throughout
life she sought the same educational opportunities and freedoms given to
males. A schoolteacher introduced Ito to the “woman question.” Ito became a
central figure in Tokyo’s controversial feminist Bluestocking Society. Young Ito
was involved in several public scandals while she wrote extensively for the
Bluestockings’ Journal. She moved from women’s issues, to anarchism,
becoming an integral part of the labor movement as the wife of the famous
Osugi Sakae. After many journals, five children, and three husbands, she was
murdered at twenty-eight years of age in an act of political frenzy.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
iii.
ltd Noe: Living In Freedom - A Critique of Personal Growth in Japanese
Society
I like that which is spiritual. But I dislike theorizing about
it...For this reason I really abhor scholars of law and
government who talk about mimpon (democracy) and
humanity...I have a strong aversion for socialism also.
At times I even feel a distaste for anarchism. What I like
above all is the blind actions of man, the natural
explosion of the spirit. There must be freedom of
thought, freedom of action, and freedom of impulsed
These words, written by the anarchist Osugi Sakae, were also the
words that encouraged and summed up the life of Japan's most ardent and
"romantic" New Woman, the individualist named ltd Noe. Although ltd
existed in a society of rigid customs and traditions, she lived life to the
fullest, in every sense of the word. Bom into an intellectual era ripe with
change, she made it her quest in life to perceive, identify, conceptualize and
fulfill every idea that was agreeable to her. Offending many with her passion
and reasoning, she paid for this with her own death far too early, and by
violent means. Had she been able to live out a normal lifespan, it would be
interesting to see how she would have adapted the "absolute" individualist
and naturalist ideals formed in her younger years, to the changing situation
for women in Japan.
After the Meiji reforms, the Taishd era saw agitation for democratic
reforms on a national level. In particular, this period saw an intellectual
1 Hane, Mikiso. Modem Japan: A Historical Survey. Boulder, Co.: Westview Press.
(1986):216
Lori S. Shube
Thesis
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response, or backlash, to women's issues-especially with such misguided
and misunderstood ideals as the "Good wife, wise mother," a persistent
remnant of Japanese government policy stemming from "feudal morality."
By the 1890's, Japanese society had already had its first glimpse of
Feminism, on the periphery of the People's Rights Movement. While the
Meiji government gave for the first time, propertied males the right to vote
and participate in national politics, it expressly legislated away that same
right for women. The state instead told women to contribute to the
acceleration of the national economy through "their hard work, their frugality,
their efficient management, their care of the old, young, and ill, and their
responsible upbringing of children," while "refraining from detrimental
activities. "2
Challenging this as an artificial role, many women began to expose
and explore the options available to them in Japanese society-the
paternalistic family system, arranged marriage, love relationships,
mistresses and licensed prostitution, the importance of chastity, abortion,
lack of decent employment opportunities and financial compensation. They
examined their own roles in the dominion over which they had natural, but
not legal control-their bodies and their minds. During their observations of
society, they became aware of the reasons behind the poverty of women in
general, and this caused them to consider a world where independence from
family and men existed. What did it mean, to choose independence? Could
it be done successfully? How?
2 Nolte, Sharon, 'The Meiji State's Policy Toward Women," Recreating Japanese Women.
1600- 1945. (1991): 152.
Lori S. Shube
Thesis
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The discussion of the "woman question" was popularized through the
journal of the preeminent feminist group of the Taisho era, the Bluestocking
Society (Seitdsha). The journal provided the most widely-read, yet
controversial, forum for the debate on all aspects of the Woman Question.
For a scant few years, the journal called "Seitd” attracted and repulsed large
numbers of respondents discussing the merits and disadvantages of
teaching this kind of thought to women, undermining Japanese society. Ito
Noe, with her firm ideas, came to Seitdsha to live out the first part of her
lifelong journey.
ltd made it her business to search for her answer to the Woman
Question in the acquisition of perfect freedom. Inherent in this pilgrimage
was her passion for learning and understanding, which was the ultimate
privilege and responsibility of personal freedom. This lifetime journey
eventually led ltd to spend the subsequent years of her life with the anarchist
Osugi Sakae, in her mind simultaneously the teacher and perpetual student
of her supreme philosophy. It was this philosophy that formed the
constructs of her arguments and activities, decisions and reactions. Upon
examining the evolution of essays and fiction written by women of the day,
she was challenged with an underlying theme which was actually 'What
comes first - the public or the private?" Was the Feminist fight essentially a
battle to be resolved through institutional and political methods first-o r was it
first a battle of personal awareness to transcend the environment of
"mistaken" tradition and thinking surrounding women. For ltd, the logic was
very basic.
Lori S. Shube
Thesis
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Her philosophy of freedom was indeed very personal. As she
progressed in her life studies, she realized particularly through her readings
of American anarchist Emma Goldman, that legislation was useless without
first abolishing oppressive traditions of society, and then introducing new
thinking, ltd followed this consistent strain throughout her life. From her
initial introduction to women's issues and subsequent early career as Seito
editor, to her later years as an anarchist under constant government
surveillance, she stood adamant following her convictions that private
change first, made sense.
She had already been following her own rules since early childhood,
and therefore did not recognize the source of her plight to be a universal
"woman's" problem. Atypically, within her family life, she was used to
getting her way as a male child would. When she was forced to marry
against her wishes, her anger was similar to that of a spoiled child. Ito was
completely unaware that her situation was a deplorable problem that most
women had to face. She needed a little encouragement to recognize and
pursue this as a woman's issue that needed attention. When she received
encouragement from sympathetic sources, she realized that other women
probably existed in this "vacuum" of ignorance-and decided that they need
a little push just as she had, to "awaken" her. From there, however, they
had to find their own solutions.
Looking at Ito's life, one can say that she continued to live in her own
different realm. This was a place where the rules existed on the surface like
they did in any society, but ltd chose to ignore them and live apart from them
(though unaware that it was because she could). It was one's duty to
Lori S. Shube
Thesis
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transcend them through self-awareness. However, in her own "realm" apart
from society, It6 did not realize the ramifications of her words for other
women, ltd chose to believe that everyone had this capability to ignore
external and "artificial” rules, often without considering the implications on a
woman's life. Once awakened (through self-study or by following the
teachings of an "awakened person"), one could survive through the natural
desire to pursue self-awareness with the realization that this was the true
goal of life.
ltd's forum to explore her ideas, and bring them to public attention,
resided within Seito's literary journal for New Women. At once recognizing
situational similarities with these New Women, and also yearning to be like
them intellectually, she came to the organization to offer her services in any
way possible at a very young age. It is often said that ltd was raised by the
Bluestockings, ltd had already recognized the oppressive character of the
family system through her own arranged marriage. This galvanized her to
take action, this preposterous attempt to limit her freedom! She thus
became an integral part of the Bluestockings' call to the women of Japan,
and was well on her way to notoriety.
In the public arena, the first wave of political repression had begun
since the Meiji era. Radical groups would commonly attack one another
back and forth within the constraints of this repression. Meanwhile, the
Seitd group appeared on the scene of Japanese public debate by chance-
hardly a radical group committed to the intellectual quarreling of the time.
The official formula of the Seitd group proposed only a forum for women to
read, write and enlighten one another through literary treatment of women's
Lori S. Shube
Thesis
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lives and women's issues. It was passages such as this, penned by the
Bluestockings' founder, Hiratsuka Raicho, that encouraged Ito to participate
in Seitd's production:
The kind of freedom I am really talking about can
perhaps be best described in the following manner. It is
the power to bring forth into fullest bloom that great
ability and genius which, we all know, lies submerged
[within the female]. But for a woman to have this kind of
freedom, it is first necessary to remove all obstacles to
her development. Here we refer in part to the various
pressures that are brought to bear on the woman from
outside herself [including the social system and male
dominance]. We can also mention a general lack of
information. However, while not denying the impact of
such constraints, in the final analysis the more important
barrier that must be overcome lies within ourselves-who
have so much ability and are the temple in which is
housed that genius.3
Raicho articulated what ltd had been trying to determine in her own
life, ltd at once recognized the external pressures on her style of living, and
seized upon the chance to create a world for herself that provided protection
from those who would try to limit her development as a thinking human
being.
The magazine, providing this "space for women," quickly attracted the
lion's share of the female audience in Japan, despite the proliferation of
magazines aimed specifically at women readers. Although many famous
literary journals were prospering at that time, Seitd could claim to be the
only literary magazine for women. Bluestockings was financed at its
3 Hiratsuka, RaichO, First Issue of Bluestocking Journal, in Miyamoto, Ken. "Ito Noe and the
Bluestockings," The Japan Interpreter, p. 195.
Lori S. Shube
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inception by Raichd's own wedding money, and went from 1000 copies in
print to 3000 copies per issued
Seitdsha members were deluged with responses from women all over
Japan writing about their problems as young women, and young wives. To
them, Raichd's words served as "the rallying cry of women's liberation," and
an acknowledgment that their concerns were valid. These women were
mostly seeking advice on everyday matters, instead of pursuing literary
issues, ltd's writings helped raise women's consciousness about those
everyday matters. This was part of the beginning of a changed course for
the Seitd journal despite the publishers' desires to provide a literary forum.
Within the first few years, they modified the content to satisfy the social
concerns of their audience. This brought them right into the crossfire of the
heated debate among the media, the government and academia. They
quickly got caught up in the public furor over the morality and rights of the
New Woman-and whether it was more useful for Japan to accept it or
continue to force unwanted traditions on women during the race to
industrialization. The Seitdsha women became the objects of public
derision-judged so by both men and women.
The Bluestockings magazine was originally nothing more than a
showcase for "woman's inherent genius." It was not a citizen's vehicle
pressing for women's economic or political rights, but an artist's haven to
introduce the creative abilities of women to the public. For Seitdsha
members,"(that) politics and art were intimately connected was a painful
4 Miyamoto, Ken. "Itfl Noe and the Bluestockings." Japan Interpreter Vol. 10 (Autumn
1975), p. 192
Lori S. Shube
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lesson the Bluestockings began to learn as they watched the reaction to
their efforts. As Raichd put it, That our literary activities would put us in
direct opposition to the ideology of 'good wife, wise mother1 was not totally
unexpected. What we did not expect was to have to stand and fight
immediately all of the traditions of feudalism in society."5 Like the earlier
feminists, they had a long list of grievances in all realms of society, political,
economic, educational and the social-but now there was a new issue to be
explored. The Bluestockings' members had expressly introduced the need
to examine "the recognition of self and of female sexuality."6
ltd was adamant that mere literary explorations of women's lives
would not suffice as an educational tool, ltd wanted to provide essays such
as her own, that would motivate readers to look at themselves, think, and
"throw off the cloak of oppressiveness" of pervasive feudal morality. True to
her philosophy, she avoided suggesting solutions; she preferred that women
endure, find strength and take responsibility for pioneering their own path, as
she had.
