Kishida Toshiko
Encyclopedia
, afterwards , was one of the first Japan
ese feminists
. She wrote under the name .
, Japan
, in 1863. Kishida grew up during the Meiji
-Taishō
period, which lasted from 1868 through 1926. During this period Japanese leaders opened themselves up to new ideas and reformers called for “new right and freedoms”. The women of this reformist movement were known as “Japan’s first wave feminists
”. Kishida was one of these feminists and the focus of her movement was to aid young Japanese girls, particularly those of the middle and upper classes
. Kishida and Japan’s other first wave feminists mainly focused on improving the status of women. It was their belief that this improvement “was essential if other technologically advanced nationals were to accept them”. In order for Japan to compete with the world’s technology superpowers, reformists stressed that equality
had to be given to all Japanese women. With the reforms that took place in Japan, Japanese women were given greater opportunities to gain new rights and freedoms. The women coined the term “good wife, wise mother” which meant that “in order to be a good citizen, women had to become educated and take part in public affairs”.
Under first wave feminism
, Kishida Toshiko spoke out against the inequality of Japanese women. Kishida worked at court as a tutor serving the Empress
; however, she felt that the court was “far from the real world” and was a “symbol of the concubine system
which was an outrage to women”. After her career changing decision, Kishida took on the reform movement full time
and began speaking all across Japan on the issues she most believed in. One of Kishida’s most controversial speeches was her 1883 speech, “Daughters in Boxes”. After she delivered the speech, she was “arrested, tried, and fined for having made a political speech without a permit” which was necessary under Japanese law
at the time.
The "Daughters in Boxes" speech discussed and criticized the family system in Japan and the problems it raised for young Japanese girls. Although the speech criticized the family system that was in place in Japan, it also acknowledged that the system was a cultural fixture and many parents did not understand the harm that could have potentially been causing their daughters by restricting them. Kishida recognized that upper and middle class
Japanese parents did not mean to restrict their daughter’s freedom. This ignorance existed because the parents were blinded by their overwhelming need to teach certain values in order to fit into Japanese culture
and society.
In her speech, Kishida introduced the three “boxes” present in Japanese families. These boxes are not actual boxes but mental and emotional limitations. The boxes represented how these Japanese daughters were locked into certain requirements. The first box is one in which parents hid their daughters. The daughters are not allowed to leave the room and any outside are blocked out. The second box simply demanded the obedience of the Japanese daughters. In this box, “parents refuse to recognize their responsibility to their daughters and teach her naught”. These daughters receive no love or affection and are expected to “obey their [parent’s] every word without complaint”. The final box presented by Kishida was one in which daughters were taught ancient knowledge. In this box, parents pass down an appreciation for knowledge to their daughters. Of the three boxes, this final box was the one that Kishida valued the most. Because this box valued “the teaching of the wise and holy men of the past”, Kishida felt that its inclusion and focus on education empowered women.
Kishida also discussed her own version of a box. Her box would have no walls and be completely open and inspired by freedom. Kishida’s box “[allowed] its occupants to tread wherever their feet might lead and stretch their arms as wide as they wish". Unlike the other boxes Kishida described, her wall less box, like the reformist movement hoped, would allow Japanese daughters to be educated and active members of society. The speech also suggested that the boxes created for Japanese daughters should not be created in haste. She explained that a box that was hastily constructed, the daughters would resent being placed in that box. Kishida not only warned about the construction of the boxes but recognized that the daughters trapped inside the boxes would run away because of their restrictive foundation. Daughters in Boxes analyzed and critiqued Japanese society and its treatment of Japanese girls. The absence of women’s rights
in Japan sparked the feminist and reformist movement in which Kishida Toshiko was a major part of. Kishida’s speech challenged the cultural norms
of Japanese society in general. The speech also cemented the place of women and the women’s movement in Japan’s history.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese feminists
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
. She wrote under the name .
Biography
Kishida Toshiko was born in Kyoto PrefectureKyoto Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of the island of Honshu. The capital is the city of Kyoto.- History :Until the Meiji Restoration, the area of Kyoto prefecture was known as Yamashiro....
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, in 1863. Kishida grew up during the Meiji
Meiji period
The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...
-Taishō
Taisho period
The , or Taishō era, is a period in the history of Japan dating from July 30, 1912 to December 25, 1926, coinciding with the reign of the Taishō Emperor. The health of the new emperor was weak, which prompted the shift in political power from the old oligarchic group of elder statesmen to the Diet...
period, which lasted from 1868 through 1926. During this period Japanese leaders opened themselves up to new ideas and reformers called for “new right and freedoms”. The women of this reformist movement were known as “Japan’s first wave feminists
First-wave feminism
First-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the 19th and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. It focused on de jure inequalities, primarily on gaining women's suffrage .The term first-wave was coined retroactively in the 1970s...
”. Kishida was one of these feminists and the focus of her movement was to aid young Japanese girls, particularly those of the middle and upper classes
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
. Kishida and Japan’s other first wave feminists mainly focused on improving the status of women. It was their belief that this improvement “was essential if other technologically advanced nationals were to accept them”. In order for Japan to compete with the world’s technology superpowers, reformists stressed that equality
Gender equality
Gender equality is the goal of the equality of the genders, stemming from a belief in the injustice of myriad forms of gender inequality.- Concept :...
had to be given to all Japanese women. With the reforms that took place in Japan, Japanese women were given greater opportunities to gain new rights and freedoms. The women coined the term “good wife, wise mother” which meant that “in order to be a good citizen, women had to become educated and take part in public affairs”.
