Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. Nakai, Kate Wildman.

Description

1. xxiv, 196 pages, 4 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, genealogical tables, maps; 24 cm

Summary

1. "The early socialist feminist Yamakawa Kikue (1890-1980) captures in her writings the world of women of a low-ranking samurai family in the mid-1800s. The author focuses on the unremarked lives of women confined to the domestic sphere and, in her persistent concern for the small, concrete details of daily existence, offers insights into the outlook, manners, and customs of samurai society not found in more conventional historical works. The result is a penetrating account of the myriad concerns of women's lives: food, clothing, housing, household finances, the education and discipline of children, marriage and divorce, abortion and infanticide, and the restrictions and demands placed on people by virtue of their rank in society." "Based on the recollections of the author's mother and other family records, the vivid picture of the material life and daily routine of a samurai household provided by Women of the Mito Domain is set against the backdrop of the political strife embroiling Mito in the last years of the Tokugawa period. Full, nevertheless, of affectionate humor, Yamakawa's portrait of her forebears speaks with warmth and immediacy to the reader of another culture and time."--Jacket.

Uniform title

1. Buke no josei. English

Alternative title

1. Buke no josei.

Subject

1. 1800-1899
2. Geschichte 1850
3. Women > Japan > Mito-han > Social conditions
4. Women > Japan > Mito-han > Social life and customs
5. Samurai > Family relationships > History > Japan > Mito-han > 19th century
6. Women > Social conditions
7. Women > Social life and customs
8. Samurai
9. Familienleben
10. Frau
11. Vrouwen
12. Samoerai
13. Gezin
14. Fujin > rekishi
15. Buke
16. Samurai > Family relationships > History > Japan > Mito-han > 19th century
17. Women > Japan > Mito-han > Social conditions
18. Women > Japan > Mito-han > Social life and customs
19. Femmes > Japon > Conditions sociales > 19e siècle
20. Samouraïs > Japon > Famille > 19e siècle
21. femme > condition > vie familiale > 1860. > Japon > 1830
22. relations familiales > samourai > 1860. > Japon > 1830
23. Mito-han (Japan) > History > 19th century
24. Japan > Mito-han
25. Mito-han (Japan) > History > 19th century
26. Japon > 1830 > 1860

Genre/Form

1. History

Contents

1. Women of the Mito Domain -- Preface -- The Routine of the School -- The Days of a Housewife -- Learning One's Letters -- At Needlework School -- Dress -- Grooming -- Food -- Dwellings -- Amusements -- Cousins and Aunts -- Marriage and Divorce -- The Turmoil of 6̀4 -- Time of Trial -- The Restoration and Women -- Notes on Late-Tokugawa Mito -- Translator's Note -- Stipends, Office Salaries, and Allowances -- The Economics of Bushi Life -- Begrudging One Drop of Oil -- Stinginess, Frugality, and Decadence -- Concubines, Abortion, and Infanticide -- A Sacrificial Victim -- Abortion and Infanticide -- A Match Arranged by the Lord -- The Fate of a Runaway Daughter.

Owning institution

1. Princeton University Library

Note

1. Translation of: Buke no josei. With excerpts from: Oboegaki bakumatsu no Mito-han.
2. Includes excerpts from: 覚書幕末の水戸藩.

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references and index.