Lesson Topic and Overview: Women in Japan and England
Essential Question: How does role of women in early modern Japan compare
with the role of women in 18th century England (and France)?
1. The goal of this lesson is to use primary source material for a comparison of the
lives of upper-class women in Japan with upper-class women of England (and
France.) My students also study the European Enlightenment and write a research
paper comparing and contrasting one aspect of society in Western Europe with
that of East Asia. This lesson helps students make connections across cultures. I
provide the following background from Daily Life In Early Modern Japan by
Louis G. Perez:
The lives of ordinary Japanese during the 18th Century was not as
horrible as some would have us believe. Even in remote rural villages the
peasants had substantial autonomy over their lives. They worked hard to pay
high taxes and to survive in a harsh environment. Yet most were fairly well
nourished and comfortable in their meager circumstances, at least compared with
people in China, Southeast Asia, Africa, North and South America, and even
Europe. Ample evidence suggests that their life expectancy rates were probably
about the same as those in northern Europe and vastly better than those in the
rest of the world.
The city commoners were even better situated than their peasant brethren.
Most lived in cities that were infinitely cleaner and safer than anywhere else in
the world. They enjoyed a diet that was more varied and more nutritious than any
commoners had elsewhere. They had clean water, safe streets, sewage and trash
removal, and even efficient local government. Their justice was harsh, but
generally relatively fair. They enjoyed a high degree of literacy,… access to
cheap entertainment and to peaceful religious expression (except for
Christianity), as well as relatively good and cheap medical care. Arguably,
except for women, Japanese commoners in the eighteenth century enjoyed an
excellent everyday life equal to that lived in most parts of the world. …
The exception for women was tied to patriarchal ideas of female
inferiority, but also to the fact that neither Japanese religion gave much thought
to either the souls or the lives of women. Prostitution and concubinage were not
only tolerated, they were encouraged. Many women lived bleak and degrading
lives with the society. Even free women were routinely degraded in their
marriages and other relationships with men. Perhaps some Christian societies at
the same time had begun to treat their women somewhat better. If that can be
prove, then Japanese women perhaps fared worse than their Christian sisters.
But Japanese women's lives, brutish and degrading though they indisputably
were, probably were not worse than those of most women of the world at that
time. That in and of itself is a sad commentary on the eighteenth century.
2. Pedagogical Techniques:
a. Prior to the lesson, I have students read the pdf handout on 18th C
marriage in England and Japan from The Greenwood Enclyclopedia of
Daily Life. (Gifted students read chapter, "Women" from Daily Life in
Early Modern Japan.) They will write a one-two paragraph summary of
what most surprised them from the content of the reading and prepare to
share it with a partner.
b. Introduce the 90-minute lesson : "A Comparative Study of Upper-Class
Women and Education in Early Modern Japan and England."
3. Sources and Materials:
a. Ekiken, Kaibara and Kaibara Token, "Common Sense Teachings for Japanese
Children and Greater Learning for Women," in Sources of World Societies,
Vol. II: Since 1500, compiled by Denis Gainty and Debra Michals, 106-109.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. (pdf reading handout) OR use Excerpts
from The Greater Learning for Women (Onna diguku) by Kaibara Ekiken
(Ekken), 1630-1714, located online at:
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/main_pop/ps/ps_japan.htm
b. "Marriage in 18th C England and Japan" from The Greenwood Encyclopedia
of Daily Life, Joyce E. Salisbury, Ed. (pdf reading handout)
c. Perez, Louis G., Daily Life in Early Modern Japan, (Westport, CT: The
Greenwood Press, 2002), 266-272. (pdf reading handout)
d. Handout: A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft
(condensed for the purposes of this lesson)
The Role of Women and the Education of Children
in Tokugawa Japan and 18th C England
By Debra Wiens
Date: April 2011
What: A 90-minute block lesson
General Goal(s):
Students will engage in a reasoned discussion in the belief that people can understand each other,
even if they are not in agreement.