Ito's Intellectual Development
At the age of 17, ltd Noe formally embarked upon her short and fiery
career as a "New Woman," three-time wife, prolific and animated writer,
mother of seven, radical individualist, and finally, anarchist. She lived out
her life her way, doing only what she thought was worthy. In Japanese
society, and especially for women, she lived the utmost freedom-only to
5 Sievers, Sharon L. Flowers in Salt: The Beginnings of Feminist Consciousness in Modem
Japan. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1983; pp. 164-165
6 Ibid.
Lori S. Shube
Thesis
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lose her final struggle at the hands of a traditional militant a short 11 years
later.
Since she was a child, ltd devoured books and magazines with an
insatiable appetite, and this influenced her outlook and the choices that she
would make in life. As well, she looked to her male partners as she looked
to her books-she loved them fiercely and she voraciously gleaned
knowledge from them. She believed that a couple should stay together as
long as there was mutual love, respect and learning. However, if these
ingredients were not evident in a relationship, one should be able to walk
away from it. The relationship could not produce or demand obligations
beyond what was mutually agreed upon. Thus, she left two marriages, one
legal and one common, with much thought for the future, and little for the
past.
She did not want to lead a life independent of men. They were an
integral part of her "journey." Not only did they provide her with passion and
excitement, they also had access to education that she thought was the
most important acquisition to one's existence. Through them she could
glean a mixture of learned ideas and concepts and life's experiences. Ito
took it with vigor not because she realized that women did not typically have
access to this amount of learning, she took it because it was there, and it
would be a waste to leave it alone.
With her appetite for knowledge, she quickly grew bored with
compulsory education, small town life and even her first job which she
began immediately after primary school. Her first job was a good one, at the
post office in her hometown of Imajuku village, Fukuoka. However, even
Lori S. Shube
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though it was an opportunity not available to most women (she was not yet
aware of this...), it could not keep her mind and heart from wandering in the
direction of more-more knowledge-and she seized upon the idea to write to
a family member in Tokyo for help. She wrote him a letter directly asking
him to let her live with him so she could go to school in Tokyo. Meanwhile
she studied diligently, and was soon accepted at a private high school in
Ueno, Tokyo, as a fourth-year student.
Prior to her graduation from the Ueno school, she found that her
uncle had decided she was to marry an uninteresting youth from Imajuku.
Uninteresting to ltd, that is, because she had fallen in love with her English
language teacher, Tsuji Jun, at the Ueno Girls' High School. Despite this,
her eye remained upon her future possibilities (not yet aware she might find
tremendous obstacles to pursuing what she wanted), and she originally
agreed to the idea because this marriage had one outstanding feature. This
young man had plans to emigrate to America, ltd saw an opportunity to go
with him to America and, upon her arrival there, escape. However, after she
fulfilled her obligation to marry him, she discovered that his plans had fallen
through. She would not let him near her, and despite the fact that it was
considered an incredible insult, her legal husband accepted it and did not
force the issue. His passive acceptance of her demands also disgusted her,
and amazed those who knew of it.?
Astounding her family, she immediately left Imajuku and returned to
Tokyo. Not having a place to live, she went to the house of her English
teacher, Tsuji Jun, although she had not yet graduated from high school.
7 Setouchi, Harumi, Bi wa rancho ni ah p. 51
Lori S. Shube
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ltd intended to stay with Tsuji despite her married status. On her
graduation day, she and Tsuji shared some fleeting but momentous
romantic moments, ltd's passions had been awakened, and she figured that
Tsuji was all she needed because he could satisfy both her new feelings and
her persistent thirst for knowledge. She could not accept the mere concept
of a life with an unqualified mate, for she had no idea how she would survive
under such circumstances. She was not aware that women had only two
choices: to be passive and accept their lot, usually decided by others, or to
really reject their lot and struggle fiercely against customs and society just to
survive, ltd seemed to ignore that opportunities were extremely limited to
women, even for those who were educated and motivated to find them.
Fleeing at will from distasteful situations, she already had an
interesting history, when she presented herself at the offices of the
Bluestockings. Her fierce desire to be a "free woman" had involved her in
situations that feminists only began to express, revolving around
experiences common to many of Japan's women. She automatically acted
upon that desire. She did not even realize that there were proscribed ways
for her to think and act that society dictated for women-and furthermore,
when she did recognize this-she held that they pertained to other women
and not to herself! She, for one, did not have to live without love! Thus, she
fled to Tsuji, her self-appointed savior. It was Tsuji who opened her eyes to
the "woman condition."
ltd's awareness of these conditions for women grew out of her
arranged marriage situation-and the initial guidance of her new love, Tsuji
Jun. Although under his guidance, it eventually became clear that Tsuji
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could not take care of her most basic needs, or those of his mother and
sister to whom he had prior responsibilities. However, this situation was
nevertheless more palatable to ltd than returning to a life that, although not
very promising, it did provide at the very least, security in basic needs. She
dreaded a life without passion and learning. Knowledge and a full life were
more urgent than her immediate needs for food and sustenance. They were
her nourishment.
Still a teenager, ltd was a married woman, living with another man.
Such scandalous behavior caused Tsuji Jun to lose his job. However, he
preferred not to worry about providing for his family, and buried himself in
the works of the German individualist and anarchist Max Stirner. He
removed himself from the world of petty external and mundane obligations
through zealous defense of his actions in individualist thought.
ltd admired his single-minded pursuit of new and interesting ideas,
and did not complain like his mother and sister about the lack of income.
While he was earnestly studying, Tsuji encouraged her to learn about
women's issues, and urged her to write to Seitdsha for the first time. This
kind and sympathetic man led her to seek to leam more about her
"condition" by pursuing 'The Woman Question." ltd wrote to Hiratsuka
Raicho, the founder of the journal called Seitd, and met with her. She then
returned to Kyushu to take care of family matters she had left behind, and
divorced her young husband. When she wrote again to Raicho for help to
return to Tokyo, she received it by return in the form of a five yen note.8
8 Sievers, p. 173
Lori S. Shube
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Though Ito had only written to Raicho twice, she had left a significant
impression on the reader: "Although the writer seemed to exhibit a kind of
conceit that tended to take the reader for granted, her grammar and style
were quite good, and her simple, unadulterated frankness immediately stood
out."9 Raicho invited ltd to accept a paid position with the journal.
Returning to Tokyo, ltd Noe immediately started to help with the
editing while depending on Tsuji Jun for a place to stay. Tsuji was happy to
have ltd completely involved in the production of The Seitd Journal, so he
would be left to his various translations, studies and other hobbies. As ltd
became more involved with her work, she was often the object of her
mother-in-law's ire, despite the fact that her insufficient pay was their sole
support. Though she was just a teenager, she was a regular editor, and
increasingly influenced the subject matter of the journal.
One of Ito's first essays, entitled, "My Thoughts Until Now," was
published in the original volume of The Seitd Journal. Although this non
fiction piece was actually a literary exploration of her feelings, it was articles
such as this one that inadvertently politicized The Seitd Journal. In her
budding state of a new consciousness, she attacked the teachers of society
for having no will and for teaching women to be passive. Indeed, they
reinforced the attitude that men would adopt and adhere to during their
intellectual development-that women were not thinking individuals, just
society's caretakers without characters of their own. Ito's direct style clearly
reflected her anger and the sense of betrayal, that her own teachers had
tried that with her, though she did not recognize it then as a concerted effort
9 Miyamoto, p. 193
Lori S. Shube
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supported by Japan's social policies. (Further still, she did not yet recognize
that her own family's permissive style with her was rather atypical.) She
went on to say that since women had been "working within man's will...It was
O.K. to say that 'true women' do not exist." Women had a right and a duty
to be true to themselves, and they should have the space and time to do it.
ltd denounced young men who claimed to adhere to progressive thinking
and could have helped actualize this thinking, but instead were passive, and
traditional about it. It was trendy to discuss these issues in civilized society,
she wrote, but surface attention was enough for most men:
In today's conditions, there are some men with
sympathy for women having their own awakened
consciousness of self, but these men are few. Even
among the young people fancying themselves as the
so-called "new men," women's consciousness is still a
bitter and disgusting thing, and causes trouble. This is
deplorable. ^
Ito was beginning to see that, despite any attempts at political rights
or legal validation of women's liberation, tradition still provided the greatest
obstacle to any furthering of women's causes. She wanted sympathetic
men, who were free to pursue whatever they wanted, to take an active role
and teach women about consciousness of the self, ltd's words reflected the
wrath of feminists-that wherever there was freedom for men, there was
subjugation for women. It is interesting to note that in this early essay, ltd
earnestly wrote that "men would become bored with partners that are like
playthings, offering no response or resistance." She discovered, with the
10 Gakugei ShOrin, eds. ltd Noe ZenshQ (The Complete Works of ltd Noe), 2 vols., (Tokyo:
Gakugei ShOrin, 1970), volume 2, p. 10
Lori S. Shube
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help of anarchist and free-love advocate Emma Goldman, that her earnest
belief was only a reflection of her particular situation. Very few women even
knew of such a man, ltd learned. This was not a universal situation for
women.
Soon after, she demonstrated her recently developed awareness of
the universal nature of this as a woman's issue. However, she still focused
on changing men first as the key to progress. In literary battles with women
about the realities of abolishing licensed prostitution, ltd advocated that to
abolish licensed prostitution without first changing the way men view women
(and the way society generally views women who had fallen into
prostitution), was absurd and ineffective. In short, despite any legal
implementation, tradition will prevail. This is exactly why women had to
carve out their own private space for truth and happiness, within the realities
of the social order, to pursue their own light of the true self. These
deliberations were disturbing to many, generating public criticism of
increasingly tumultuous proportions.
Thus inspired, she wrote one of her next essays, 'The Path For the
New Woman." In it she defined a new role for women. A woman had the
duty to find her own way to her "self," rather than looking to find a leader
with an agreeable "path." ltd alerts her reader to the fact that this will be a
terrifying [lonely] and painful journey, and that women must find the strength
and courage within themselves to survive it. ltd probably shocked many of
her sympathetic readers by saying that no "new woman" would let another
be responsible for her life-and that if they cannot lead their own
"expedition," they have no right to criticize those who do. She attacked
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those who would be followers, such as the teachers of her earlier essay, as
useless, ineffective "stragglers."'! 1
As the Bluestockings approached its third year of publication, some of
the members were considering new formats and functions for the magazine.
Proposed changes were about taking the substance to take a higher level of
social responsibility. This was in part due to the terrific response from
women readers and in part to respond to the unexpected and ceaseless
criticism throughout the journalistic world. Much to ltd's satisfaction, the
magazine would answer this criticism with a turn to serious discussion of
women's problems within Japanese society.
