15

4 
A Woman’s Place
Onna Daigaku (The Greater Learning for
Women, 1716) and Tadano Makuzu’s
Hitori Kangae (Solitary Thoughts, 1818)

Introduction
The following two selections offer contrasting views of the place of women in Tokugawa
society. The first document is from Onna daigaku, an educational tract for women that
focused on morality and proper behavior that was published in 1716. It was widely read
in the late Edo period and was subsequently translated by BA S I L H A L L C H A M B E R L A I N
(1850–​1935), a leading scholar of Japan in the late nineteenth century. Until recently, its
authorship usually has been attributed to Kaibara Ekken (1630–​1714), a Neo-​Confucian
scholar who served the daimyo of Fukuoka domain. However, some scholars now argue
that it was not Ekken himself but rather his wife, Tōken, who wrote the text. More
recently, scholars have posited that it is an anonymous work by an author who posed
fraudulently as Ekken to take advantage of the latter’s fame. In this text the author outlines
a strict code of behavior for women.
The second document offers a different perspective on women. The excerpt below
is drawn from the essay Hitori kangae (Solitary Thoughts), written by Tadano Makuzu
(1763–​1825), the daughter of a doctor in the employ of the daimyo of Sendai domain
who was married twice, both times to samurai from Sendai castle town. During her
lifetime she lived in two big cities, in Sendai as well as in Edo. Makuzu wrote this essay
toward the end of her life, at the age of 55, primarily in order to maintain the family name
and to serve as a model for women. She wrote at a time when Japanese intellectuals and
political leaders began to grow concerned over the increasing presence of Western ships in
Japanese waters and possible Russian encroachment in Ezo (Hokkaido). In her essay she
took up a wide array of topics and took aim at a number of social ills that she saw, particu-
larly the inability of the samurai status group, of which she was a member, to understand
the money-​dominated culture of the time. She also put her brush to work to analyze the
state of relations between men and women, which is the focus of the excerpt below in
Document 2. Although unpublished in the author’s lifetime, it was deemed of sufficient
intellectual and literary merit to have been preserved by a contemporary male author,
Takizawa Bakin (1767–​1848), who later wrote about Makuzu in two separate works.

Keep in Mind as You Read

1. As the title of Onna daigaku indicated (the word “Learning” referred to the Chinese
classic Da Xue, or Great Learning), the text offered a Confucian perspective on a
woman’s position in society. In other words, it is very much in harmony with Neo-​
Confucian thought, derived from China, which was the intellectual orthodoxy for
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16  The Domestic Sphere

much of the Tokugawa period. In line with this philosophy, women and men were
often thought about in terms of opposite forces, or yin (female, dark, passive, etc.) and
yang (male, light, active, etc.).
2. Onna daigaku is the most famous educational or moralistic text for women in the
Tokugawa period, but it was hardly the only one. There was in fact a large body of
books for educating women that were published around the same time in the three
major cities of Edo, Osaka, and Kyoto.
3. The economy in the mid-​eighteenth century was an increasingly commercialized
one. According to some encyclopedias of occupations from the time, there were
about 100 types for women (compared with more than 400 types for men).
4. Just because late nineteenth-​century Westerners might have found the views of
women expressed in this document to be demeaning does not mean that women at
the time saw it that way.
5. The Kojikiden that Tadano Makuzu refers to is a commentary, written by Motoori
Norinaga (1730–​1801), on the age of kami (gods) and early history in Japan, as
contained in the ancient text Kojiki (712). In the reference she alludes to the rela-
tionship between Izanagi and Izanami, two deities, male and female, who in Japanese
mythology are recognized as the creators of Japan and its kami.

