The education of women in Japan

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Preface

The eyes of the Western world are to-day turned toward the countries of the Far East as never before. The startHngly rapid changes which have occurred within the last few years have brought thoughtful people everywhere to a realization of the fact that the great awakened nations of the Orient will play a by no means unimportant part in determining the trend of events in the twentieth century, and even in the years which lie beyond it. Few things are of such vital interest in our time as the forces which are moulding the life of these nations and determining the character of the influence which they will exert.

Japan, which was the first of the nations of the Far East to come out of seclusion and has already won her place among the world powers, has frequently been called the leader of the Orient. It is but natural that what Japan is and does should strongly affect the new life and thought of her more recently awakened neighbours. It is with peculiar interest, therefore, that those who have at heart the highest welfare of the Orient and the

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world are watching the development of Japan. Will the loss of religious faith and consequent diminution of moral virility which threaten her prevail, and Japan become a blind leader; or will the forces of truth and righteousness conquer and her influence be for uplift and progress ?

This question is still to be answered. Of the many factors which will enter into the determination of the answer, one of the most important is the character of the education received by the girls who are to be the mothers and teachers of the nation. Few people in the Western world have realized the strength of woman's influence in Japan; but those who know the life of the nation most intimately tell us that even in olden days the women, who in theory were powerless, in reality greatly influenced the currents of life of their people. Their influence in the home and upon the lives of their children has probably been even greater than that of Western women, for the men have taken no active part in the control of domestic affairs. The influence exerted by the women of Japan, without education, has been so real and great as to make it evident that the educated Japanese woman, who in these new days is facing opportunities of power unknown to her mother, will play a

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very important part in determining the future character of this still plastic country. All that has tO' do therefore with the life of the woman student of Japan is of vital interest to those who are watching the development of the Sunrise Kingdom.

A brief visit to Japan and a subsequent study of the history and present conditions of woman's life and education in that country have brought the conviction that the present time is one of grave danger and of challenging opportunity. This book is an attempt to share the results of this study with others who are interested in the welfare of the Island Empire of the East and the continent which it so strongly influences.

M. E. B.

Chicago, III.

Contents

I. The Education of Women in

Old Japan .... 15 11. The Beginnings of Modern

Education for Women . 33

II The Beginnings Of Modern Edu- Cation For Women

THE world has seldom seen so remarkable a transformation as that caused by Commodore Perry's insistent knock upon the closed door of Japan. A mediaeval nation, isolated, feudalistic, and unprogressive, suddenly threw open its doors to international intercourse, established a constitutional monarchy, and set itself to achieve universal education and equality before the law for all citizens. The young Emperor Mutsuhito, (since his death called Meiji), who was restored from a nominal emperorship to a throne of actual power, proved to be a thoroughly progressive and broad-minded man, under whose guidance the new Japan soon began to be a reality.

The spirit of "The Era of Enlightenment " was wholly favourable to the education of women. The first schools for girls were established by the missionaries with the sympathy, and often the cooperation, of the influential Japanese. It was at the earnest request of an old Japanese physician, who wished his Httle grand-daughter to receive a modern education, that Mrs. Hepburn of the Dutch Reformed Mission started in 1867 what was the nucleus of the first school for girls in Japan. A little group of five Japanese girls met with her, in her dining-room, until other duties made it necessary for her to give them into the care of Miss Kidder. Under Miss Kidder's direction the little class grew to twenty-two members, and through the kindness of the Japanese governor of Yokohama Miss Kidder was able to secure quarters in the official section of the city. " The governor assisted me in many ways," she wrote later, " so that the school was no expense to the mission. Among other things, he presented me with a closed jinrikisha, remarking that the distance was too great for walking, and he would do himself the pleasure of giving me a conveyance." As this class grew, it became evident to Miss Kidder that the most valuable results could not be obtained in a day school, and in 1874, with the aid of the governor of Yokohama and the American consul, she obtained the piece of land on which was built the girls' boarding school, now known as Ferris Seminary.

The example set by Mrs. Hepburn and Miss Kidder was soon followed by many others. Within the twelve years following the organization of Mrs. Hepburn's little class, girls' schools had been established by the Woman's Union, Presbyterian, Congregational, Baptist, Methodist, and Episcopalian missionary societies. Yokohama, Tokyo, Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, and Nagasaki each had one or more schools for girls under missionary auspices.