Beginning in January 1913, Bluestockings focused specifically on the
problems of women for three consecutive issues. The Bluestockings took
another initiative in February 1913 when they held their first public
symposium. Alongside some impressive speakers was ltd Noe's name.
She was just eighteen years old when she enthusiastically violated article V
of the Maintenance of Public Peace Law, a government reaction to the
growing number of Communist agitators. The Public Peace Law outlawed
any public avocation of change in the national political system, as well as
other communist tenets such as abolition of private property. This is when
she delivered her first speech, which was one of her earliest essays, "Kono
goro kanso," (My Thoughts Until Now).
These activities produced significant reverberations, and criticism of
the Bluestockings soon reached serious proportions. Sale of the magazine
was banned a number of times due to "disruptive" influences of articles
1 1 Gakugei Shfirin, pp. 11-12.
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calling for new social and economic systems. Writers educated readers
about common ownership of property for men and women, equal political
rights, and ways to turn the social order upside down. Counter-attacks
were launched from all areas of the educational and journalistic worlds.
In the ensuing public debate, male intellectuals attacked these "new
women" by denouncing them as bitter women, and reducing their words to
reflect nothing more serious than, "resentment toward the male sex-feelings
bom out of failure to win husbands and settle down as young brides."12
This enraged ltd, and she struggled to persuade her colleagues that the
magazine should exhibit a new presence for itself-as a fierce defender of a
woman's right to define an individual life and character for herself. At this
time ltd briefly met Emma Goldman, and immediately asked Tsuji to
translate her essay on "Women's Emancipation." She then submitted her
own synopsis and opinions of Goldman's article to the magazine for
publication. Goldman's analysis of the movement for women's rights
illuminated and put into words, Ito's conviction that liberation was indeed a
personal journey, and institutional validation was meaningless unless society
changed its thinking first. To ltd, the stinging, petty criticism aimed at the
Bluestockings only reinforced this idea. She believed more than ever, that
women who pressed for equal rights were clearly on the wrong road to
freedom, ltd, through Emma Goldman's writings, entered another phase in
her intellectual development, and upon recognizing more of the social
injustices around her, became more radical.
12 Miyamoto, p. 195.
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Shortly after the members changed the journal's policy (despite
opponents within Seitdsha who wanted to keep the journal as a literary
forum only), ltd took on full editorship of Bluestocking, ltd had relentlessly
persuaded the journal's founder, Hiratsuka Raicho, to hand over the
editorship. Raicho's personal life was in turmoil, and she could not handle
the responsibilities of the journal as well. Ito's life was also in turmoil, but as
a mere twenty-year old, she jumped at the chance to take what she was
waiting for. Under Ito's editorship, the magazine changed radically. She
implemented her own new policy:
The Bluestockings will be published without any guiding
principles, without any specific policy directions, without
any insistence on a given way of thinking and without
any clear-cut doctrine (mukisoku, muhdshin, mushucho,
mushugi) Those who want a doctrine or who require
guidelines are advised to begin their own magazine.
As for me, my only intention is to give women a
magazine without doctrine, professed principles or any
directives whatsoever.13
Next she initiated and participated in a series of debates on
"forbidden" subjects to appear throughout this final year of Seito's
publication. They focused on the issues of chastity, abortion and licensed
prostitution, ltd was influenced by her readings of anarchist Emma Goldman
in all of her successive thought. Tsuji Jun had early recognized that
Goldman's philosophy was more suitable for ltd than her earlier attachment
to Raichd's heroine, Swedish women's rights feminist Ellen Key. In fact,
'Tsuji had probably calculated that as Noe's notoriety of a sort increased in
13 Miyamoto, pp. 196-197.
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society, many temptations would beset her, so for her own safety Noe, who
would never be able to firmly defend herself against these temptations,
ought to link herself to Emma."14 She was attracted to Goldman's raw
energy and individualist convictions to struggle for personal and meaningful
liberation. In addition, her tragic history pulled at Noe's heartstrings. To ltd,
Goldman's thought led to a realistic and unselfish understanding of human
nature, and therefore made possible a harmonious society. Thus, when Ito
penned her essay on chastity, she demonstrated her newly formed
compassion for the "underdog" in agreement with an article by a woman
named Ikuta Hanayo.
Ikuta had written, 'The essential need that humans must satisfy is
hunger....Therefore, if one is prepared to accept the later disadvantages that
will come if one wants to get married, shouldn't one be free to sell her virtue
in order to eat and otherwise make a living?"1® The debates over
prostitution and abortion were a natural corollary of feminist discussions of
sexuality, but they were also an implicit challenge to society's power to
determine how, and in what contexts, women's bodies would be used.1®
In Ito's piece called, "Miscellaneous Impressions About Chastity," she
stated that, "chastity is the foremost issue that persecutes women in
traditional morality." ltd believed that chastity was the utmost
inconvenience for women, because a woman's future-secure or not-usually
depended on whether the woman was a virgin before marriage. Since
women had to depend on men until now, this single issue could seal her
14 Setouchi, p. 245
15 Sievers, p. 83
16 Ibid.
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fate. Deemed "chaste," the woman was assured a marriage. Unchaste, and
she was on her way to prostitution and condemnation. It was Emma
Goldman that opened ltd's eyes to the double standard set by men. Ito said
that, originally, she wasn't aware that chastity was even something to
consider. Now that it was put into words, she would scorn the creators of
this double standard. She also angered opponents of licensed prostitution,
when she agreed with Ikuta in standing up for unfortunate women who
turned to prostitution for lack of food:
If I were in [the] situation and I had to sell my body for
food, I would give up my virginity right away. I would
also find other ways than to resort to selling my body,
although I know that is nothing to be ashamed of. I am
really furious when I compare men and women: when
you think about men who are getting married, how many
of them are virgins? Men cannot expect women to be
virgins before they get married because men are not. 1?
ltd, as a contributing editor, was waiting for the magazine to pick up a
more social outlook, and urged members to speak out. She challenged
them to take an active role in changing the way people thought, to inspire
women and men to recognize and destroy traditional customs and concepts
that were keeping people from living "awakened" lives. In her essays, she
told women to fight back through "being really strong, positive and secure
about [your] actions...It's important to get rid of your false ideas about
virginity."18 Above all, ltd indirectly asked her readers to challenge society's
customs in the most basic and fundamental relationship within society, ito
17 Gakugei Shfirin, p. 118.
18 Gakugei Shfirin, p. 123
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challenged her readers to take action as equal partners in a relationship,
saying that men and women should decide together what is important to
them. They should think for themselves and not look to common social
practices, and find happiness in truth, honesty and respect for one another.
In the next issue of Bluestocking, the writer Yasuda Satsuki,
infuriated ltd when she urged women to recognize the moral importance of
maintaining one's chastity at all costs, even if she was to starve. This kind of
thought was what ltd had first fumed about even in her earliest essays.
Yasuda was exactly the type of woman that would undermine the progress
of civilized society, by continuing to uphold tragically misguided principles
and artificial rules. By doing so, Yasuda indirectly advised men that most
women should, and would, accept living only for the will of men.
Yasuda Satsuki participated in the second debate as well, on the
topic of abortion. Yasuda, in what would seem like logic inconsistent with
her previous reasoning-questioned why abortion was "deplorable," because
she considered a fetus as part of the woman's body, to do as she wished.
Here, one would be tempted to imagine ltd in agreement with her. However,
ltd's naturalist philosophy reflected her ultimate respect for the individual that
went beyond the ego of self, writing that, "Once created, a child has a life
and fate of its own. Life should be allowed to take its own natural course."^
Yasuda counseled women to have abortions if motherhood was going to be
difficult. Ignoring the fact that safe abortions were unavailable, Yasuda told
19 Sievers, p. 183.
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her readers that they should follow their own dictates, even in violation of the
law.20
The third debate, on abolishing the system of licensed prostitution,
involved Marxist Yamakawa Kikue. ltd scorned the Movement to Abolish
Licensed Prostitution, an activity begun by the Women's Temperance Union
(Fujin kyofukai) and supported by the government as "worthwhile" for
women. These women looked at prostitutes with contempt, ltd called them
"hypocritical" and the movement "meaningless."21 ltd argued against a
formidable opponent when she sponsored and joined this debate on
licensed prostitution. She was still young, and highly emotional, but she
thought she understood the basic tenets of human nature through her
intellectual foundation which was derived from Emma Goldman, ltd
continued to believe that agitating for legal change would end in defeat,
even if they were able to abolish licensed prostitution. Again, in her
experience, tradition defeated any progressive institutional change. New
legalities would only work if you could destroy traditional thinking and
behavior of men first. Kikue believed that they would not see such social
change in their lifetimes, and taking this issue to the courts would effect the
necessary change.
ltd also showed characteristic sympathy for the "despised" women
who had no choice but to become prostitutes, and who were, by definition,
victims of the reformers' scorn.22 Prostitution, she said, was just another
occupation for a woman; for ltd, as for Goldman, it was "merely a question of
20 Ibid. Note* I didn't translate this article, so I'll depend on Sievers’ information.
21 Ibid.
22 Sievers, pp. 184-185.
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degree whether she sells herself to one man, in or out of marriage, or to
many m e n ." 2 3 As noted, for Ito, starving to save one's chastity was simply
out of the question. The deplorable paucity of options society had to offer
women made chastity "nothing more than a luxury enjoyed by those who
never have to worry about their next meal."
The Bluestockings led the debate on feminist issues for three years,
from 1913 to 1916. While other women participated in movements expressly
with the purpose of obtaining equal political and economic rights, the
Bluestockings examined what was outside of society's boundaries including
institutionalized equality. Individual choice and personal freedom existed
outside and above of the limits of society. Even in the very first issue,
Raicho had questioned whether "having a higher education, being made to
work at ordinary jobs and being given the right to political participation...as
well as being forced to lead an independent existence is the type of
independence that we are s e e k in g ."24
This was where Ito first began to explore "independence" with the
Bluestockings, but it was Emma Goldman who led her to the culmination of
her independent thought in her last years. Anarchism attracted her
attention, and she thought about leaving her relationship with Tsuji Jun to go
with the charismatic anarchist activist, 6sugi Sakae. Living with Tsuji, ltd
was shocked and depressed at the rate which their relationship had turned
into a conventional struggle. Despite the stellar beginnings, Tsuji had
changed greatly, tiring of her endless energy and attachment to various
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid.
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political causes, dismissing her attitude as childish. Whereas Tsuji remained
a defiant individualist removed from society, Noe's individualism leaned
toward a theory of joint responsibility, and active participation in social
movements to change society from the grass roots. Csugi Sakae charmed
her with serious discussion, and by praising her essays in his writings. After
a short while she would become dsugi's lifelong companion.
