Research Catalog

Title

Women of the Mito domain : recollections of samurai family life / Yamakawa Kikue ; translated and with an introduction by Kate Wildman Nakai.

Author

Yamakawa, Kikue, 1890-1980.

Publication

[Tokyo] : University of Tokyo Press, ©1992.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Nakai, Kate Wildman.

Description

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

Summary

"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

Buke no josei. English

Alternative Title

Buke no josei.

Subject

• 1800-1899
• Geschichte 1850
• Women > Japan > Mito-han > Social conditions
• Women > Japan > Mito-han > Social life and customs
• Samurai > Family relationships > History > Japan > Mito-han > 19th century
• Women > Social conditions
• Women > Social life and customs
• Samurai
• Familienleben
• Frau
• Vrouwen
• Samoerai
• Gezin
• Fujin > rekishi
• Buke
• Samurai > Family relationships > History > Japan > Mito-han > 19th century
• Women > Japan > Mito-han > Social conditions
• Women > Japan > Mito-han > Social life and customs
• Femmes > Japon > Conditions sociales > 19e siècle
• Samouraïs > Japon > Famille > 19e siècle
• femme > condition > vie familiale > 1860. > Japon > 1830
• relations familiales > samourai > 1860. > Japon > 1830
• Mito-han (Japan) > History > 19th century
• Japan > Mito-han
• Mito-han (Japan) > History > 19th century
• Japon > 1830 > 1860

Genre/Form

History

Note

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

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

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.

ISBN

• 4130270281
• 9784130270281
• 0860084779
• 9780860084778
• 0413270281 (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

92173102

OCLC

• ocm25960900
• 25960900
• SCSB-1979574

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library