DOCUMENT 1

Excerpts from Onna daigaku (The Greater Learning for Women, 1716)

Seeing that it is a girl’s destiny, on reaching womanhood, to go to a new home,
and live in submission to her father-​in-​law and mother-​in-​law, it is even more
incumbent upon her than it is on a boy to receive with all reverence her parents’
instructions. Should her parents, through excess of tenderness, allow her to grow up
self-​willed, she will without fail show herself impulsive in her husband’s house, and
thus alienate his affection, while, if her father-​in-​law be a man of correct principles,
the girl will find the yoke of these principles intolerable. …
More precious in a woman is a virtuous heart than a face of beauty. The vicious
woman’s heart is ever excited; she glares wildly around her, she vents her anger
on others, her words are harsh and her accent vulgar. When she speaks it is to set
herself above others, to upbraid others, to envy others, to be puffed up with indi-
vidual pride, to jeer at others, to outdo others, all things at variance with the “Way”
in which a woman should walk. The only qualities that befit a woman are gentle
obedience, chastity, mercy, and quietness.
From her earliest youth, a girl should observe the line separating women from
men; and never, even for an instant, should she be allowed to see or hear the slightest
impropriety. The ancient customs did not allow men and women to sit in the same
apartment, to keep their wearing-​apparel in the same place, to bathe in the same
place or to transmit to each other anything directly from hand to hand. …
It is the chief duty of a girl living in the parental house to practice filial piety
towards her father and mother. But after marriage, her chief duty is to honor her
father-​in-​law and mother-​in-​law—​to honor them beyond her own father and
mother—​to love and reverence them with all ardor, and to tend them with every
practice of filial piety. …
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A Woman’s  Place  17
A woman has no particular lord. She must look to her husband as her lord, and
must serve him with all worship and reverence, not despising or thinking lightly
of him. The great life-​long duty of a woman is obedience. In her dealings with her
husband, both her facial expression and her manner of speaking should be cour-
teous, humble and conciliatory, never irritable and intractable, never rude and
arrogant—​that should be a woman’s first and principal care. … Should her husband
be roused at any time to anger, she must obey him with fear and trembling, and not
set herself up against him in anger and forwardness. A woman should look on her
husband as if he were Heaven itself, and never weary of thinking how she may yield
to him, and thus escape celestial castigation.
Let her never even dream of jealousy. If her husband be dissolute, she must
remonstrate with him, but never either nurse or vent her anger. If her jealousy be
extreme, it will render her countenance frightful and her accents repulsive, and can
only result in completely alienating her husband from her, and making her intoler-
able in his eyes. Should her husband act ill and unreasonably, she must compose her
countenance and soften her voice to remonstrate with him; and if he be angry and
listen not to the remonstrance, she must wait over a season, and then remonstrate
with him again when his heart is softened. Never set yourself up against your hus-
band with harsh features and a boisterous voice! …
A woman must be ever on the alert, and
keep a strict watch over her own conduct.
In the morning she must rise early, and at ardor: Passion, love, enthusiasm.
night go late to rest. Instead of sleeping in castigation: Criticism or censure.
the middle of the day, she must be intent on dissolute: Degenerate or depraved.
the duties of her household, and must not filial piety: Respect for parents
weary of weaving, sewing, and spinning. Of and ancestors; one of the key
tea and wine she must not drink in excess, Confucian values.
nor must she feed her eyes and ears with ill: Badly.
theatrical performances [such as kabuki indocility: The quality of being
or jōruri], ditties, and ballads. To temples difficult to discipline or instruct.
(Shinto or Buddhist) and other places where intractable: Stubborn or difficult.
crowds gather, she should go but sparingly remonstrate: To say or plead in
till she has reached the age of forty. … complaint or reproof.
In her capacity of wife, she must keep her the “Way”: To act according to the
husband’s household in proper order. If the Confucian, i.e., moral, teachings.
wife be evil and extravagant, the house will
be ruined. In everything she must avoid extravagance, and both with regard to
food and clothing, she must act according to her station in life, and never give in to
luxury and pride.
The five worst maladies that afflict the female mind are: indocility, discontent,
slander, jealousy, and silliness. Without any doubt, these five maladies infest seven
or eight out of every ten women, and it is from these that arises the inferiority of
women to men. A woman should cure them by self-​inspection and self-​reproach.
The worst of them all, and the parent of the other four, is silliness.
Woman’s nature is passive. This passiveness, being of the nature of the night, is
dark. Hence, as viewed from the standard of man’s nature, the foolishness of woman
fails to understand the duties that lie before her very eyes, perceives not the actions
that will bring down blame upon her own head, and comprehends not even the
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18  The Domestic Sphere