Specific Objectives:
Students will read primary source selections in the spirit with which they were written.
Students will define difficult and unusual words.
Students will examine the words within the context of the writing in order to understand what the
author intended to convey.
Students will complete a "compare and contrast" graphic organizer on women's roles and the
education of children in both societies.
Students will discuss the value of a literate, well-educated society both historically and in modern
times.
Students will articulate the benefits and drawbacks of a more controlled rather than a more
democratic society.
Required Materials:
Secondary source reading (handout): Perez, Louis G., Daily Life in Early Modern Japan,
(Westport, CT: The Greenwood Press, 2002), 266-272.
Primary source reading (handouts): Common Sense Teachings for Japanese Children and Greater
Learning for Women ca. 1700 by Kaibara Ekiken and Kaibara Token.
OR use Excerpts from The Greater Learning for Women (Onna diguku) by Kaibara
Ekiken (Ekken), 1630-1714, located online at:
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/main_pop/ps/ps_japan.htm
Primary source reading (handout): Excerpts from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary
Wollstonecraft
Handouts: Compare and Contrast Graphic Organizer and Hot Seat Activity
Anticipatory Set (Lead-In):
1. Students share with a partner what most surprised them about women in the Perez reading
from Daily Life in Early Modern Japan.
2. The reading includes a brief mention of geishas. Ask: What are geishas? Does Japan have
geishas today? Explain that just like sumo wrestlers, geishas remain an iconic image of Japan.
3. Provide background: Geishas are traditional female entertainers found in up-scale restaurants
and provide entertainment in the form of singing, dancing, playing games, conversation, and
companionship. Historically young apprentice girls were indentured for terms of five to ten years
with an "advance" on their eventual wages made to their parents. In reality, because the girls
were charged for their upkeep, including music and dance lessons, musical instruments, clothing,
and so on, they were indentured for life. The geisha underwent years of training in makeup,
music and dance, poetry, calligraphy, and stylish etiquette. Their ultimate goal was to attract men
who would sometimes pay huge fees for their services. Geisha were not obligated to do sexual
favors for the men. The goal of a geisha was to gain a wealthy patron to buy out her contract and
perhaps set her up with her own business. Like actors and prostitutes, geishas were ranked and
their fees corresponded to their rankings. Source: Daily Life in Early Modern Japan by Louis G.
Perez
For geishas in Japan today, select from the following sources:
 Photo journal of a modern Geisha:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/04/asia_pac_geisha/html/1.stm
 Photo Gallery: http://phototravels.net/japan/photo-gallery/geisha-maiko.html
 Photo Gallery: http://phototravels.net/kyoto/geisha-maiko-dance.html
 Story of Geisha "Sakurako", a 16-minute video (link found on right side):
http://www.brovision.com/
For visuals of geishas in Edo Japan, use:
 "Beauties of Yoshiwara" located at http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/ukiyo-e/major.html
Step-By-Step Procedures:
Explain that we will compare the role of women in two cultures that we have studied. We will
read the advice of a physician, educator, and author from the samurai class during the Tokugawa
period. His name is Kaibara Ekiken and his wife, Kaibara Token, likely co-authored the work
entitled, Common Sense Teachings for Japanese Children and Greater Learning for Women, ca
1700. Due to the vibrant publishing world of urban Tokugawa Japan, his works were widely
distributed. In an attempt to restore Neo-Confucian morality to society, the authors attempted to
illuminate the immoral ways of the samurai class and their abuses of the peasant class. The
writings begin with an explanation of the proper behavior of a woman for all levels of the social
structure.
Explain that we will read excerpts from Mary Wollstonecraft's writings in Vindication of the
Rights of Women. For centuries, male intellectuals had argued that the nature of women made
them inferior to men and made male domination of women necessary. An English woman, Mary
Wollstonecraft, provided the most powerful statements of the Enlightenment for improving the
condition of women. Seen by many as the founder of modern European feminism, her work
pointed out errors in thinking on the part of great (male) Enlightenment thinkers like Rousseau.
