Walter Matthew Gallichan

“ Although children are not indulged to the extent enjoyed by the children of the West, they are always treated kindly by the parents. Obedience seems to be a natural trait of the women and children of Japan. It is possible that, under European influence, the Japanese women will rebel against the restrictions of their lives. The spread of female education is almost certain to cause discontent and probably rebellion against the harsher conventions. But at present the signs of revolt are few indeed. The Japanese woman is happier than her sisters of the Western nations. ”

“ The Emperor was permitted to maintain a large crowd of concubines, but only the wife was deemed a royal personage.
The women of Japan rival their Burmese sisters in physical charm and amiable traits of character. They are vivacious, intelligent and domesticated, with aesthetic taste in dress and the decoration of their houses. In literature they have excelled men. The most imaginative romances and the finest poems are the work of women. ”

“ Celibacy in Japan is so rare as to be almost non- existent. Redundancy in women is provided for by the concubinate. It must be noted that the children of concubines are as legitimate as those of the wife, and no stigma whatever attaches to the mother and the child.
Let us hear the views of cultured contemporary Japanese writers upon the women of their nation. Count Okuma tells us that women were priestesses and warriors in the old days. I have referred to the important status of women in all the communities wherein woman held sacred offices. ”

“ The part women played in old Japan was very remarkable, especially before the arrival of Buddhism and Confucianism. Men and women were almost equal in their social position. There was then no shadow of the barbarous idea that men were everything and women nothing. Women's power even in politics was great, and history tells us that there were nine women who ascended the throne in olden times. Women in general were not inferior to men physically, mentally, or morally. ”

“ Japan is an astounding country. In this empire, side by side with an advanced civilisation, the uncouth Ainus still live as in barbaric days. Culture and colleges flourish amidst curious superstitions and antique customs. ”

“ In culture, Japanese women are not in line with the women of Western races; but there is a steady advance in female education, and the system of tuition is im- proving in the girls' schools. The Japanese women are alert in mind, receptive, and fond of learning. They are highly susceptible to the influence of the West, and year by year they are becoming more Euro- peanized in the tendency of their thought and customs.
Marriage is easily dissoluble in Japan. ”

“ She is the epitome of the past and the reservoir of the future, so that the responsibilities of the new social life which is dawning on the realms of the Sun-Goddess may be safely entrusted to her care. ”

“ The Japanese are, like other Eastern people, philosophic fatalists. But in many salient characteristics they are not Oriental. They are touched with the spirit of the West; they assimilate alien influences very readily. ”

“ Duty, submission, kindness these were the sentiments which a girl was expected to bring to the husband who had been chosen for her and many happy, harmonious marriages are the result. Now your dear sentimental foreign women say to our girls: ' It is wicked to marry without love; the obedience to parents in such a case is an outrage against nature and Christianity. ”

“ A young Japanese girl is always an attractive picture in her native dress. Some of the women are extremely beautiful. They have small, well-shaped bodies, and in height they are usually about five feet, and often less. The black hair is long and copious, the skin of the features warmly tinted, the mouth small, and the teeth white and regular. The lips are painted red. Womanhood is attained at an early age, and sometimes girls marry at fourteen. Boys often become husbands at fifteen. ”

“ Douglas Sladen states that the courtesan is usually shunned by young men who seek partners for life. There is, however, far less ignominy attached to this occupation in Japan than in England or America. This may be partly due to the fact that the geisha is highly intelligent, always sober, thrifty, and more self-respecting than the courtesans of Western lands.
The traffic is licensed in Japan, and it thrives in the towns frequented by foreigners. A considerable number of the girls only follow the calling for a few years. ”

“ There are more great woman writers than men writers. The influence of Confucian theology was to exclude women from all affairs but those of the home; but in- dustries and trades are now open to women. ”

“ If you love a man you must sacrifice everything to him.' "*
Undoubtedly, male jealousy is strong in Japan, as in China. The almost extinct practice of married women shaving off their eyebrows and discolouring their teeth arose from the jealous instincts of husbands, who feared for the constancy of a too-attractive wife.
Article in " World's Work and Play," Dec. 1906. 252
Foot mutilation in China is also attributable to jealousy and the property-idea in women. ”

“ We still lack an established system of education for women in this country, and they are generally deficient in the power of judging and understanding things. How children grow up depends on how their mothers bring them up, and this is a matter of supreme importance. ”

“ At a later period Kaibara, a great teacher, who lived between 1630 and 1714, taught that ignorance and lack of intellectual exercise was the chief cause of women's defects, and he recommended a full educa- tion suited to their powers. He not only enjoined the teaching of household economy, but he directed that women should study mathematics. Up till seven years of age, girls and boys were to be trained together. Girls must be trained in " womanly virtues, womanly address, womanly deportment, and womanly service." ”

“ Young couples must first obtain the con- sent of their parents. Love in Japan does not always precede marriage, but it usually follows after union. " Love," in the purely romantic Western meaning, is not known among the Japanese. Mrs. Eraser was told by Miss Tsuda, a Japanese head-mistress, and a convert to Christianity, that the word " ' love ' has been hitherto a word unknown among our girls, in the foreign sense." ”

“ She goes to a dancing school at an early age, and is trained as an artist. When proficient she performs in a tea-house. Part of her duty is to wait upon customers, and to make herself attractive and agreeable to them. ”

“ She does not rebel against this submission; on the contrary, she re- spects the teaching of obedience. There is very little active feminine discontent. The women are happy in their protected, but subservient, state, and their chief aim is to please their menfolk. They are deeply attached to their children, and they are excellent mothers and good housekeepers. They are skilled cooks, and deft with the needle. ”