things that will bring down calamities on the heads of her husband and children.
Neither when she blames and accuses and curses innocent persons, nor when, in
her jealousy of others, she thinks to set up herself alone, does she see that she is her
own enemy. … Again, in the education of her children, her blind affection induces
an erroneous system. Such is the stupidity of her character that it is incumbent on
her, in every particular, to distrust herself and to obey her husband. …
Parents! Teach the foregoing maxims to your daughters from their tenderest
years! Copy them out from time to time, that they may read and never forget
them! …
Source: Onna daigaku, as translated, adapted, and revised from
Basil Hall Chamberlain, “Educational Literature for Women,”
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 10 (1878): 325–​343.

DOCUMENT 2

Excerpts from Tadano Makuzu’s Hitori Kangae (Solitary Thoughts,  1818)

I have written this entire text without any sense of modesty or concern about being
unduly outspoken.  … I  have written it lamenting the crazed behavior I  see all
around. Each person in our country strives to enrich him or herself alone without
thinking of the foreign threat or begrudging the cost to the country. Mired in strife,
people throw goods away and fight over money that comes and goes. With this in
mind, I feel neither pain nor irritation at being criticized by others. Please read this
with that understanding.
Twelfth month, Bunsei 1 [1818] Makuzu in the far north

The Behavior of Female Characters in the Theater

It is usually said that a woman should keep everything in her heart, say little, and
be modest. Women [depicted] on the stage and in the puppet theater are com-
pletely different, though.Whether these characters are princesses or daughters raised
with the utmost care, they inevitably go beyond the norms for women and make
sexual advances to men. If an ordinary person had such a flirtatious daughter, would
anyone think it was good? Nonetheless, no one censures theatrical characters. How
strange! If I ask why female characters in plays behave so shamefully, people make
nothing of it. “It’s just a play,” they say. But in my own mind I am not convinced.
As the verse goes, “The paw that beckons from the shadows belongs to the tomcat.”
It seems to me that what is portrayed on the stage differs too much from human
feelings.
…