She argued that just as arbitrary government power of monarchs over men was wrong, so was
arbitrary power of men over women. She argued that women possess the ability to reason.
Therefore, they are entitled to the same rights as men. She advocated for female equality in
education, economics and politics.
Using the Kaibara and Wollstonecraft readings, students complete the graphic organizer alone or
with a partner.
Go over similarities and differences between the two societies with the class to make certain
students grasp important concepts.
Divide students into groups and conduct the "Hot Seat" Activity following the instructions.
Plan For Independent Practice:
Write a two-paragraph response to this prompt: What are the benefits of a more controlled
society where men and women have separate spheres and people have a place in a hierarchical
structure? What are the drawbacks to a more open, egalitarian, and democratic society?
A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN by Mary
Wollstonecraft - condensed for the purposes of this lesson
INTRODUCTION
…I have gained a profound conviction that women, in particular, are rendered weak and
wretched by a variety of causes. … I attribute (it) especially to a false system of
education, gathered from books written by men who have been more anxious to make of
women alluring mistresses than rational wives.
I wish to persuade women to endeavour to acquire strength of mind and body, and to
convince them that delicacy of sentiment and refinement of taste are almost synonymous
with weakness, pity and contempt.
CHAPTER 2
THE PREVAILING OPINION OF A SEXUAL CHARACTER DISCUSSED.
Women are told from their infancy, by the example of their mothers, that a little
knowledge of human weakness, justly termed cunning, softness of temper, and
OUTWARD obedience, will obtain for them the protection of man; and should they be
beautiful, every thing else is needless, for at least twenty years of their lives.
…Children, I grant, should be innocent; but when the epithet is applied to men, or
women, it is but a civil term for weakness.
…Let us begin with individual education. The most perfect education, in my opinion, is
such an exercise… to strengthen the body and form the heart; in other words, to enable
the individual to attain such habits of virtue as will render it independent and to exercise
its own reason. This was Rousseau 's opinion respecting men: I extend it to women,
As a proof that education gives this appearance of weakness to females, we may instance
the example of military men, who are, like them, sent into the world before their minds
have been stored with knowledge or fortified by principles. Standing armies may be welldisciplined machines, but they will seldom contain men of strong passions or vigorous
faculties. Officers are fond of dancing, crowded rooms, adventures, and ridicule. Like the
FAIR sex, they were taught to please, and they only live to please. Yet they are still
reckoned superior to women, though in what their superiority consists, it is difficult to
discover.
The woman who has only been taught to please, will soon find that her charms…cannot
have much effect on her husband's heart when they are seen every day…Will she then
have sufficient native energy to look into herself for comfort, and cultivate her dormant
faculties? or, is it not more rational to expect that she will try to please other men…?
When the husband ceases to be a lover- and the time will inevitably come, her desire of
pleasing will grow languid, or become a spring of bitterness; and love gives place to
jealousy or vanity.
Nature has given woman a weaker frame than man; but, the woman who strengthens her
body and exercises her mind will, by managing her family and practicing virtues, become
the friend, and not the humble dependent of her husband. ….Gentleness, docility, and a
spaniel-like affection are, on this ground, consistently recommended as the cardinal
virtues. She was created to be the toy of man, his rattle, and it must jingle in his ears,
whenever, dismissing reason, he chooses to be amused.
But to view the subject in another point of view. Do passive indolent women make the
best wives? So far from it, that, after surveying the history of woman, I cannot help
agreeing with the severest satirist, considering the sex as the weakest as well as the most
oppressed half of the species. If they are really capable of acting like rational creatures,
let them not be treated like slaves; let them attain conscious dignity by feeling themselves
only dependent on God.
CHAPTER 3
THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.