The pioneers in Christian educational work for women in Japan did not wholly escape the prejudice and suspicion which in other Oriental countries had made the task of building up girls' schools so discouraging. A few years after the opening of Ferris Seminary the father of one of the girls from the interior presented himself at the school and asked if he might see the building.

" His conduct seemed somewhat peculiar, for he wanted to be shown every nook and corner. Finally he addressed the [Japanese] matron in the most confidential manner, saying that he had been told by a Buddhist priest that foreigners at the school where his daughter was had been sent out from their country to obtain a very precious drug, which could only be obtained from the bodies of

Japanese girls; that it was very costly, and that was why they could put up such fine schools and take pupils at such low rates. * Tell me truly,' said he, * for you too are a Japanese; you must know of this, if it is true. Do these foreigners attach a machine to the bodies of the pupils while they sleep ? ' '*

Stories such as this are, however, conspicuous by their rarity. The rapid growth of the great majority of the girls' schools of Japan proved that the cause of woman's education was regarded with genuine interest and approval by many Japanese.

The Kyoritsu Jo Gakko, established by the Woman's Union Missionary Society in 1871, outgrew its original home within three years, and it was necessary to erect a second building in 1874.

The Congregational school in Kobe numbered seventeen pupils within three weeks after the arrival of the missionaries who had it in charge. When, a year later, the erection of a building was commenced, many felt that the provision for thirty boarding pupils was much too large, and none doubted that it would be ample for years to come. But within three years after this building was opened, one of the teachers wrote, " Our school is as full as it can be, and several applicants must wait

Beginnings of Modem Education 37

till the new building is complete which is now going up."

The growth of the Methodist school in Tokyo, which began work in a corner of an old temple, soon justified the purchase of a piece of ground on which a more suitable school home was built in 1877. A letter written less than a year after the new building was entered, reads : " We now have twenty-one girls in the school, and our dining-room has become too small. We are about to turn the room which was designed for our parlour into a sleeping-room for some of the girls, until such time as the society shall enable us to build larger."

The Roman Catholic Christianity which was brought to Japan during the sixteenth century left behind it, because of its political character, an intense hatred of all things Christian, which was peculiarly strong in the part of the country which had been most affected by the political activities of the Jesuits. Nagasaki, which had been for several years the seat of Catholic power, was regarded as one of the most difficult fields for Christian work because of the deep prejudice against Christianity which had never died out. When, therefore, two young women of the Methodist Mission were sent there to establish a school for girls, those " whose experience and observation gave weight to their opinions, were not tardy in expressing their conviction that many years would pass before any Japanese in Nagasaki would consent to place a daughter in a Christian school." The school opened with one girl, whose family lived outside of Nagasaki; but within less than four years, in spite of the publication of pamphlets and poems attacking the school and its teachers, there were over seventy pupils, thirty of whom were residents of Nagasaki, and it was reported that only lack of accommodation kept the number from being twice as great.

Examples of the encouragingly rapid growth of the pioneer schools might be multiplied. It is interesting, too, to notice that in the exceptional cases where growth was slow, the lack of success seemed to be largely due to the location of the school in a community composed mainly of poor people. Mrs. Blanchet wrote from St. Margaret's School, Tokyo, in 1879: "Our girls' school opened a year ago, and there have been so many obstacles and annoyances of one kind or another to contend with in our efforts to increase the size of it, that we began to feel quite doubtful as to whether or not we could build it up at all in this neighbourhood, which is so unfavourable to it, owing largely to our living among a poor class of people who are indifferent to the education of their children."

The earliest pupils in the missionary schools for girls in China were homeless little waifs, or children from homes so poor that the parents were willing to let them go to the foreign schools because food and clothing were there supplied- No other girls could be secured. In the pioneer schools of Japan provision was made for orphans and children of the very poor, but, from the very first, daughters from families of wealth and influence were among the pupils. Mrs. Hepburn's class was started because of the desire of a physician to have his grand-daughter receive a foreign education, and the wife of the governor of Yokohama was a member of the school which grew out of that class. The young wife and little daughter of a man of high rank, who had been a daimyo in feudal Japan, were among the first pupils of the Congregational missionaries in Kobe; and in Osaka, one of the highest officials enrolled his daughter in the school of the same mission in its earliest days.