Under first wave feminism
First-wave feminism
First-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the 19th and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. It focused on de jure inequalities, primarily on gaining women's suffrage .The term first-wave was coined retroactively in the 1970s...
, Kishida Toshiko spoke out against the inequality of Japanese women. Kishida worked at court as a tutor serving the Empress
Japanese empresses
In Japan, empress may refer to either or .- Empresses regnant :There were eight female imperial reigns in Japan's early history between 593 and 770, and two more in the early modern period...
; however, she felt that the court was “far from the real world” and was a “symbol of the concubine system
Concubinage
Concubinage is the state of a woman or man in an ongoing, usually matrimonially oriented, relationship with somebody to whom they cannot be married, often because of a difference in social status or economic condition.-Concubinage:...
which was an outrage to women”. After her career changing decision, Kishida took on the reform movement full time
Full time
Full-time employment is employment in which the employee works the full number of hours defined as such by his/her employer. Full-time employment often comes with benefits that are not typically offered to part-time, temporary, or flexible workers, such as annual leave, sickleave, and health...
and began speaking all across Japan on the issues she most believed in. One of Kishida’s most controversial speeches was her 1883 speech, “Daughters in Boxes”. After she delivered the speech, she was “arrested, tried, and fined for having made a political speech without a permit” which was necessary under Japanese law
Japanese law
-Historical Developments:Pre-Modern History The early law of Japan was heavily influenced by Chinese law. Little is known about Japanese law prior to the seventh century, when the Ritsuryō was developed and codified. Before Chinese characters were transplanted and adopted by the Japanese, the...
at the time.
The "Daughters in Boxes" speech discussed and criticized the family system in Japan and the problems it raised for young Japanese girls. Although the speech criticized the family system that was in place in Japan, it also acknowledged that the system was a cultural fixture and many parents did not understand the harm that could have potentially been causing their daughters by restricting them. Kishida recognized that upper and middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
Japanese parents did not mean to restrict their daughter’s freedom. This ignorance existed because the parents were blinded by their overwhelming need to teach certain values in order to fit into Japanese culture
Culture of Japan
The culture of Japan has evolved greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period to its contemporary hybrid culture, which combines influences from Asia, Europe and North America...
and society.
In her speech, Kishida introduced the three “boxes” present in Japanese families. These boxes are not actual boxes but mental and emotional limitations. The boxes represented how these Japanese daughters were locked into certain requirements. The first box is one in which parents hid their daughters. The daughters are not allowed to leave the room and any outside are blocked out. The second box simply demanded the obedience of the Japanese daughters. In this box, “parents refuse to recognize their responsibility to their daughters and teach her naught”. These daughters receive no love or affection and are expected to “obey their [parent’s] every word without complaint”. The final box presented by Kishida was one in which daughters were taught ancient knowledge. In this box, parents pass down an appreciation for knowledge to their daughters. Of the three boxes, this final box was the one that Kishida valued the most. Because this box valued “the teaching of the wise and holy men of the past”, Kishida felt that its inclusion and focus on education empowered women.
Kishida also discussed her own version of a box. Her box would have no walls and be completely open and inspired by freedom. Kishida’s box “[allowed] its occupants to tread wherever their feet might lead and stretch their arms as wide as they wish". Unlike the other boxes Kishida described, her wall less box, like the reformist movement hoped, would allow Japanese daughters to be educated and active members of society. The speech also suggested that the boxes created for Japanese daughters should not be created in haste. She explained that a box that was hastily constructed, the daughters would resent being placed in that box. Kishida not only warned about the construction of the boxes but recognized that the daughters trapped inside the boxes would run away because of their restrictive foundation. Daughters in Boxes analyzed and critiqued Japanese society and its treatment of Japanese girls. The absence of women’s rights
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
in Japan sparked the feminist and reformist movement in which Kishida Toshiko was a major part of. Kishida’s speech challenged the cultural norms
Norm (sociology)
Social norms are the accepted behaviors within a society or group. This sociological and social psychological term has been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit...
of Japanese society in general. The speech also cemented the place of women and the women’s movement in Japan’s history.
Further reading
- "Kishida Toshiko: Daughters in Boxes". in: Estelle B. Freedman (ed.): The Essential Feminist Reader. Modern Library, New York 2007, ISBN 978-0812974607.
- "Women’s Rights From Past to Present. The Meiji Reforms and Obstacles for Women Japan, 1878-1927" in: Women in World History Curriculum. accessed 5 April 2009.
- Helen RappaportHelen RappaportHelen Rappaport is a British historian, author, and former actress. As a historian, she specialises in the Victorian era and revolutionary Russia.-Biography:...
: Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers. Volume 1, 2002, ISBN 1-57607-101-4, pp. 367–368. - Renate Werner: "Starke Frauen: Kishida Toshiko" in: WDR 5: Neugier genügt!. voice stream
- Progressive-Radical Women in Meiji & Taisho Japan|trans_title=Kishida Toshiko|last=|work=|publisher=Asahi ShimbunAsahi ShimbunThe is the second most circulated out of the five national newspapers in Japan. Its circulation, which was 7.96 million for its morning edition and 3.1 million for its evening edition as of June 2010, was second behind that of Yomiuri Shimbun...
-sha|accessdate=11 November 2010|location=Tokyo|language=Japanese}}