I will allow that bodily strength seems to give man a natural superiority over woman; and
this is the only solid basis on which the superiority of the sex can be built. But women’s
limbs and faculties are cramped…, and the sedentary life which they are condemned to
live, whilst boys frolic in the open air, weakens the muscles and relaxes the nerves. Girls
and boys, in short, would play harmless together, if the distinction of sex was not
inculcated long before nature makes any difference.
I once knew a weak woman of fashion neglect all the duties of life, yet recline with selfcomplacency on a sofa…. Such a woman is not a more irrational monster than some of
the Roman emperors…
Let not men in the pride of power, use the same arguments that tyrannic kings and venal
ministers have used,,,that woman ought to be subjected because she has always been so.
Women…sometimes boast of their weakness, cunningly obtaining power by playing on
the WEAKNESS of men... But should it be proved that woman is naturally weaker than
man, from whence does it follow that it is natural for her to labour to become still weaker
than nature intended? …
CHAPTER 4
OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATE OF DEGRADATION TO WHICH WOMAN
IS REDUCED BY VARIOUS CAUSES.
That woman is degraded is, I think, clear. …
The grand source of female folly and vice has ever appeared to me to arise from
narrowness of mind. Pleasure is the business of a woman's life, according to the present
modification of society, and while it continues to be so, little can be expected from such
weak beings…. Confined in cages, like the feathered race, they have nothing to do but to
plume themselves, and stalk with mock-majesty from perch to perch. The passions of
men have thus placed women on thrones; and, till mankind become more reasonable, it is
to be feared that women will avail themselves of the power which they attain with the
least exertion.
I lament that women are systematically degraded by receiving trivial attentions. I scarcely
am able to govern my muscles, when I see a man start with eager solicitude to lift a
handkerchief, or shut a door, when the LADY could have done it herself, had she only
moved a pace or two.
Men, in their youth, are prepared for professions, and marriage is not considered as the
grand feature in their lives; whilst women, on the contrary, have no other scheme to
sharpen their faculties. To rise in the world, and have the liberty of running from pleasure
to pleasure, they must marry advantageously, and to this object their time is sacrificed,
and their persons often legally prostituted (ie by getting married).
Yet, novels, music, poetry and gallantry, all tend to make women the creatures of
sensation…if girls were allowed to take sufficient exercise and not confined in close
rooms till their muscles are relaxed and their powers of digestion destroyed. "Educate
women like men," says Rousseau , "and the more they resemble our sex the less power
will they have over us." This is the very point I aim at. I do not wish them to have power
over men; but over themselves.
In the same strain have I heard men argue against instructing the poor. "Teach them to
read and write," say they, "and you take them out of the station assigned them by nature."
Ignorance is a frail base for virtue! ….
In the regulation of a family, in the education of children, understanding is particularly
required: strength both of body and mind. Now, from all the observation that I have been
able to make, women of sensibility are the most unfit for this task, because they will…
spoil a child's temper. The management of the temper, the first and most important
branch of education, requires the sober steady eye of reason; …
Polygamy is another physical degradation;…
CHAPTER 7.
MODESTY COMPREHENSIVELY CONSIDERED AND NOT AS A SEXUAL
VIRTUE.
…in nurseries, boarding schools and convents, I fear, girls are first spoiled. A number of
them sleep in the same room, and wash together, acquiring immodest habits; and as many
girls have learned very indelicate tricks from ignorant servants, the mixing of them
indiscriminately is very improper. I cannot recollect without indignation the jokes and
tricks which…young women indulge themselves in… were I to name the graces that
ought to adorn beauty, I should exclaim, cleanliness, neatness, and personal reserve. It is
obvious that the reserve I mean has nothing sexual in it, I think it EQUALLY necessary
in both sexes.
If men and women took half as much pains to dress habitually neat, rather than to
ornament and disfigure their persons, much would be done towards the attainment of
purity of mind. But women only dress to gratify men; yet the lover is always best pleased
with the simple garb that sits close to the shape.
