Hiratsuka Raichō
Hiratsuka Raichō | |
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Born | Hiratsuka Haru February 10, 1886 Tokyo, Japan |
Died | May 24, 1971 | (aged 85)
Nationality | Japanese |
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Hiratsuka Raichō (
Life
[edit]Born in Tokyo in 1886, the second daughter of a high ranking civil servant, and educated at Japan Women's University (
Upon graduation from university, Hiratsuka entered the Narumi Women's English School where, in 1911, she founded Japan's first all-women literary magazine, Seitō (
Even though many Japanese became exposed to the ideas of the modern feminists, due to rebuttals by Japan's media, most did not take their ideas seriously, thinking that Raichō and her comrades were attempting to steal a moment of fame in history.[6] Exaggerated stories of their love affairs and nonconformism, once again spread by Japan's mainstream press, turned public opinion against the magazine and prompted Raichō to publish several fierce defenses of her ideals. Her April 1913 essay "To the Women of the World" (「
The journal folded in 1915, but not before establishing its founder as a leading light in Japan's women's movement. Meanwhile, in 1914, Hiratsuka began living openly with her younger lover, artist Okumura Hiroshi, with whom she had two children out of wedlock and eventually married in 1941.[8]
From 1918 to 1919, Yosano Akiko started to claim the importance of women's financial independence in the context of the rapid development of capitalism in Japan after the end of World War I.[9] Since Hiratsuka were influenced by Key's argument for the priority of motherhood through her translated works, she claimed that complete independence was an impractical expectation in the situation at that time, and added that maternity protection with financial assistance by the government would be necessary to establish women's national, social existence in the context of the difficult condition of women's workers, against Yosano's argument.[10][11] Afterwards, Yamakawa Kikue and Yamada Waka participated in this debate, and it became a big social movement known as the Maternity Protection Controversy (
In 1920, following an investigation into female workers' conditions in textile factories in Nagoya which further galvanized her political resolve, Hiratsuka founded the New Women's Association (
Hiratsuka would join the cooperative movement in the 1930s, concluding that this would be the best option to include the most number of people towards the main goal of social reform.[6] The next several years, however, saw Hiratsuka withdraw somewhat from the public eye, saddled with debts and her lover beset with health problems, although she would continue to write and lecture. In the postwar years, she emerged again as a public figure through the peace movement. In 1950, the day after the outbreak of the Korean War, she traveled to the United States together with writer and activist Nogami Yaeko and three other members of the Japan Women's Movement (
Legacy
[edit]While her career as a political activist covered many decades, Hiratsuka is primarily remembered for her stewardship of the Seitō group. As a leading light of the women's movement in early twentieth century Japan, she was a highly influential figure whose devotees ranged from pioneering Korean feminist author Na Hye-sok (나혜석;
On 10 February 2014, Google celebrated Raicho Hiratsuka’s 128th Birthday with a doodle.[14][15]
Selected works
[edit]Original works
[edit]- 『
円 窓 より』 (Marumado yori, The View from the Round Window) - 『
元始 、女性 は太陽 であった』 (Genshi, josei wa taiyō de atta, In The Beginning Woman Was The Sun) - 『
私 の歩 いた道 』 (Watakushi no aruita michi, The Road I Walked)
Translations
[edit]- Ellen Karolina Key, The Renaissance of Motherhood (『
母性 の復興 』, Bosei no fukkō) - Ellen Karolina Key, Love and Marriage (『
愛 と結婚 』, Ai to kekkon) - Teruko Craig, In the Beginning, Woman Was the Sun – The Autobiography of a Japanese Feminist(『
元始 、女性 は太陽 であった』, Genshi, josei wa taiyō de atta)
See also
[edit]- Bluestocking journal (Seitō)
- Blue Stockings Society (Seitō-sha)
- Feminism
- List of peace activists
- Fusae Ichikawa
- Ellen Key
- Akiko Yosano
- Timeline of women's suffrage
- Timeline of women's rights (other than voting)
- Women's suffrage in Japan
References
[edit]- ^ a b "
平塚 らいてう|近代 日本人 の肖像 ".近代 日本人 の肖像 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2024-05-22. - ^ Hiratsuka, Raichō (2006). In the beginning, woman was the sun : the autobiography of a Japanese feminist. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-13812-1. OCLC 62732710.
- ^ "asahi.com:
森田 草平 と平塚 らいてう―栃木 ・塩原 温泉 -愛 の旅人 - トラベル". www.asahi.com. Retrieved 2024-05-22. - ^ "
森田 草平 (もりた そうへい) -岐阜 県 図書館 ". www.library.pref.gifu.lg.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2024-05-22. - ^ "
茅ヶ崎 の煌き(平塚 らいてう)|茅ヶ崎 観光 情報 サイト「ちがさきナビ」茅ヶ崎 市 観光 協会 ".茅ヶ崎 市 観光 協会 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2024-05-22. - ^ a b Heisig, James W.; Kasulis, Thomas P.; Maraldo, John C. (2011). Japanese Philosophy: A Sourcebook. University of Hawai'i Press. pp. 1148–58. ISBN 978-0-8248-3552-1. JSTOR j.ctt6wqg76.
- ^ O'dwyer, Shaun (14 Nov 2013). "Echoes of an old debate on feminism and individualism". Japan Times.
- ^ "
平塚 らいてうの会 -らいてう年譜 -". raichou.c.ooco.jp. Retrieved 2024-05-22. - ^ Hironaka, Yuriko (March 2009). "
母性 保護 論 争 における与謝野 晶子 " (PDF).兵庫教育大学 地理 学 研究 室 研究 報告 . Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-02-26. Retrieved 2021-10-19. - ^ a b Tomida, Hiroko (2004). "The Controversy over the Protection of Motherhood and its Impact upon the Japanese Women's Movement". European Journal of East Asian Studies. 3 (2): 243–271. doi:10.1163/1570061042780883.
- ^ Fukuda, Hagino (June 1, 1990). "
母性 保護 論争 :与謝野 晶子 ・平塚 らいてう・山川 菊栄 ・山田 わか".日本 の経済 思想 四 百 年 : 328–336. - ^ Hunter, Janet (1984). Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History. University of California Press. pp. 64–65. ISBN 0520043901.
- ^ "ENGLISH".
新 日本 婦人 の会 中央 本部 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-10-20. - ^ Desk, OV Digital (2023-02-09). "10 February: Remembering Raicho Hiratsuka on Birthday". Observer Voice. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
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has generic name (help) - ^ "Raicho Hiratsuka's 128th Birthday". www.google.com. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
Sources
[edit]父 が子 に送 る一 億 人 の昭和 史 :人物 現代 史 (One Hundred Million People's Showa History from Father to Child – Modern Biographical Histories), Mainichi Shimbun Press, 1977.- Sumiko Otsubo, Engendering Eugenics: Women's Pursuit of Anti-V.D. Marriage Restriction Law in Taisho Japan, Ohio State University Press.
External links
[edit]- 1886 births
- 1971 deaths
- 20th-century Japanese translators
- Anarcha-feminists
- Anarcho-pacifists
- Buddhist feminists
- Buddhist pacifists
- Zen Buddhism writers
- Feminist eugenicists
- Japanese feminist writers
- Japan Women's University alumni
- Japanese anarchists
- Japanese feminists
- Japanese pacifists
- Japanese suffragists
- Japanese women writers
- Japanese writers
- Japanese Zen Buddhists
- Pacifist feminists
- Translators to Japanese
- Writers from Tokyo