Many schools were able from the beginning to meet at least a part of their expenses from school fees. A report of Ferris Seminary reads : " Boarders pay $3.00 and day scholars

$i.oo per month. The pupils furnish their clothing, bedding, books, and stationery; while rooms, fuel, lights, food, tuition, washing, and care of health are given them." " Pupils pay in whole or in part," reads an account of the Tokyo Presbyterian school in 1876. When the Kobe Congregational school was opened Miss Talcott wrote, " We have planned for twenty-five or thirty girls, and hope to be able to take them at three dollars a month." Of the forty-five girls in the Doshisha girls* school in Kyoto, in 1882, twenty-seven paid the entire amount of board and tuition and seven paid a part of their expenses. Very few schools were without some financial support from their pupils.

Generous gifts to the schools were evidence of the interest and confidence of the people. Nearly $800 was given by Japanese for the first building of the school at Kobe, and the second building was more than half paid for by Japanese money.

The Congregational missionaries at Osaka were strongly urged by the Japanese to establish a girls' school in that city. A successful teacher in one of the government schools voluntarily offered to resign his position and give his services to such a school, and the members of the Congregational churches of the city promised to assume all financial responsibility for it, with the exception of the salaries of the missionaries. " We do not propose to call upon our friends for money," reads the first letter sent to America regarding the plan for this school. True to this promise money for buildings and running expenses was furnished wholly by the Japanese.

Another Christian girls' school almost entirely supported by Japanese was the Sakurai-jo-gakko of Tokyo. In 1876, Mrs. Sakurai, an able Japanese woman, gathered a little group of girls into her home for study. For two years she and her husband, who aided her with both time and money, carried the work alone; but by 1878 the growth of the school was such that Mrs. Sakurai asked the Presbyterian Mission to cooperate with her. From this time on the school was partly supported by the mission; but Mr. and Mrs. Sakurai continued their interest and help, and Mrs. Sakurai remained the principal until removal to Osaka made it necessary for her to give up the work.

The course of study in the Christian schools was necessarily simple at first. The little class of day pupils which developed into the Kobe Congregational school began with a two-hour session. " We open with singing and prayer in Japanese," Miss Talcott wrote; "then give an hour or more to English reading and conversation, closing with Old Testament stories in Japanese and another hymn." " The Peep of Day " was used as a Reader.

The curricula of the boarding schools could be much broader. Ferris Seminary reported in 1875, " The branches taught are the common school branches in English, with as much of Chinese and Japanese as is indispensable to educated women." In the same year the girls of the Tokyo Presbyterian school were studying '' natural philosophy, history, physiology, moral science, grammar, arithmetic, geography, English conversation, and composition, etc."

The work of the pioneer schools was inevitably done under serious disadvantages. " When the work was commenced in 1871," reads a report of the Kyoritsu Jo Gakko of Yokohama, " no ' Readers ' or other school books had been translated into the Japanese language." Moreover, many of the women in charge of the schools had had no opportunity to learn Japanese before beginning school work, and were therefore greatly hampered. Nothing could be much more unsatisfactory than teaching done through an interpreter, but some of the teachers were forced to use this

X method in the early days. Mrs. Carrothers wrote in 1875, " ^^ teach by means of translators, the foreign teacher giving the pronunciation only, and the Japanese giving the translation and explanation." Word came from this school four years later, " This work could be enlarged greatly if . . . these ladies could give more time to studying the language, and thus largely increase their usefulness."

As the schools developed, however, the work was graded and much more satisfactory results were possible. In 1882 the Congregational school at Osaka reported the graduation of four girls, who had completed a four years' course, and at the same time the school of the same mission in Kyoto announced the graduation of eight girls who had also finished a four years' course. Girls from these schools who wished to continue their studies went to the Kobe school, which at this time had a preparatory course of three years, and five years of " seminary studies." This school graduated a class of twelve girls in 1882, all of them professing Christians. An article on the Kobe school in the Hiogo Nezvs of December, 1882, makes the following statement regarding the course of study followed at this time. " Teaching is carried on both in

Japanese and English, and it will be noticed . . . what great proficiency some of the pupils have attained in the alien language. The school course extends over five years, and in addition to the usual elementary branches, embraces Chinese, Japanese, and general history, the history of civilization, algebra, geometry, natural and mental philosophy, and composition."