CHAPTER 9.
OF THE PERNICIOUS EFFECTS WHICH ARISE FROM THE UNNATURAL
DISTINCTIONS ESTABLISHED IN SOCIETY.
Though I consider that women in the common walks of life are called to fulfill the duties
of wives and mothers, by religion and reason, I cannot help lamenting that women of a
superior cast have not a road by which they can pursue usefulness and independence. …
Rather than all wanting to be ladies, which is simply to have nothing to do, women might
certainly study the art of healing, and be physicians as well as nurses and midwives. They
might, also study politics and business. Women would not then marry for a support; nor
would a laudable attempt to earn their own subsistence sink them almost to the level of
those poor abandoned creatures who live by prostitution.
How many women thus waste life away, who might have supported themselves by their
own industry? Would men but generously snap our chains, and be content with rational
fellowship, instead of slavish obedience, they would find us more observant daughters,
more affectionate sisters, more faithful wives, more reasonable mothers- in a word, better
citizens.
CHAPTER 10.
PARENTAL AFFECTION.
As the care of children in their infancy is one of the grand duties annexed to the female
character by nature, this duty affords many forcible arguments for strengthening the
female understanding. Meek wives are, in general, foolish mothers; wanting their
children to love them best, and take their part, in secret, against the father, who is held up
as a scarecrow, who must inflict the punishment and be the judge in all disputes.
CHAPTER 11.
DUTY TO PARENTS.
If parents discharge their duty they have a strong hold and sacred claim on the gratitude
of their children; but few parents are willing to receive respectful affection on such terms.
Rather, they demand blind obedience…
Children cannot be taught too early to submit to reason; for to submit to reason, is to
submit to the nature of things, and to that God who formed them. It is unreasoned
exercise of parental authority that first injures the mind, as when they see mamma's anger
burst out- either her hair was ill-dressed, or she had lost more money at cards than she
was willing to own to her husband. Children cannot, ought not, to be taught to make
allowance for the faults of their parents, because every such allowance weakens the force
of reason in their minds.
But, till society is better constituted, parents, I fear, will still insist on being obeyed,
…and constantly endeavour to settle that power on a Divine right, which will not bear the
investigation of reason.
CHAPTER 12.
ON NATIONAL EDUCATION.
I think that schools, as they are now regulated, (are) the hot-beds of vice and folly… I
should be averse to boarding-schools, if it were for no other reason than the unsettled
state of mind which the expectation of the vacations produce. But, when they are brought
up at home, boys acquire too high an opinion of their own importance, from being
allowed to tyrannize over servants. Thus treated like men when they are still boys, they
become vain and effeminate.
The only way to avoid two extremes would be to contrive some way of combining a
public and private education. … To render this practicable, day schools for particular
ages should be established by government, in which boys and girls might be educated
together. The school for the younger children, from five to nine years of age, ought to be
absolutely free and open to all classes. Botany, mechanics, and astronomy, reading,
writing, arithmetic, natural history, and some simple experiments in natural philosophy,
might fill up the day; but these pursuits should never encroach on gymnastic plays in the
open air.
After the age of nine, girls and boys intended for domestic employments, or mechanical
trades, ought to be removed to receive appropriate instruction, the two sexes being still
together in the morning; but in the afternoon, the girls should attend a school and do plain
work, millinery, etc. The young people of superior abilities, or fortune, might now be
taught the dead and living languages, the elements of science, and continue the study of
history and politics. Girls and boys still together?: yes.
Humanity to animals should be particularly inculcated as a part of national education, for
it is not at present one of our national virtues. This habitual cruelty is first caught at
school, where it is one of the rare sports of the boys to torment the miserable brutes that
fall in their way. The transition, as they grow up, from barbarity to brutes to domestic
tyranny over wives, children, and servants, is very easy. …
…I principally wish to enforce the necessity of educating the sexes together to perfect
both, and of making children sleep at home, that they may learn to love home; yet by
being sent to school to mix with a number of equals, that they might form a just opinion
of themselves.