Lowly Women Make Trouble for Households

… About the time I was forty-​five or forty-​six, I by chance encountered a work
called Kojikiden. In it I  read that when human beings were first born in to this
world, those who, upon examining their bodies, realized that they had a surplus
were men, and those who believed they had a lack were women. My long-​standing
puzzlement as to why the relations between men and women are so disagreeable
was all at once resolved.
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A Woman’s  Place  19
Women exist for the sake of men; men do not exist for the sake of women. It
would be a mistake to think of them as equal. Even if she is the more intelligent,
how can a woman who thinks she is lacking something triumph over a man who
always thinks of himself as having a surplus? Because it is with the help of men that
women survive in this world, they can live comfortably if men do not find them
disagreeable. Realizing that the male body differs from her own, a woman should
humble herself in her dealings with men, not only with the man on whom she
depends, but also those who have some business with the household, and even the
servants she employs. If a woman correctly examines why men find her disagree-
able, she will inevitably discover that it is because she is disrespectful. For a woman
who ought to obey men to look down on them is contrary to the norms of proper
behavior. It is for that reason that she is disliked.
Knowing that it will suffice for women to learn this one lesson, I hope that in the
end I will be able to achieve the goal I set at the age of nine, to become a model for
women. But since I am not in a position to expound these points to the world at
large, I fear my solitary thoughts may be in vain.
Let me try to discuss the differences between the feelings of men and women.
A woman who hears that a Zen monk has castrated himself simply thinks of it
as a splendid act of determination. She thinks this way because his body is not her
kind of body. The story of a snake entering a woman’s vagina, on the other hand, so
horrifies women, whether young or old, that their hair stands on end. Because his
body is different from a woman’s, a man who hears such a story thinks nothing of
it, but tales of castration must strike straight at his heart.
Even though an onnagata in the theater
has a woman’s appearance, since he has a
man’s body, in his heart he harbors abusive castration: Removal of some part
feelings towards women. As he performs he or all of a male’s sex organs.
thus in fact takes pleasure in what should Kojikiden: Book by Motoori
be a pitiable scene. I finally came to realize Norinaga (1730–​ 1801).
that is why he performs in ways that appeal onnagata: A  male actor playing a
to the men in his audience. Women, on the female role in the kabuki theater.
other hand, take no pleasure in a villain’s
capturing a beautiful young woman and
doing with her what he wishes.
In that in examining our bodies, we become aware of a surplus or a lack, it is clear
that human feelings are rooted in the genitals and spread from there throughout our
bodies. When men and women make love, they battle for superiority by rubbing
their genitals together. For a husband and wife who are one this may not be an
issue. In cases of romance, though, a man may be thrown by a weak woman. The
two reproach each other as to whose love is greater because at the bottom of their
hearts neither wants to be the loser, neither wants the other’s love to be weaker than
his or her own. In the pleasure quarters, there may be rigorous rules regarding such
interactions but I  leave this writing for women brought up in warrior [samurai]
houses who have difficulty in dealing with the lower classes. …
Source: Tadano Makuzu. “Solitary Thoughts: A Translation of
Tadano Makuzu’s Hitori kangae,” trans. Janet R. Goodwin, Bettina
Gramlich-​Oka, Elizabeth A. Leicester,Yuki Terazawa, and
Anne Walthall. Monumenta Nipponica 56, no. 1 (2001): 21–​26.
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20  The Domestic Sphere

Aftermath
It was commonly held that the Tokugawa period represented the low point in the history
of Japanese women, and “The Greater Learning for Women” was often cited as supporting
evidence for that view. The text was widely circulated in Japan during the second half of
the period and in the West from the late nineteenth century. To many Western observers
it seemed to confirm their views of Japanese women as being of low status and subjected
to a repressive form of education, but to a large extent this reflected their own cultural
biases. While Japanese women did not socialize with men in public in Japan in the way
women did in the United States and Europe, they were able to walk freely (for women
belonging to the samurai status group, usually with a male companion or a manservant)
in Edo and other cities.
Of particular relevance here, it should be noted that “The Greater Learning for
Women” has been taken out of its original context; that is, it was first published as one
section of a much longer work, A Treasure Chest of Greater Learning for Women (Onna
daigaku takara bako), 1716, which contained various items related to women’s training in
literature and the arts, biographies of filial children in China, essays on practical matters
such as the proper care of clothing, medical advice, and illustrations of a variety of
occupations performed by women, including prostitution. In other words, the text actu-
ally recognized the variety of work that woman performed rather than negated the value
of female labor. Subsequently, however, just the “Greater Learning for Women” portion
of A Treasure Chest of Greater Learning for Women took on a life of its own, particularly in
foreign hands.