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Osugi's influence inspired ltd to leave Tsuji's anti-social behavior
behind:
At about that time my way of thinking gradually began to
change... Until now I have always felt as though my own
being was somewhat detached from the larger realm of
society....But without being aware of it, I have gradually
come to resolve this contradiction. Today I feel no
particular conflict or difficulty in plunging into a
movement for a social cause. 25
Ito's views, and her eager and repeated publication of Goldman in the
magazine, alienated most of the women in the group. Offended by
anarchism, they did not draw any connections between women's social
issues and what they thought was another of Ito's new infatuations.26
Osugi saw her give her speech on her "recent thoughts," and saw her as "a
superb fighting comrade if she could be properly educated. She could be
trained as the Emma of Japan."27 Noe became a firm believer and acted
publicly on those beliefs, using Seit6 as a forum.
While ltd was now managing most of the responsibility for publication
of Bluestocking, she produced many essays, or open letters, of her feelings
regarding several recent incidents involving Osugi. Back and forth, they
praised one another's works and convictions through Bluestocking and
Osugi's publication for the workers, Heimin Shimbun (The Commoners'
News), ltd increasingly supported Osugi Sakae's activities and his writings
banned by the government, ltd published in the last issues of Seito, her
radical thoughts on government censure of Osugi's newspaper, unafraid of
25 Miyamoto, p. 199.
26 Sievers, p. 182.
27 Setouchi, p. 254.
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government rebuke.28 Until, in February 1916, less as a result of a
conscious decision than because of her own exhaustion, what proved to be
the last issue appeared, ltd had run the magazine for a very long time
without benefit of consultation or assistance, or supporters. She had been
editing and maintaining the administrative tasks while she was pregnant and
carrying her child on her back.
ltd changed directions after maintaining this thankless job with Seito.
and turned toward Osugi and his energetic anarchism despite arguments
from her few remaining concerned friends.
The next seven years, which were to be the final years of her life, ltd
spent with her chosen soul mate, Osugi Sakae. She became his common-
law wife, energetic companion and political partner, as well as the mother of
five of his children. This lifestyle was quite a change from her life with the
disdainful Tsuji, whose anti-social existence created elitist theories which
reminded her of "dried flowers."29 She wanted to fight for others as Emma
Goldman had, others who were much worse off than she was. ltd applied
community-oriented principles to her writing and political activities, but
maintained her standards of individualism to the couple's personal
relationship. What's more, ltd became infatuated with Goldman's theory of
"free love," and briefly found room for realization of this principle in her life as
well.
When she first joined 6sugi, he was married and within the midst of a
second relationship outside the marriage. His wife and mistress knew that
28 Setouchi, p. 266.
29 Esashi Akiko, Sameyd onnatachi. Sekirankai no hitobito. (Tokyo: Daigetsu Shoten,
1980)p. 152.
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they had to accept one another because Osugi was first and foremost an
adherent to the principle of free love. According to him, each person should
be capable of loving the other to the fullest without restriction or
dependence, or limits on participants. Defying yet another "arbitrary
convention," ltd found this both interesting and convenient at first. Then the
other women became a scandalous nuisance-the wife being a disappointing
traditionalist, and the mistress being a violently jealous woman-and both
were already in the public realm as contributors to Seito. ltd then
concentrated on a more realistic form for the relationship, always confident
that she would win Osugi's love and admiration. She won the skirmish, and
with that mess out of the way, she threw herself into the business of being
an anarchist, plunging into the current political fray. 30
ltd helped Osugi implement his type of socialist anarchism, assisting
with the writing and editing in his publications, Bunmei hihyd (Critique of
Civilization, 1918) and Rddo undd (The Labor Movement, 1919). They went
to live among the laborers, helping to bring together the labor leaders who
were previously suspicious of socialist theorists. Osugi wrote about the
radical anarcho-syndicalist ideology, creating a significant part of the
Socialist League's internal conflict. Osugi believed in the individual above
all, writing about his surprise over the centralization of authority in the new
Bolshevik government in Russia. Disagreeing with Marxists, Osugi believed
30 Kamichiko Ichika, Osugi's mistress and a famous reporter, continued to seek out Osugi.
ltd never worried, claiming that no matter how many lovers Osugi had, she would always
give love to him freely, because he understood her need for freedom, too. Of course he
praised this in her, until Kamichiko unsuccessfully attempted to stab him to death. He then
attempted to break off with Kamichiko, thus rewarding ltd for being so understanding of his
free love philosophy.
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that anarchy would eventually create the ideal society, ltd joined the
Sekirankai (Red Wave Society), a socialist women’s organization, and
published an article in support of Gsugi's anarcho-syndicalism, 'The Truth
About Anarchism," writing about what she thought was the power of local
government (vs. the central Japanese government) in her hometown. She
explained that the people's adherence to anarchism had created an ideal
communal society, where everyone was jointly responsible and willing to be
thus involved, for the community. Ito also helped with organization of events
and visited comrades in prison.31
This highly public political life took its toll on ltd because for the first
time, she was now involved in activities which directly attacked the
government. Whereas she previously wrote and lectured about feminist and
individualist issues, merely offending her opponents, now she was living out
a most dangerous policy, ltd wrote and many times affirmed her opinion
that, "Anarchists dealing with only abstract theory, no matter how dangerous
they might appear, were left alone as long as they confined their interests to
building personal philosophies, but those who seriously sought to realize or
live according to their philosophies were soon cursed and suppressed."
Therefore, ltd said that she and Osugi made a great effort to remain
"unperturbed by the fact that some untoward incident or purge might
unexpectedly befall us at any time."32
In addition, the couple was still going through hard times, and ltd was
bearing children at a frantic pace, almost one per year, all the while under
3 1 Miyamoto, p. 200.
32 ibid., p. 200
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constant police surveillance, ltd took a hard look at herself again, and
realized that she had somehow lost part of herself in assimilating to Osugi
and his frenzied life. She believed that in most love relationships, the
woman lost herself in living for her mate. This was quite an unexpected
occurrence in her relationship with Osugi. Anarchist principles were
supposed to alleviate such situations by allowing for equal individuality of
any and all persons in a relationship, ltd and Osugi recognized that, despite
proclamations of equality, most couples that they knew slipped into the
traditional pattern of the man as superior, ltd confirmed that this was
because women essentially rescued men from the heavy tasks of
childbearing, rearing children and housekeeping.
For a brief period, ltd left Osugi to return to her hometown with her
pregnancy as an excuse. She wanted to concentrate on building her
concept of the ideal relationship, to produce in herself a sense of calm that
she needed in her life. Her ideal relationship consisted of a mutual respect
for one another based on work and affection. Both parties should be
economically independent, and if necessary, be able to live completely
separate from one another while continuing to hold mutual affection for one
another.33 Meanwhile, although under surveillance, Osugi had secretly
gone to Paris, France, to give a May Day address, at an international
meeting of anarchists. This drew more government attention to Osugi, and
he was forced to return to Japan, albeit triumphantly among his supporters.
Partially as a result of this latest event, ltd and Osugi turned to less
public, family-oriented activites, and ironically, this is where they met their
33 Setouchi, p. 333.
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deaths. In the aftermath of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, some
conservative militants used the chaos to search out anti-government
activists and other undesireables and massacre them. On an outing to visit
one of their children at a relative's house, ltd and Osugi (with their six-year
old nephew at the time) were arrested by a representative of the special
police, jailed and unceremoniously murdered by him that same day. The
Japanese media would no longer provide a forum for such unabashed
freedom-lovers, the dismantlers of structure in society. Ito was twenty-eight
years of age.
ltd Noe lived a most extraordinary, though brief, life. It was even
more spectacular when exploring the society in which she lived. Ito's
peculiar freedom in childhood, and an overly inquisitive sensibility, created a
fire within her that only she could learn how to cultivate. She responded to
the challenge with vigor and cheerfulness, overcoming each hurdle in an
unusually direct and result-oriented manner. Living for personal freedom,
human understanding, love and the pursuit of truth in knowledge, she
purposely chose her peers to learn from them, ltd was fiercely attracted to
new theories that would explain her own situations, to help her resolve them,
and then write about them so that eventually other women might be similarly
motivated to find solutions to their own problems. Whether she adhered to
individualist, communal and/or radical theories, Ito's foremost achievement
was that she created a new sense of morality for herself, rejecting hypocrisy
in a most painful way. Few examined themselves and their motives as often
and as freely as did ltd, although many also wrote prolifically during the
Taisho era. She demanded freedom from what she thought were arbitrary,
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artificial, mores and roles for both women and men. She advocated societal
progress through personal change, recognizing that structural changes in
Japanese society would be ignored by citizens steeped in feudal thought
and customs, ltd lived out her philosophy, resolute and determined, despite
knowing that someday soon she would most likely end up "on the gallows."
Osugi Sakae provided ltd with a most unique and perfect match, for
although he learned avidly from theory, he acted in the utmost freedom, or,
as he said before, with "the natural explosion of the spirit." Remarkably, he
would appreciate that quality already resident in ltd Noe.
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Translations by Lori Shube of Selected Writings of Ito Noe.
On The Tragedy o f Woman's Emancipation’
Seito. March 1914, republished in ltd Noe Zenshu. pp. 41-43.
"Love and morality" was a pamphlet that I was supposed to have
published long ago, but I did not think it was good enough as it was, so I
decided on the addition of articles like Emma Goldman's 'Tragedy of
Woman's Emancipation," 'The Minority and the Majority," the newly
translated "Love and Marriage" and a short biography on Goldman that the
magazine Seitd published. Further, to satisfy the publisher's demand, I was
supposed to write about such things as the history of transitions in the
woman question in the preface. Recently, though, for me it was too much of
a burden to overcome and besides, even if I am going to write critiques
based on my own firm opinion, I will probably end up picking up some great
teacher’s writings here and there, so I decided I will not write it at all.
Up to that time, the truth is that I really had no interest in things like
the history of women's issues. I did not want to do anything about things
that did not interest me. Love, which is an issue that has recently confronted
me, is a morality of exclusivity between a couple, and based on my own
experience, I have realized that the nature of love has become entirely
separate from so-called marriage, and through [Goldman's] writings, I am
even more sure. So, the problem facing me has become a problem in our
country and society, a problem facing our younger sisters. It is a most
severe fundamental problem. We who realize that we must start doing
something about that, because others have not awakened yet. However, it
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is not a simple issue for all of us to try to consider living a true lifestyle of
honest and deep mutual love. The problem of gender is a start but we must
look at this more broadly, and change our views to include economic
problems and problems of ethics.
'The urgent problem that should be solved by the future is how
people can unite with other people and be moved deeply by all of
humankind and yet still keep their individuality?" These words by Emma
Goldman, we must think over and over again. Tsuji and I have a motto that
is that we are trying to be honest to ourselves as much as we can, and we
try to do this every day. We are trying to have a free, natural and lively life,
trying to rid our lives of lies, and live distant from society's customs.