" The field of woman's education was opened up and tilled by missionaries," Professor Fujisawa of the Imperial University stated in a recent address. But the example of missionary educators, and the knowledge of the importance attached to woman's education in other countries, soon stimulated the progressive government of the new Japan to make provision for the education of the women of the nation. General Kuroda, head of the Colonial Department, was greatly impressed, during two brief visits to America, with the influence exerted by the women of the United States. His conviction that their strength and ability were the results of their education, led him to write a letter to his government emphasizing the importance of education in connection with the colonization of the wilder parts of Japan. To send ignorant men into these new colonies would be a great mistake, he said, and therefore the education of women was of primary importance since the training of children under ten years was entirely entrusted to them. He maintained that to educate women was to elevate the whole nation. He reminded the government that young men had been sent abroad for study with very satisfactory results, and expressed his strong belief that the time had now come to send a delegation of young women to America for education. The government adopted this suggestion, and in 1871 five young girls, ranging in age from eight to fifteen, were authorized to go tO' the United States, there to be educated at the expense of their government. Before they left they were summoned to the capital and, in accordance with an old custom, each was given a piece of beautiful crimson crepe, in token of the Emperor's good will.

The Emperor indicated his sympathy with efforts to promote woman's education by his declaration, " Females hitherto have had no position socially, because it was considered that they were without understanding; but if educated and intelligent they should have due respect." Marquis Ito, a member of the World's Embassy, in whose party these first Japanese women students travelled to America, speaking in San Francisco upon their arrival, expressed the sentiments of the leading men of Japan in the words : " By educating our women we hope to insure greater intelligence in future generations. With this end in view our maidens have already commenced to come to you for their education."

Upon their arrival in America these little girls were entrusted to the care of the Japanese minister in Washington, Mr. Mori, to whom was given the responsibility of deciding where and how they should receive their education. Mr. Mori was primarily eager that his wards might become acquainted with the home life of the United States, that their minds might be " fully stored with all the kinds of information which will make them true ladies." He was successful in finding desirable homes for them, and the results of their life in America were all that could be desired. The two oldest girls did not remain long enough to go through college, but of the other three, two graduated from Vassar, one of them being president of her class in her senior year, and the other attended Bryn Mawr. One is now the Marchioness Oyama, one the wife of Admiral Uriu, and the third. Miss Ume Tsuda, is the founder and principal of the English Institute for Girls in Tokyo.

In September, 1871, the Department of Education was first established, and in September of the following year the Educational Code was issued. That the education of women was included in the plans of the Department is shown in the Preamble, which stated : '' It is intended that henceforth universally (without any distinction of class or sex) in a village there shall be no home without learning, and in a house no individual without learning. . . . (As for higher learning, that depends upon the capacity of individuals, but it shall be regarded as a neglect of duty on the part of fathers or elder brothers, should they fail to send young children to elementary schools without distinction of sex.) ''

At the close of 1873, 28 per cent, of the children of school age were attending the 12,588 elementary schools which had been established. One-third of the pupils were girls.

In 1872 the first school for girls under the auspices of the government was established in Tokyo. This was known as the Tokyo Female School, and offered a six years' course to girls who wished to pursue their studies beyond the elementary school. '' Fourteen to seventeen hours a week in reading, mathematics, penmanship, composition, dictation, English, industrial arts, music, and gymnastics were given." A preparatory course of two years was also offered.

During the same year a girls* school was established by the local government of the Fu of Kyoto, and within the next five years similar schools were established in the Ken of Kagashima, Yamanashi, Tokushima, Gifu, and Tochigo.

The first normal school for women was opened on November 30th, 1875. The Empress, the Minister of the Interior, the Vice Minister of Education, and other dignitaries manifested their interest and approval by being present at the opening exercises. The Empress made an address on this occasion, in which she expressed the hope that she might " eventually see the beautiful fruit of female education appear in profusion throughout the whole of the land." In 1877 the Tokyo Female School was incorporated in this normal school.

The year 1877 marks the beginning of a temporary decline in the interest felt in woman's education, and indeed in education in general. The Educational Code of 1872 had instituted such radical changes that a reaction was not surprising. Moreover, the depleted condition of the treasury at this time led to retrenchment along many lines, and especially in the educational department. An

American newspaper published in Tokyo spoke in strong terms of the effect of this reactionary step. " Many of the most promising schools have been dispersed, and no arrangements for their revival, under either native or foreign guidance, have been possible. The element from which some of the finest results were anticipated — that of the culture of young women — has faded almost out of sight. It is probably within the limit to say that the efficiency of the department is less than half what it was a year ago. And this is not precisely on account of the mere fact of money withdrawn, but because of the loss of prestige, and the abrupt derangement of plans, the successful execution of which required a steady and persistent evolution and a sustained encouragement at all times from the highest sources of authority."