Ask Yourself
1. According to the author of The Greater Learning for Women, what are the most
important values that an ideal woman should cultivate? What does s/​he mean by “the
‘Way’ in which a woman should walk”? What does the author mean by “silliness”?
2. What gender roles are defined here? (What kind of gendered division of labor do
you find?) What are a mother’s primary duties? (Is it motherhood? If not, what?)
How does the definition of a woman’s role in this document compare to that of
American women, say in the 1950s and today? What was the main aim of marriage
in Tokugawa  Japan?
3. Do you think that most women in Tokugawa Japan would have followed the teachings
outlined in this text? According to the author, what are the consequences of failing to
follow them? Another way to approach this question is to consider the observation
that there is often a large gap between discourse or ideology (the way things should
be, according to some body of thought or some individual’s view) and practice (the
way things actually are). How might this idea apply to “The Greater Learning for
Women”?
4. What does the text not say about women? To what extent might this text be a reac-
tion to the real power that women held?
5. Might this text best apply to women of a particular status (samurai, peasant, artisan,
merchant)? If so, which one(s) and why?
6. How might the point #3 made above in the section “Keep in Mind as You Read”
about the commercializing economy affect the way we interpret this document?
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A Woman’s  Place  21
How might these instructions for moral behavior have offered working women
some protection or defense against exploitation in an increasingly commercialized
economy?
7. Why might Tadano Makuzu have felt that she would be criticized?
8. What is Makuzu’s view about the relationship between men and women? How does
she account for the differences between them?
9. How would you compare the advice that Tadano Makuzu and the author of Onna
daigaku give women? How can we reconcile their respective views of a woman’s
place in Tokugawa society? How do you think Makuzu would have reacted to Onna
daigaku?

Topics and Activities to Consider

• Compare codes of behavior for women in Tokugawa Japan with those from other
countries, such as England during the Victorian era (1837–​1901), the United States
during the same time, or perhaps Korea during the latter part of the Choson period
(1392–​1910). How much freedom of movement did women of different social classes
in these different societies have?
• More generally, compare women’s rights in several countries during the years that
spanned the Tokugawa dynasty, 1603–​1868. Consider in particular the availability of
education, treatment before the law, marriage, divorce, and property rights.
• Investigate the development of the onnagata role in kabuki theater. How did men train
to play the female roles? What were the main characteristics of women as portrayed
by onnagata?

Further Information
Bernstein, Gail Lee, ed., Recreating Japanese Women, 1600–​1945. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1991.
Gramlich-​Oka, Bettina. “Tadano Makuzu and Her Hitori Kangae.” Monumenta Nipponica 56, no. 1
(2001): 1–​20.
_​_​_​_​_​_​. Thinking Like a Man: Tadano Makuzu (1763–​1825). Leiden: Brill, 2006.
Hata, Hisako. “Servants of the Inner Quarters. The Women of the Shogun’s Great Interior.”
In Servants of the Dynasty:  Palace Women in World History, edited by Anne Walthall, 172–​190.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008.
Kominz, Laurence R. The Stars Who Created Kabuki. Tokyo; New York: Kodansha, 1997. See espe-
cially “Yoshizawa Ayame. Patron Saint of Kabuki’s Onnagata,” 181–​223.
Makuzu, Tadano. “Solitary Thoughts: A Translation of Tadano Makuzu’s Hitori kangae.” Translated
by Janet R. Goodwin, Bettina Gramlich-​Oka, Elizabeth A. Leicester, Yuki Terazawa, and Anne
Walthall. Part 1, Monumenta Nipponica 56, no. 1 (2001): 21–​38; part 2: Monumenta Nipponica 56,
no. 2 (2001): 173–​195.
Yokota, Fuyuhiko (Mariko Asano Tamanoi, trans.). “Imagining Working Women in Early Modern
Japan.” In Women and Class in Japanese History, edited by Hitomi Tonomura, Anne Walthall,
and Wakita Haruko, 153–​ 167. Ann Arbor:  Center for Japanese Studies, the University of
Michigan, 1999.
Yonemoto, Marcia. The Problem of Women in Early Modern Japan. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 2016.
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22  The Domestic Sphere

Film
Portrait of an Onnagata (1990). Films for the Humanities & Science, 30 minutes.

Website
“Onnagata.” World News Network, http://​wn.com/​onnagata.