We sometimes become timid and we think about living life far away,
like on a deserted island, to escape from society. We cannot live like this:
those who are selfish, short tempered, angry, discouraged just like us
cannot compromise with both today's society and also be happy. Either
ignore society or fight really hard. But we do not want to rush around rashly
and die in vain. Right now we carry on our lives, reluctantly, closer to
ignoring society. When we think there are some people who think exactly
like we do, we have hope and consolation. We believe that the first light of
revolution has begun to show-or rather, it is already there. We should not
get discouraged or despair. We think there is going to be a day when we
are going to stand up and fight. We must fight the ignorance and long
standing convention that are stuck to us. People in society call us "new," but
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we truly cannot accept the word "new." We do not think we are new. We
need to be much newer. Recently I read the article by Takamura, in which
the translation was about women of the future. I could not just say "Oh, this
is interesting," but had to do more. Our "vital force" looked really weak and
lifeless.
I cannot stop hoping that when I send this pamphlet to our sisters and
brothers it will be a source of enlightenment. Liberation does not mean
changing one's hairstyle, changing the way one walks in one's clothing or
drinking "five-colored sake."2 As for those people who would laugh at other
people for their clothing or would think it is ridiculous for women to drink
sake, they would not understand the meaning of liberation at all. As for the
clothing style, it is merely an expression of individual taste, and it is the
fashion. As for the sake, it is nothing but the simple taste of each person.
They do not have anything to do with real liberation. Liberation must tie and
hold together women in the meaning of the highest truth. Among all women
we must sincerely aspire to gain such a complete concept through
acknowledgment and action. All artificial obstacles must be done away with.
Centuries of footsteps of obedience and slavery must be swept away, off of
the path which leads toward the grand freedom.
2This is a reference to the first public scandal of Seitflsha, in which three members went to
Yoshiwara (Red Light District) to see how the prostitutes lived. This visit in which the
women drank a popular drink "Five colored Sake," gave the newspapers much to
exaggerate and scorn, and served as the first source of contention among Seitfl members.
While those involved said this incident had nothing to do with being "New Women," others
were not ready to battle public criticism, and wanted members to refrain from any such
activities.
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The Truth About Anarchism
Published as a series in Rddo undo, December, 1921, through February,
1922. Republished in ltd Noe Zenshu. pp. 464-475.
We hear criticisms from all directions that Anarchist-Communist ideals
cannot possibly be realized, that they are simply a fantasy. If we must wait
for the central government to change, what a m yth-we'll all become too
exhausted.
Among the intellectuals of society and even among some socialists, they
laugh scornfully at the "fantasy" of anarchism. For me, it is not a "fantasy" it
has always been there, from our ancestors to now, and it shows up in small
communities and mutual aid in maintaining self-government in their small
ways. I have seen places where it has been and is in existence.
To the areas where so-called "grace of high culture" could not be sufficiently
"bestowed," I have seen communities exist where no power or control or
commands exist. It is based on really free will, and earned on in the spirit of
mutual aid according to the needs of the people.
Long ago, local government administration was not difficult, with the
exception being an institution under the supervision of a central government.
Anarchistic communism does exist apart from the outwardly seen
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"administration." The organizations of mutual aid spring up as necessity
compells them, and there is no doubt that up until now,
the so-called official "administration" came to maintain an existence quite
separate from them.
2
Here, I think I will try to write about my thoughts on my own direct
experience in the town where I was bom. In my narrow experience, I cannot
confirm the fact that this does not exist anywhere besides Japan or China.
So I believe that perhaps it is not a mistake to believe in it. I am sure that
there are only a few areas that have this unique characteristic. The people
in the countryside with lifestyles that are prone to hardship generally and
necessarily have the kind of disposition that goes with it. The people that
find themselves in that situation are realizing our great ideals.
As for my hometown, it was only 3 ri (2.5 miles) west of Fukuoka city, and it
ran along the road that led to Fukuoka, which was long ago the feudal
capital of earthenware and china. The village section where father's house
was, was a port in olden times, when traffic and land routes were not
convenient. Now, like long ago, there is not great prosperity-there was not
one piece of scrap wood anywhere; the residents were poor, being part-time
farmers and part-time merchants, and the town seemed like a ghost-town.
This section was commonly called "Matsubara" (pine grove), and there were
around sixty or seventy homes. It was situated along the highway. These
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sixty or seventy houses were separated into six small associations. For
these six "associations" it was important to comply with and make a
federation. That is, this village section's six associations formed a
cooperative "federation." But this federation was always dissolving.
Whatever the villagers really needed, the cooperatives were always there for
them. From both sides of the long and narrow town, it happened that the
order was marked off from twenty to thirty houses, and also marked off from
forty to fifty houses, it appears just as they already decided long ago. [So,
people naturally find ways to organize and help themselves.] When the
federation does not have as much or the same uses, it always disintegrates.
If there are no rules in its body, then there are also no officers. The intention
of the shape of the associations stems from ancestors long ago, and is
simply the concept of "cooperation in hard times".
During periods of peace and safety, not many homes are needed, and the
association does not have anything to do. But, when there is an incident
with so much as one household, immediately the association begins its
work. At that time the number of houses is few, and then house by house
they get involved with one another, and if there are times when families have
differences, it immediately becomes widely known within the association. If
the plan of action is already known, everyone immediately shares the work
evenly, running to that household. But, if they need to discuss the situation
beforehand, they immediately gather to consult.
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The meeting takes place either at the front door of the house, standing on
the dirt floor, or in a room in the house of some experts on the problem, or
perhaps the meeting is in the drawing room depending on the situation.
Even as people are gathering, the meeting goes on. In the case of this
meeting, it is not a matter of great difficulty, and there are no people who are
silent participants. What each person knows and thinks is said frankly.
Other people's suggestions are to be approved and generally the reasons
are made clear. Even in the slightly difficult case that the people cannot
possibly speak enough, they do speak in the association meeting. In the
end, there must not be an anxious atmosphere where people are timid about
their own opinions while contemplating others'.
The truth is, there is no discrimination whatsoever in the association- One
could even see perhaps the village mayor doing the work of day labor.
Whether someone is the mayor or a day laborer, there is no discrimination
between association members that is a qualification for work. Where there
is arrogance, there is no humility. In the country, respect is given to the
elderly and to good families but admirably, it does not become an obstacle
to association meetings and work.
Who makes the final decision of the meeting? Everyone decides. Usually, it
is specifically based on whose clear fact and insight it is, and when all
knowledge and opinions are included and submitted, the conclusion is
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complete by itself. It is not necessary to make something up, or to force
someone to do so.
If it is a general problem, it is immediately settled in the meeting. However,
by chance, there are times when there are several opinions that are not in
agreement.
For example, among the association members, every household has its
family quarrels. In such cases, in order to come to an agreement, the
association has a meeting, some people of the family and some others of
differing viewpoints with a way of thinking about it which is complex, at times
they cannot come close to an agreement.
At times like those, everyone, even for several nights, willingly gathers to
have a talk. They compare a great many considerations and arrange for the
best results and, as much as possible, endeavor to stick to a standard of
what they think is right.
Suppose they cannot agree within the boundaries of the meeting, and they
are debating arduously. Someone who can act as a mediator, must be able
to carry it through, and he will examine as to how they can agree. First he
finds how they could not agree, then separating the correct path from
incorrect ways, everyone reproves those people head on.
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In this case, there is a house where someone has become ill. Soon it is
known within the association. Everyone rushes to the house. Then they do
such acts of kindness: someone goes to call the doctor, and tells all of the
nearby relatives, with others running to help, and nursing the patient. If the
patient becomes a little worse, the others in twos and threes stay through
the night, every night, taking shifts. Whether one week passes or twelve
days, everyone works at it willingly.
Even in the case that the patient dies, it is made known everywhere, they
even go far out of their way to tell those in other villages. Other tasks, of
course, like digging the grave, carrying the casket, everything pertaining to
instruments used in the funeral, assisting with food for the crowd of people,
the association manages these things and other things.
In the case that there is a child birth, a league of women from the
association gathers. The women's league is responsible for everything to
assist the woman in labor.
In other cases, anything that is needed is done without complaint by the
association. Even among the association families, not every family is loved
by all. There are sure to be two or three houses that are not considered to
be well-liked.
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In the case of helping that house, everyone backs one another, whispering,
and if they agree, they voice their dissatisfaction. But, rather, the work
assisting that house, for that reason, is never wasted. They must make sure
to keep their emotions to themselves-and their work with the association
separate.
The fact that there is not any association business [bureaucracy] or things
like that, is the same; but everyone deals with the issue of association
money and its coming and going, such that when the time comes, everyone
settles up completely.
Sometimes the association members have social gatherings. Then, they
generally gather at a house for lunch or dinner where there is a banquet with
drinking and eating, each contributing a previously decided amount of
money. There is a custom that once a year, a feast takes place continuing
from two to three days, or from four to five days. Managing the
circumstances at those times is considered quite troublesome, but really it is
achieved without hindrances. Everyone contributes so that there is enough
money. If there is any left over, it turns out that it is taken into trust by
someone for future necessity.
At a feast where a good amount o f wine is drunk, each person is charged for
his own amount of wine, and there are cases wherein another person does
not have enough money for what he has promised. In that case, because
those drinkers are spiteful about not being able to drink, there is a small
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extra amount available to them. So, this issue is a problem. The drinkers
do not eat, and those not drinking do eat. That is why sometimes it is a
problem, because the insufficient funds are divided into equal parts.
Other families'funeral ceremonies, illnesses, childbirths, wedding
ceremonies-the association assists with everything, and generally the
association head collects to shop for these occasions. Accordingly, the
calculations begin whenever the help ends. All of the association members
gather for these calculations. So, they investigate carefully in a way that
there is not even one-tenth of a sen's worth in mistakes. That is why they
first make the report of the investigation to the people of that family after it is
decided that there are no mistakes. That is where the association's work
ends.
Even if there is work that needs to be done on a continual basis, rarely is
there a problem because the order is determined in advance, on the first
occasion that they consult. Everyone has some responsibility toward the
association, and they are never lazy or reluctant. Everyone's watch is
assigned, and if they neglect this, the people call this inexcusable, and take
action in accordance with their conscience. This is why there is no need for
commands or surveillance.
4
The arrangement is that six associations, one from each village section,
work together in the village on such things as night watch duty, cleaning of
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shrines, repairs and festival prayers. In this case, which of the associations
sends two or three of its members to the meeting depends on the
circumstances, if there is to be a meeting, the association members make
the topic known. For the things they have not settled, they listen to
everyone's ideas, determining to meet again. As in the arrangement, when
the work is done the association alternates are freed from it. When you take
apart the federation, you see it is made up of smaller associations-but each
association is not just a unit of the federation, it should be seen as the family
of those living there.