Women should be taught the elements of anatomy and medicine, not only to enable them
to take proper care of their own health, but to make them rational nurses of their infants,
parents, and husbands. ...
CHAPTER 13.
…THE FOLLY WHICH THE IGNORANCE OF WOMEN GENERATES…
Another instance of that feminine weakness of character, often produced by a confined
education, is a romantic twist of the mind, very properly termed SENTIMENTAL.
These are the women who are amused by the reveries of stupid novelists, who, knowing
little of human nature, work up stale tales, and describe meretricious scenes, all retailed
in a sentimental jargon, which equally tend to corrupt the taste, and draw the heart aside
from its daily duties.
When, therefore, I advise my sex not to read such flimsy works, it is to induce them to
read something superior. The best method…(is) to read novels to a young girl, and point
out,…how foolishly and ridiculously they caricature human nature. …
As the rearing of children… I am, however, certain that a child should never be forcibly
tamed; for every violation of justice and reason, in the treatment of children, weakens
their reason.
The majority of mothers leave their children entirely to the care of servants: or treat them
as if they were little demi-gods, though I have always observed, that such women seldom
show common humanity to servants. Nature has so wisely ordered things, that did women
suckle their own children, they would preserve their own health, and there would be a
reasonable interval between the birth of each child. But, visiting to display finery, card
playing, and balls, not to mention the idle bustle of morning trifling, draw women from
their duty. But, till more equality be established in society, we shall not see dignified
domestic happiness.
Compare and Contrast
Directions: After reading the selections, use the graphic organizers to compare and
contrast the Japanese and European authors' ideas on women's roles and children's
education.
(Japanese)
Kaibara Ekiken and
Kaibara Token
(European)
Mary Wollstonecraft
HOW ARE THEY SIMILAR?
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HOW ARE THEY DIFFERENT?
Japanese
WITH REGARD TO
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European
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"HOT-SEAT" ACTIVITY
1. Divide the class into four or five groups. Each group will be responsible for discussing one of
the questions below.
2. Each student in a group should prepare to state a position on the group's issue question. (Note:
Students might change their minds as the discussion takes place.)
3. Each group will, in turn, discuss its issue question while the rest of the class observes. One
student in the group should introduce the question by explaining what it is about. This student
should also have a number of questions prepared to help the discussion proceed. All members of
the group should contribute to the discussion at least once.
4. During a discussion, one chair will be designated the "hot seat," which any student outside
the group may take to contribute his or her ideas. This student must give up the "hot seat" when
another student from outside the group wishes to participate.
5. The purpose of these discussions is to try to reach a general consensus on education issues. If
consensus is not reached on a question, the class may vote on it after the discussion has
concluded.
Possible Questions:
1. What values should have top priority with regard to children's education in our
country today? Do you believe that your education reflects those values? How do
those values compare with the values expressed by these authors? Which of the values
do you agree with? Which are most disagreeable to you?
2. How are values best instilled in children? (Ex. Parents, day care providers, churches,
schools, social or political organizations, government, media etc) Which of the authors'
ideas do you agree with? Which of the authors' ideas are most disagreeable to you, and
why?
3. How should K-12 education be improved in our country? Should students be taught
in same-gender classrooms? Private, public and home schooled? Which of the authors'
ideas about education do you agree with, and why?
4. Should all children in our country have the same education with the same
curriculum, expectations, and level of spending? How is concern for social hierarchy,
natural abilities, and future livelihoods (jobs) evident in the authors' writings?
5. Why do you think that women are under-represented in public office, academia,
and in top corporate positions in the U.S. today? Based on these readings, what
potential do you see for women to have power in the Tokugawa society? In 18th C
England? What would make it possible for women to obtain more positions of power
and influence in the United States today?