In 1879 ^ decree was issued, doing away with compulsory education. It was soon evident, however, that this was unwise and in 1880 education was again made compulsory, and the time was lengthened from sixteen months to three years. Within the next few years several girls' schools were established, and in 1883 there were seven public high schools for girls with a registration of 350.

On the whole, modern education for women in Japan, whether under missionary or government auspices, had a beginning which gave good ground for assurance of its complete ultimate success, whatever problems and vicissitudes later years might bring.

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ENCOURAGING as was the interest manifested in woman's education in the early days of the new Japan, the enthusiasm of " the eighties " was a surprise even to the most optimistic. In every part of Japan Christian girls' schools grew with almost disconcerting rapidity. Graham Seminary, Tokyo, reported in 1888 that sixty girls were refused admission in a single term, and Miss Watson, of the Tokyo Methodist school, wrote in the same year, " We cannot take another girl, though they come every day. When we say we have no room they ask, * When will you have? Please put our names down and send us word when we can come.' "

The fourteen pupils who were enrolled in the Osaka Presbyterian school at its beginning in January, 1887, had increased to nearly seventy by the end of April, and inquiries regarding the work of the school were so numerous as to make it necessary to hang a sign on the outside of the building stating that visitors could be received on only two days a week. Several families moved into the neighbourhood of the school from distant parts of the city, in order that their daughters might be enrolled among its students. The Congregational school of the same city, which had an enrolment of sixty-five in 1885, reported 236 in 1887 and 368 in 1888. Everywhere the story was the same. " The school closed a year ago this last spring with eighty scholars," Miss Wainwright wrote from Kyoto, " and through the summer we had a new school building built; but the first day of the fall term it was too small, as 140 came." Kobe College was reported full to overflowing in 1883, and the addition built in 1884 proved so inadequate that it was necessary to rent a nearby house in 1885. Two years later Miss Searle wrote that they were cramped and crowded in every way, and were forced steadily to refuse admission to " girls who were ready to pay every cent of board and tuition." Again a new building was erected, and again the additional space was soon shown to be so inadequate that the Japanese friends of the school raised money to purchase another piece of land and erect a new dormitory.

Examples might be multiplied to show how, in spite of enlarged equipment, the schools were wholly unable to keep pace with the demands made upon them. Even in the part of Japan where prejudice against Christianity had been strongest the missionaries were overwhelmed with applications for admission to existing schools, and requests that new ones be established. The Methodist school in Nagasaki was full to overflowing, and at the urgent request of the people of neighbouring cities several new schools were established. The people of Fukuoka, a city of about 60,000 inhabitants, promised Miss Gheer that if she would open a school for girls there she might have perfect freedom to teach Christianity, and they guaranteed her seventy pupils at once. In 1887 it was reported that this school was in successful operation, and was " composed of the girls and women of the samurai, the most intelligent class in Japan."

Miss Watson wrote from Tokyo in 1886: " There is a call for a girls' school in Sendai, the third largest city in the empire, . . . also at Nagoya, the fourth largest city. In these two places no scholarships would be required; only a foreign lady to organize and superintend the school. The people who live there are among the wealthier or samurai class." A later letter tells of a similar urgent plea from Yonezawa, whose people offered to furnish a building, and meet all the running expenses of the school, if only a foreign teacher would come.

An account of the establishment of the Congregational girls' school at Niigata gives striking evidence of the eagerness for education of Japanese girls themselves, and shows the attitude of the leading men toward woman's education. "A year and a half ago, several of the most liberal minded gentlemen of this city resolved to make the attempt to start a girls' school in Niigata. In this province female education has been, hitherto, not only neglected, but even, in some instances, discouraged by most violent measures, — an instance of which is a series of tragedies which occurred in a neighbouring city. Soon after the subject of a girls' school began to be agitated in that city, itself really an educational centre from which progressive movements might be expected to start, four young ladies banded themselves together in the firm resolve to obtain an education or die in the attempt, each one binding herself by a solemn vow that in event of her failing to obtain her relatives' consent, after a prolonged and earnest effort, she would commit suicide. After vainly for several months presenting their requests for education, two of the petitioners fulfilled their vows. The third was driven, by severe persecutions, into temporary insanity. The fourth is now in this city, enjoying an education which had been procured at such terrible cost. Such was the feeling toward female education when our school had begun to exist only in the hearts and thoughts of a few men who had the gift of looking into the future.