In another case, a proposal is raised that everyone try to take turns as night
watchman. An arrangement is settled by each association, that the whole
village will try, doing even insignificant things. Soon after that, each
association's delegates decide on rough estimates from when to when.
Every night, one person from each house assembles and decides the
number of times of rotations: after the watchman from the north side
finishes, one from the south side starts, one from the west and one from the
east.... If three show up from the north and west, and it is decided that they
will change places three times, on the day that is the beginning, someone
from one of the three houses comes out to the town center and striking the
taiko and hitting the wooden clappers of the night watchman. When the next
day comes, the lanterns, taiko and wooden clappers are brought to the next
of the three houses. So, gradually, the order is accomplished as decided,
without mistakes.
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As for things like temple repair costs, money is gathered quickly, because
everyone saves money by prior arrangement. A single coffer is passed
around during the day from house to house, and the head of the households
of the whole village determine to put in such amounts as three to five sen
every day. This goes around every day without fail, from neighbor to
neighbor.
Suppose the roads are bad on the way to school, and the children have a
hard time of it. The parents complain to one another about it. So, soon
after, someone makes a motion that someone who has leisure time take two
or three days to smooth the road. If they do this in a single village, people
from other villages passing through that decided their roads are not like this,
those people will pitch in and suddenly, all the roads are made smooth.
All things are truly progressing in this way. Generally it is the association's
doing. It turns out there is another type of power, one formality of the
association, that is taken away from the whole village. When contemplating
the association and the village's self-government, what in the world does the
village office [representatives of the Central Government] do? It is almost
amazing, the way the "self-government" and "[Central] administration" are
becoming separate units. People fervently heed the agreements between
the village and the local association, and most are entirely unconcerned with
the agreements seen as coming from the village assembly representatives
of the Central Government. Generally the people see the official duties of
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the representatives as those of taxation, census-taking, military enlistment,
and school matters.
5
There is a view that, thanks to the association, there is no need for police
stations or police patrols. The association generally settles quarrels among
people with common interests, and even among families. Even in
apprehending thieves, in the case of the person whose property it is— it is
clearly for the police to keep it as private a matter as possible.
Recently, there have been occurrences like this. Certain couples of the
house have been robbed. Frequently, by rough estimates, the victim is
caught by them due to unavoidable evidence. The couple of the house that
was robbed summoned and reprimanded him. The criminal and the victims,
being in the same association, immediately run to get the association
members. Here and there, everyone reprimands the criminal severely.
However, at any rate, since he apologizes never to have this happen again,
it turned out that the victim's husband also forgives him. As for the
association, if it happens a second time, the association colleagues calm
things down by deciding to handle it differently.
Generally, people's thoughts regarding this incident were like this: 'The
people doing the robbing are not good people. But, since that they would go
to prison, why would they do it? Even they have children and relatives. We
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must think about those people's troubles. If they feel disgrace, they simply
go before the association and apologize-that is enough shame. So then,
now that they are interested in trying to make a living off the land, colleagues
from the association give them a second chance and enlist their help. Then,
if they still have that bad habit, again, everyone decides with caution that
they cannot give him a chance. They say that they think that is why the
person is reformed, and therefore rescued from considering it again. The
fact is that he is viewed with caution. He becomes cautious. Admonition
was given, but never outright humiliation. The honest sympathy of the
country people is the successful element in this.
This story certainly means something to the people in the village. However,
the police would try not to notice. Although the police usually are friendly,
when there is a situation involving a crime, they do not talk to other villagers
[do not ask for their help in rehabilitating the criminal]. If there are people
that talk about that situation, the police immediately admonish them.
In these situations also, there are some officers that aim to make trouble for
others. I believe that despite this, peace kept in the village is owing to the
true principles of self-government and its practices which stem from very
long ago. The final form of punishment for the association and the members
has come to driving the perpetrators away from the land, the neighborhood.
However, while this may happen in one association, it is possible that it may
not happen in another.
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There must be some deep reason for it if it was done by people from the
association. The circumstances of the matter quickly become widely known
in the area. When the final punishment is given, no one has anything to do
with him. Finally, once he is separated from the community, he has no
choice but to leave.
But, everyone considers the final punishment to be extremely severe. So,
beyond the fact that considerable pardons did not exist in antiquity, some
see this as a last resort, and try not to do it. In the scope of my experience
in my village, they will avoid giving the type of punishment in this account.
Hence, the [rehabilitation of the criminal] effect is remarkable.
£
In true country life, we could not function without the association. There is
nothing they would not help with. We would never abandon the association.
It is not troublesome in the least to carry a sick person about to die (even
without much money), or to carry the dead. In our struggle through hard
times, which are made temporary with the association's help, it is clear that
the association settles our worries by considering the circumstances.
The association lends its help were practically unconditionally. Especially in
matters of alleviating poverty. The poor by far, face more misfortune than
the rich. From large misfortune to small, somehow, with the association it
can come out all right. Up until now, I could not at all understand why the
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people in the villages adhered to such simple lifestyles. People who decided
to leave the village generally came back. Those who went to the city to
become professionals remembered their youth and they returned to the
village even where there was nothing exciting to do. I considered it a
mystery -th is attachment to a poor life with no vitality.
For the first time, I understood and turned my attention toward this thing
called the village association. I was used to village life, I found I could not
endure the life in other places, especially the selfish and cold lifestyle of the
city. Even without hopes of success, and although they might be poor, in
the long run everyone feels good about their lives due to the association's
support and the warmth and cooperative spirit by which they live.
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Miscellaneous Impressions About Chastity
Seito. February, 1915, republished in Ito Noe Zenshu. pp. 116-124.
It seems that chastity is the foremost moral cause that has caused
women to suffer from times past. Up until now, I pretty much listened to
what other people thought and taught, but I did not have my own view of
chastity . I did not come across this thinking about that subject before now; I
truly did not even consider it to be something I must think about. Rather, I
found that it was, after all possible, to have some kind of an opinion after I
heard other peoples' views.
By chance, I read an article by Ikuta Hanayo and Yasuda Satsuki,
and that was what made me think about it truly for the first time. Their
writings provided a foundation for my own view of chastity, which was not yet
completely defined.
When I met with Hiratsuka Raicho around the 10th (of the month), we
talked about various things like this, and I tried to progress further in my own
thought. But in the end, it is not a big issue for me. So, finally it was
possible to think about the word "chastity" and its importance. Things like
chastity are simply not important in the context of a man and woman in love
with one another. I think it is possible to say that the traditional meaning of
the word "chastity" is an artificial morality, defined by others as "a virtuous
woman who does not have sexual experiences with more than one man in
her lifetime."
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If I say this, perhaps there are those who would really criticize my
opinion, but for example, take the situation where a woman is separated
from her husband by death. If this woman's husband dies, and she has a
strong love for him, it is normal and not unnatural for her to stay single.
However, there are very few widows in society that find happiness in
remaining a widow forever. If widows would rid their heads of the moral
conviction called "chastity" in the first place, it is inevitable that they would
search for another mate. I know they would do this. It is an extremely
natural matter.
The most unreasonable thing is that chastity is only a bother for women,
and does not apply to men. I think this morality is the biggest denial of a
woman's character or individuality. A man who has a second, third or even
fourth marriage finds no problem at all, while a woman who is suitable for a
second marriage immediately finds herself in trouble. This is highly unjust!
If chastity is unnecessary for men, should not it be the same for women? If
chastity is so important for women, it should be just as important for men.
However, these unfair conditions lead women to believe terribly misguided
ideas for all women-that this morality is natural and right!
I first became aware of this type of erroneous thinking through Mrs.
Ikuta's essay. I was surprised and skeptical. At first I did not believe the
article, but after reading it and thinking deeply, I thought Mrs. Ikuta was
generally cynical about morality. The exaggeration of her ideas seemed to
be with the intent of hurting, but that article finally made me realize she was
just being honest. It is really sad that this erroneous morality is affecting
people all around us. This is what Mrs. Ikuta says:
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"It is the same way with this issue of women protecting their virginity as
the most important thing for marriage. (I could not quote Mrs. Ikuta's essay
because I did not have her essay there...but I certainly agree with her.)
It is a woman's loss when they say, "You can't have a happy marriage,"
for women who lose their virginity. This is what Mrs. Ikuta was saying. So
simple ideas like Mrs. Ikuta's own virginity, turned into a struggle of
demands staring her in the face, like those to eat and live. The idea finally
won in that Mrs. Ikuta lost her virginity. When a woman loses her virginity,
for example, when it is lost to a lover, it causes some anguish-she cannot
help but feel sorrow. Furthermore, it is a problem of hitori pan: selling her
body in exchange for bread because she needs to eat! I understand that
this is a very common situation. I imagine that Mrs. Ikuta's circumstances
must have been terrible indeed.
My experiences of being too poor to eat were the same as Mrs. Ikuta's.
I think I understand how sad her situation is. However, even when Mrs.
Ikuta said she was poor, there was still some income. I felt the sting of no
income. For two and three months at a time I had not enough satisfactory
food. It is very difficult for one to endure dying of hunger-just trying to get
food when they have none, as opposed to having some food and livelihood.
Obtaining food by begging is not shameful. You can be at peace while you
are in absolute poverty if you do not have extravagant ideas about food. It
seems that Mrs. Ikuta takes pride in surviving her experience (protecting her
virtue and starving). I think it is important to get food and eat food, but it is
not such a big deal to exchange things like "virtue" for food.
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Mrs. Ikuta says that something like this: 'This won't happen to me again
because I have a husband. Those days I had nobody to worry about my
virginity so I really did not care-nobody owned me. Back then I did not
have boyfriend or husband so if I did something like that-there was nobody
that I had to feel guilty about. Because I have a husband now, I cannot
sell my body for food. It is common sense. There is no woman who would
sell her body for food when she has a husband. But I could just leave my
husband (or lover) for any kind of reason-this could happen any day. If that
happens, then I would probably end up selling my body again because I
want food." She has realized that if she does leave them she has to do the
same thing again for food! Now, I will stop right here about Mrs. Ikuta.
The things that I have mentioned here in this chapter about my feelings
are based on my ethics. I am not sure if this is right, but this is my
interpretation. The reason why I am saying maybe this is not right is
because if I am asked why virginity is so valuable, I cannot answer. I do not
have a choice except for saying that losing virginity is something that I did
not do instinctively. I cannot force my opinion on other people because my
opinion is without proof. It is not based on facts which have proof. Of
course, if you can just make a reason for it, I can probably find some kind of
reason for it, but if you cannot understand the basic principle or belief it
doesn't make sense. You cannot prove the facts, if you do not understand
the basic truth.
All the things that I've stated are my thoughts up to this point. My
opinion is to ignore chastity and virginity, although those two things do exist.
