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[Transcriber's Note:


For the ASCII version of this e-book, letters with a macron over them
have been represented as [=o], and letters with a breve as [)u].

Page numbers from the original book have been added to asterisks that
indicate notes in the Appendix (e.g. [*3]) in order to make it easier to
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Please see the end of this book for more detailed notes on the text.]




By Alice M. Bacon


IN THE LAND OF THE GODS. 12mo, $1.50.

JAPANESE GIRLS AND WOMEN. 16mo, $1.25. In Riverside Library for Young
People. 16mo, 75 cents.

_Holiday Edition._ With 12 full-page Illustrations in color and 43
outline drawings by Japanese artists. Crown 8vo, gilt top, $4.00.

A JAPANESE INTERIOR. 16mo, $1.25. In Riverside School Library. 16mo, 60
cents, _net_.

  HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
  BOSTON AND NEW YORK




  JAPANESE GIRLS AND
  WOMEN

  BY

  ALICE MABEL BACON

  _REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION_

  [Illustration]

  BOSTON AND NEW YORK
  HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
  The Riverside Press Cambridge


  Copyright, 1891, 1902,
  BY ALICE MABEL BACON.

  _All rights reserved._


  To

  STEMATZ, THE MARCHIONESS OYAMA,

  IN THE NAME OF OUR GIRLHOOD'S FRIENDSHIP, UNCHANGED AND
  UNSHAKEN BY THE CHANGES AND SEPARATIONS OF OUR
  MATURER YEARS,

  This Volume

  _IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED_.




CONTENTS.


  CHAPTER                              PAGE

     I. CHILDHOOD                         1

    II. EDUCATION                        37

   III. MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE             57

    IV. WIFE AND MOTHER                  84

     V. OLD AGE                         119

    VI. COURT LIFE                      138

   VII. LIFE IN CASTLE AND YASHIKI      169

  VIII. SAMURAI WOMEN                   196

    IX. PEASANT WOMEN                   228

     X. LIFE IN THE CITIES              262

    XI. DOMESTIC SERVICE                299

   XII. WITHIN THE HOME                 327

  XIII. TEN YEARS OF PROGRESS           371

        APPENDIX                        423

        INDEX                           473




PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION.


In offering a revised edition of a book which has been before the public
for more than ten years, there is little to say that has not been said
in the original Preface. The work as published before, however, was
always, to its author's mind, unfinished, for the reason that a chapter
on household customs, which was necessary for the completion of the
plan, had to be omitted because it could not be written in America.

This defect has now been remedied, and the chapter "Within the Home"
contains the supplementary matter necessary to complete the picture of a
Japanese woman's life. In addition to this a thorough revision has been
made of the whole book, and the subjects discussed in each chapter have
been brought up to date by means of notes in an Appendix. The reader
will find these notes referred to by asterisks in the text.

Finally, a second supplementary chapter has been added, in which an
effort has been made to analyze present conditions. From its nature,
this chapter is only a rapid survey of the progress of ten years. It is
not easy to write with judgment of conditions actually present. A little
perspective is necessary to make sure that one sees things in their
proper proportions. It is therefore with some hesitation that I offer to
the public the result of two years' experience of the present state of
affairs. If subsequent events show that my observation has been
incorrect, I can only say that what I have written has been the
"Thing-as-I-see-It," and does not lay claim to being the
"Thing-as-It-is."

In closing, I would thank once more the friends whose names appear in
the previous Preface, and would add to their number the names of Mr. H.
Sakurai and Mr. and Mrs. Seijiro Saito, who have rendered me valuable
aid in gathering material.

                                          A. M. B.

NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT,
   _November, 1902_.




PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.


It seems necessary for a new author to give some excuse for her boldness
in offering to the public another volume upon a subject already so well
written up as Japan. In a field occupied by Griffis, Morse, Greey,
Lowell, and Rein, what unexplored corner can a woman hope to enter? This
is the question that will be asked, and that accordingly the author must
answer.

While Japan as a whole has been closely studied, and while much and
varied information has been gathered about the country and its people,
one half of the population has been left entirely unnoticed, passed over
with brief mention, or altogether misunderstood. It is of this neglected
half that I have written, in the hope that the whole fabric of Japanese
social life will be better comprehended when the women of the country,
and so the homes that they make, are better known and understood.

The reason why Japanese home-life is so little understood by foreigners,
even by those who have lived long in Japan, is that the Japanese, under
an appearance of frankness and candor