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It could be considered that those things are not bad. If Mrs. Ikuta has that
attitude from the beginning (if she ignores "chastity" and "virginity" issues
from the beginning), the problem is itself going to different. If she already
ignored it then I would not have any opinion about it. [She would not have
written thus alerting Noe]. I want her to be more certain about herself rather
than being passive. She was trying to transcend and rise above the chastity
issue but she did not have a choice, she had to get food. What is amazing
is that Mrs. Ikuta did not give up her marriage, but she was still forced to sell
her body for food. I already decided to live my life single, but my thoughts
are still not really certain. The reason why I decided this was because I
wanted to make legitimate what I have done in my life. But really, it was not
a conscious decision at all-1 did it just to make sense for myself. That was
to momentarily console myself. Poor Mrs. Ikuta! From the beginning to the
end Mrs. Ikuta never rid herself of "the woman's weakness (being a passive
receptor of society's ideals for women)."
Raicho read Mrs. Ikuta's paper and she thought that she could
empathize: The women's weakness that attracts men is well-described in
Mrs. Ikuta's basic opinion. She cries, she is very calm, really w eak-a
woman is supposed to be weak-Mrs. Ikuta is this and she is really feminine.
She is also a woman who would sell her body for her parents (She has no
individuality— if her parents sold her into prostitution, she would oblige them).
It makes sense that she wasn't able to stand by herself like the men do... on
the surface of society. The reason why that happened for Mrs. Ikuta was
because it was only natural to sell her body for food.
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If I were in her situation and I had to sell my body for food, I would give
up my virginity right away. I would also find other ways than to have to
resort to selling my body, although I know that is nothing to be ashamed of.
I am really furious when I compare men and women: when you think about
men who are getting married how many of them are virgins? Many more
girls are tortured by the fact that they are expected to be virgins. Men
cannot expect women to be virgins before they get married because men
are not. They think it is right for men to be that way, but they think it is not
right for women to be that way. Men think that is just the way it is - natural.
But for women, not only is it meaningless, but it is an extreme insult to her
being.
Of course I do not think it is a good thing but they weakly show their
tears in front of arrogant men [they are weak and do not fight] when there is
nothing wrong with women being stronger in front of men. I would like to
see some women being really strong, positive and secure about fighting
back. It is important to get rid of your false idea about virginity that I
mentioned earlier. I think that there are many women who would lose their
virginity because of that false ideal of submissive women.
As I mentioned earlier, those women in Mrs. Ikuta's essay are women
who just [accept their lot and] console themselves and think themselves to
be the same as Yoshiwara [The "red-light district"] women. This is how they
legitimize what they have done. They could never come out from the
shadows as long as they think of themselves as courtesans to legitimize
what they are doing. What I did was not wrong and courtesans do it every
day. The women think their suffering is the same as a courtesan's misery.
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Courtesans were forced into prostitution, because they lost their virginity,
and they accepted their fate. Up to that point, Mrs. Ikuta would definitely say
that she has sacrificed, the same as a courtesan. I am disappointed that
Mrs. Ikuta thought that she could just give up her idea of a good marriage,
because she lost her virginity, and consider herself as if the same level as a
courtesan.
I said earlier that virginity seems to be very important. And I also said
that my idea of the importance of virginity is not for everybody. In the
biological sense, these days according to what I hear, once a woman has
contact with a man, her blood changes and her blood is not going to be
pure. When a woman loses her virginity her blood changes by this first man
and then when she is with a second, and even if she has a child with the
second man, he has the influence of the first due to the first change in blood.
That is what they say. Some believe it and they think losing virginity is a big
deal, but others cannot believe that. They say there might be some
biological examples like that [blood changes] but with only a few examples
you cannot say that is the truth.
I do not know the reasons why it is so important for women to protect
their virginity, or why it is such a big issue to lose it. I have not become
anxious to look for the reasons why. I know that even the women who lost
their virginity can have a good marriage. There is no reason for them not to.
I do not think virginity is the most necessary condition for marriage. Not to
mention that is up to the two of them who are getting married, to decide what
is important. Even if a woman who is about to get married has already lost
her virginity, the man who she is marrying admits it is all right for her to be
Lori S. Shube
Thesis
55
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
that way; they are going to have a good marriage anyway. After all, Mrs.
Ikuta was married happily...
I know that there is no reason for women who have lost their virginity not
to have a good marriage. I wonder why women cannot be stronger. To give
you another example, some honest women who confessed that they lost
their virginity to their man, will give up and live singly, miserably for the rest
of their lives. And there are those clever and dishonest women who do not
tell their man that they lost their virginity, and they get married to them and
have a wonderful life and a good marriage. I can imagine that there are
many women like that among people I know. I could respect much more the
people who are honest, over women who are dishonest.
As for dishonest women and arrogant men, no matter how happy they
look when they are married, it is very difficult to have a true happy marriage.
The honest women, and men who can appreciate that woman's honesty,
can have the truest happy marriage. Mrs. Ikuta is one of these women.
Why did Mrs. Ikuta not oppose Yasuda by saying that she was really proud
of herself despite the fact that she lost her virginity, and that she was proud
of her good marriage.
Moreover, I think that poor widows, spending their days with empty
minds, are miserable - they are the ones that believe in keeping virginity
until marriage. That it is ethically right-but their days are empty and they
must spend their lives like that. The only thing making them feel good is the
"ethics." How truly miserable they are!
Oh, we must rise against these traditional customs! We must get rid of
them. Except for destroying those ideas, there is no way for us to be
Lori S. Shube
Thesis
56
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
rescued from the bondage of customs. Curse the oppression of women's
lives!! I cannot be patient about this forever... someday... someday!
Lori S. Shube
Thesis
57
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Sources Consulted in Japanese
Esashi Akiko, Sameyo onnatachi, Sekirankai no hitobito. [Wake Up Women!
The Women of the Red Wave Society] (Tokyo: Daigetsu Shoten, 1980)
Ikeda Michiko, Hangyaku no onna no roman. Onna no issho. [Romanticism
of Treasonous Women] Vol 6. of Jinbutsu Kindai Jyosei-shi. (Tokyo:
Kodansha,1981)
ltd Noe, ltd Noe Zenshu [The Collected Writings of ltd Noe], 2 volumes
(Tokyo: Gakugei Shorin, 1977)
Iwasaki Kureo, Honoo no onna-lt6 Noe de [A Woman with Fire: The
Biography of ltd Noe] (Tokyo: Shichiydsha,)
Setouchi Harumi, Bi wa ranchd ni an [Beauty Lies in Confusion] (Tokyo:
Bungei Shunju, 1966)
-------------------, Beauty in Disarray, translated by Sanford Goldstein and
Kazuji Ninomiya. (Rutlege.VT & Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1993)
Lori S. Shube
Thesis
58
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Sources Consulted in English
Abramovitz, Mimi. Regulating the Lives of Women. Boston: South End
Press, 1991
Baer, Judith A. Women in American Law. New York: Homes & Meier
Publishing, Inc., 1991
Barshay, Andrew E. State and the Intellectual in Imperial Japan. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1988
Bartlett, Katharine T., ed. Feminist Legal Theory. Boulder, CO: Westview
Press, 1991
Bernstein, Gail Lee, ed. Recreating Japanese Women 1600-1945.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991
Bestor, Theodore C. Neighborhood Tokyo. Stanford: Stanford University
Press, 1989.
Christy, Carol Anne. "Must Sex Differences in Political Participation
Diminish? A Test of the Modernization and Diffusion Theories in
Seven Nations." Ohio: Ohio State University, Ph.D. Dissertation, Vol.
1, 1980.
Donovan, Josephine. Feminist Theory. Intellectual Traditions of American
Feminism. New York: The Continuum Publishing Company, 1991.
Duus, Peter. Party. Rivalry and Political Change in Taisho Japan.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968.
Lori S. Shube
Thesis
59
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Enloe, Cynthia. Bananas. Beaches & Bases. Making Feminist Sense of
International Politics. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989.
Ferguson, Ann. Sexual Democracy. Women. Oppression and Revolution,
Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1991.
Fletcher, William Miles III. The Search for a New Order. Intellectuals_and
Fascism in Prewar Japan. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
Press, 1982.
Fuchs, Victor R. Women's Quest for Economic Equality. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1988.
Gatens, Moira. Feminism and Philosophy. Perspectives on_Differeace and
Equality. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1991.
Githens, Marianne and Jewel L. Prestage. A Portrait of Marginality.The
Political Behavior of the American Woman. David McKay Co., Inc.,
1977.
Gluck, Carol. Japan's Modern Myths: Ideology in the Late Meiji Period.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985.
Hane, Mikiso. Reflections on the Way to the Gallows: Voices of Japanese
Rebel Women. Berkeley: University of California Press (Pantheon),
1988.
, Modern Japan: A Historical Survey. Boulder, CO: Westview Press,
Inc., 1986.
Hendry, Joy. Marriage in Changing Japan. Rutlege, VT: Charles E. Tuttle,
Co., 1981.
.Understanding Japanese Society. New York and London: Nissan
Institute; Croom Helm Ltd., 1987.
Lori S. Shube
Thesis
60
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Illich, Ivan. Gender. Berkeley: Heyday Books, 1982.
Imamura, Anne E. Urban Japanese Housewives: At Home and in the
Community. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1987.
Kaminer, Wendy. A Fearful Freedom. Women's FlightFromEquality.
Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Inc., 1990.
Krauss, Ellis S. and Takeshi Ishida, eds. Democracy in Japan. Pittsburgh:
University of Pittsburgh Press. 1989.
Lebra, Joyce, Joy Paulson and Elizabeth Powers, eds. Women In Changing
Japan. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1981.
Lewis, Michael. Rioters and Citizens. Mass Protest in Imperial .Japan,
Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1990.
Meehan, Elizabeth and Selma Sevenhuijsen. Equality. Politics and Gender.
London: SAGE Publications, 1991.
Millett, Kate. Sexual Politics. New York: Ballantine Books, 1969.
Mitchell, Richard R. Thought Control in Prewar Japan. Ithaca and London:
Cornell University Press, 1976.
Miyamoto, Ken. "Ito Noe and the Bluestockings." Japan Interpreter 10
(Autumn 1975): 190-204.
Nagy, Margit Maria. "How Shall We Live? Social Change, the Family
Institution and Feminism in Prewar Japan." Ph.D. Dissertation,
Seattle: University of Washington, 1981.
Najita, Tetsuo. Japan:-Th e Intellectual F Q undationsj3tModgmJ.apane.se
Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974.
Nolte, Sharon. Liberalism in Modern Japan: Ishibashi Tanzan and his
Teachers. 1905-1960. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.
Lori S. Shube
Thesis
61
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Notehelfer, F.G. Kotoku Shusui: Portrait of a Japanese Radical. London:
Cambridge University Press, 1971.
Pharr, Susan J. Political Women in Japan. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1981.
Phillips, Anne. Engendering Democracy. University Park, PA:
Pennsylvania State University Press, 1991.
Reich, Pauline and Fukuda Atsuko. "Japan's Literary Feminists: The Seito
Group." Signs vol. 2 (Autumn 19761: 280-291.
Robins-Mowry, Dorothy. The Hidden Sun: Women of Modern Japan.
Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1983.
Ryan, Mary P. Womanhood in America: From Colonial Times to the
Present. New York: Franklin Watts Publishers, 1983.
Sievers, Sharon L. Flowers in Salt: The Beginnings of Feminist
Consciousness in Modern Japan. Stanford, CA: Stanford University
Press, 1983.
Silberman, Bernard S. and H.D. Harootunian, eds. Japan in Crisis: Essays
on Taisho Democracy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1974.
Stanley, Thomas A. Osuoi Sakae. Anarchist in Taisho Japan: The
Creativity.of the Ego. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982.
Tokuza, Akiko. "Oku Mumeo and the Movements to Alter the Status of
Women in Japan from the Taisho Period to the Present". Ph.D.
Dissertation, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1988.
Totten, George Oakley, III. The Social Democratic Movement in Prewar
Japan. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966.
Lori S. Shube
Thesis
62
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Tsunoda, Ryusaka, Wm. Theodore de Bary and Donald Keene, George
Oakley Totten, compilers. Sources of Japanese Tradition: Vol. II.
New York: Columbia University Press, 1958.
Tsurumi, Shunsuke. An Intellectual History of Wartime Japan 1931-1945.
London and Sydney: KPI, 1986.
Woodiwiss, Anthony. Law. Labor and Society in Japan: From Repression
to Reluctant Recognition. London and New York: Routledge, 1992.
Ueda, Makoto, ed. The Mother of Dreams and Other Short Stories:
Portrayals of Women in Modern Japanese Fiction. San Francisco:
Kodansha International, Inc., 1986.
Ueno, Chizuko. 'The Position of Japanese Women Reconsidered." Current
Anthropology vol. 28 (August-October 1987): S75-S84.
Vavich, Dee Ann. 'The Japanese Woman's Movement: Ichikawa Fusae, A
Pioneer in Women's Suffrage." Monumenta Nipponica vol. 22 (1967):
402-436.
Lori S. Shube
Thesis
63
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
B IB L IO G R A P H Y
Sources Consulted in Tapanese
Esashi Akiko, Sameyd onnatachi, Sekirankai no hitobito. [Wake Up Women!
The Women of the Red Wave Society] (Tokyo: Daigetsu Shoten, 1980)
Ikeda Michiko, Hangyakn no onna no roman. Onna no issho. [Romanticism
of Treasonous Women] Vol 6. of finbutsu Kindai Jyosei-shi. (Tokyo:
Kodansha, 1981)
Ito Noe, ltd Noe Zenshu [The Collected W ritings of Ito Noe], 2 volumes
(Tokyo: Gakugei Shorin, 1977)
Iwasaki Kureo, Honoo no onna-Itd Noe de [A Woman with Fire: The
Biography of Ito Noe] (Tokyo: Shichiyosha, )
Setouchi Harum i, Bi wa rancho ni ari [Beauty Lies in Confusion] (Tokyo:
Bungei Shunju, 1966)
---------------------/ Beauty in Disarray, translated by Sanford Goldstein and
Kazuji Ninomiya. (Rutlege,VT & Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company,
1993)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Sources Consulted in English
Abramovitz, M im i. Regulating the Lives of Women. Boston: South End
Press, 1991
Baer, Judith A. Women in American Law. New York: Homes & Meier
Publishing, Inc., 1991
Barshay, Andrew E. State and the Intellectual in Im perial Tapan.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988
Bartlett, Katharine T., ed. Feminist Legal Theory. Boulder, CO: Westview
Press, 1991
Bernstein, Gail Lee, ed. Recreating Tapanese Women 1600-1945. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1991
Bestor, Theodore C. Neighborhood Tokyo. Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 1989.
Christy, Carol Anne. "Must Sex Differences in Political Participation
Diminish? A Test of the Modernization and Diffusion Theories in
Seven Nations." Ohio: Ohio State University, Ph.D. Dissertation,
Vol. 1, 1980.
Donovan, Josephine. Feminist Theory. Intellectual Traditions of
American Feminism. N ew York: The Continuum Publishing
Company, 1991.
Duus, Peter. Party Rivalry and Political Change in Taisho Tapan.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968.
65
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Enloe, Cynthia. Bananas. Beaches & Bases. Making Feminist Sense of
International Politics. Berkeley: University of California Press,
1989.
Ferguson, Ann. Sexual Democracy. Women. Oppression and Revolution.
Boulder, CO: W estview Press, 1991.
Fletcher, W illiam Miles EH. The Search for a New Order. Intellectuals and
Fascism in Prewar Japan. Chapel H ill: University of North
Carolina Press, 1982.
Fuchs, Victor R. Women's Quest for Economic Equality. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1988.
Gatens, Moira. Feminism and Philosophy. Perspectives on Difference
and Equality. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1991.
Githens, Marianne and Jewel L. Prestage. A Portrait of M arginalitv. The
Political Behavior of the American Woman. David McKay Co.,
Inc., 1977.
Gluck, Carol. Tapan's M odem Myths: Ideology in the Late M eiji Period.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985.
Hane, Mikiso. Reflections on the W ay to the Gallows: Voices of Tapanese
Rebel Women. Berkeley: University of California Press
(Pantheon), 1988.
, Modem Tapan: A Historical Survey. Boulder, CO: Westview
Press, Inc., 1986.
Hendry, Joy. Marriage in Changing Tapan. Rutlege, VT: Charles E.
Tuttle, Co., 1981.
.Understanding Tapanese Society. New York and London: Nissan
Institute; Croom Helm Ltd., 1987.
Illich, Ivan. Gender. Berkeley: Heyday Books, 1982.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Imamura, Anne E. Urban Tapanese Housewives: A t Home and in the
Community. H onolulu: University of H aw aii Press, 1987.
Kaminer, Wendy. A Fearful Freedom. Women's Flight From Equality.
Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Inc., 1990.
Krauss, Ellis S. and Takeshi Ishida, eds. Democracy in Tapan. Pittsburgh:
University of Pittsburgh Press. 1989.
Lebra, Joyce, Joy Paulson and Elizabeth Powers, eds. Women In
Changing Japan. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1981.
Lewis, Michael. Rioters and Citizens. Mass Protest in Im perial Tapan.
Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1990.
Meehan, Elizabeth and Selma Sevenhuijsen. Equality. Politics and
Gender. London: SAGE Publications, 1991.
M illett, Kate. Sexual Politics. New York: Ballantine Books, 1969.
Mitchell, Richard R. Thought Control in Prewar Tapan. Ithaca and
London: Cornell University Press, 1976.
Miyamoto, Ken. "Ito Noe and the Bluestockings." Tapan Interpreter 10
(Autumn 1975): 190-204.
Nagy, M argit M aria. "How Shall We Live? Social Change, the Family
Institution and Feminism in Prewar Japan." Ph.D. Dissertation,
Seattle: University of Washington, 1981.
Najita, Tetsuo. Tapan: The Intellectual Foundations of M odem Tapanese
Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1974.
Nolte, Sharon. Liberalism in Modem Tapan: Ishibashi Tanzan and his
Teachers. 1905-1960. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.
Notehelfer, F.G. Kotoku Shusui: Portrait of a Tapanese Radical. London:
Cambridge University Press, 1971.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Pharr, Susan J. Political Women in Tapan. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1981.
Phillips, Anne. Engendering Democracy. University Park, PA:
Pennsylvania State University Press, 1991.
Reich, Pauline and Fukuda Atsuko. "Japan's Literary Feminists: The
Seito Group." Signs vol. 2 (Autum n 1976): 280-291.
Robins-Mowry, Dorothy. The Hidden Sun: Women of M odem Tapan.
Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1983.
Ryan, M ary P. Womanhood in America: From Colonial Times to the
Present. New York: Franklin Watts Publishers, 1983.
Sievers, Sharon L. Flowers in Salt: The Beginnings of Feminist
Consciousness in M odem Tapan. Stanford, CA: Stanford
University Press, 1983.
Silberman, Bernard S. and H .D . Harootunian, eds. fapan in Crisis: Essays
on Taisho Democracy. Princeton: Princeton University Press,
1974.
Stanley, Thomas A. Osugi Sakae. Anarchist in Taisho Tapan: The
Creativity of the Ego. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982.
Tokuza, Akiko. "Oku Mumeo and the Movements to Alter the Status of
Women in Japan from the Taisho Period to the Present". Ph.D.
Dissertation, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1988.
Totten, George Oakley, III. The Social Democratic Movement in Prewar
Tapan. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966.
Tsunoda, Ryusaka, Wm. Theodore de Bary and Donald Keene, George
Oakley Totten, compilers. Sources of Tapanese Tradition: Vol. II.
New York: Columbia University Press, 1958.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Tsurumi, Shunsuke. An Intellectual History of W artime Tapan 1931-1945.
London and Sydney: KPI, 1986.
Woodiwiss, Anthony. Law. Labor and Society in Tapan: From Repression
to Reluctant Recognition. London and N ew York: Routledge, 1992.
Ueda, Makoto, ed. The Mother of Dreams and Other Short Stories:
Portrayals of Women in Modem Tapanese Fiction. San Francisco:
Kodansha International, Inc., 1986.
Ueno, Chizuko. "The Position of Japanese Women Reconsidered."
Current Anthropology vol. 28 (August-October 1987): S75-S84.
Vavich, Dee Ann. "The Japanese Woman's Movement: Ichikawa Fusae, A
Pioneer in Women's Suffrage." Monumenta Nipponica vol. 22
(1967): 402-436.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
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Asset Metadata
Creator
Shube, Lori Sue
(author)
Core Title
Ito Noe: Living in freedom. A critique of personal growth in Japanese society
Degree
Master of Arts
Degree Program
East Asian Languages and Cultures
Publisher
University of Southern California
(original),
University of Southern California. Libraries
(digital)
Tag
Biography,history, Asia, Australia and Oceania,literature, Asian,OAI-PMH Harvest,women's studies
Language
English
Contributor
Digitized by ProQuest
(provenance)
Advisor
[illegible] (
committee chair
), [illegible] (
committee member
)
Permanent Link (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c16-14742
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UC11337627
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1385161.pdf (filename),usctheses-c16-14742 (legacy record id)
Legacy Identifier
1385161.pdf
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14742
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Shube, Lori Sue
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(contributing entity),
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
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The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...
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Tags
history, Asia, Australia and Oceania
literature, Asian
women's studies