Critical Analysis Of Higuchi Ichiyo's The Thirteenth Night

Throughout time, the role that Women had in the early twentieth century to the present has changed drastically and it has changed for the better. Japanese American Women residing in the United States, has experienced the evolution of their culture, tradition, values and their role in society. However though it seems as if there is no time in this ever so rapid society, they still continue to pass down culture and tradition through each generation. Some key terms that are crucial in order to understand the essay are, Issei, or the first generation, Nisei, the second generation ,and Sansei, known as the third generation.Over time the Women slowly moved away form being the average Homemaker and transforming into a respected and valued member of society.

Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s play, The Love Suicides at Amijima explores the disgrace of Jihei and Koharu’s misbegotten romance, the underlying conflict of the hidden innuendos aimed at the Japanese social class and the sense of duty formed between two women from unseemmingly different backgrounds. In order to fully understand these themes, on must take into account the societal structure of Osaka, Japan in the 1720s. Within this culture, every individual was instilled the notion of familial obligation and had to adhere to the rules placed upon them by society. Chikamatsu Monzaemon does an ideal job of capturing these concepts within the play.

However, their love affair shows how much the historical aspects of the Meiji Era had a huge effect to the characters. Through the story, the difference in class, nation, and gender play a huge role. Mori Ogai’s style involving emotional and psychological observations allowed to understand the historical aspects during the Meiji

One of the most difficult aspects of any given historiography, is in the distinction between the ideals of a society, and that of actuality. While sources may represent the specifics that people may have aspired to, in everyday life, things would naturally become more complicated. Of particular note of this can be seen when dealing with the societal expectations of gender. Throughout the selected passages, about homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan, the personal writings of Admiral Yi Sun-sin, and excerpts from Song Ruozhao’s Analectics for Women, it can be seen that although each society had its own concepts of gender, once can see that the actual implementation did not always run parallel.

In society, women are often recognized as being the weakest and dependent gender while men are the most powerful. In Ihara Saikaku’s novel From Life of a Sensuous Women, he challenged the views on women by society and represented women as strong and powerful individuals. The novel was made of short stories where women used their sexuality to their advantage and to gain power over men. The women also did not follow the responsibility that society believes they should adhere to, such as marrying a man, having kids, and being the housewife who cooks, cleans and takes care of her family while her husband goes about his job. Instead, they lived with a loosed sexuality and had several lovers, which was not considered as to what the traditional women do. In addition to not being a housewife, the women had the ability to play sports and be good at them. These characteristics that were given to women challenged society and what they believe the ordinary women should be like. In From Life of a sensuous Woman, Saikaku showed how women might use the power of sexuality to overpower men, managed to question the traditional view of women as the compliant housewife, and challenged the assumptions of females as the weaker gender.

Ihara Saikaku’s Life of a Sensuous Woman written in the 17th century and Mary Woolstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman written in the 18th century are powerful literary works that advocated feminism during the time when women were oppressed members of our societies. These two works have a century old age difference and the authors of both works have made a distinctive attempt to shed a light towards the issues that nobody considered significant during that time. Despite these differences between the two texts, they both skillfully manage to present revolutionary ways women can liberate themselves from oppression laden upon them by the society since the beginning of humanity.

Tsurumi says that only three options were given to most young women in Japan in the Meiji period: work at a textile mill, weaving house, or a house of prostitution. Tsurumi says that women in all three cases had effectively been “sold” by their parents into the workforce, and were without the ability to choose where they wished to work (Tsurumi, 187). To detail even further, Tsurumi says that girls working in any of these fields were effectively “purchased commodities” to their employers, and were treated as objects (Tsurumi, 188). This continues to support the idea that these women were victims of a society determined to society’s vulnerable populations for their labor and ignore their humanity. Despite this, the women of Japan’s textile mills worked tirelessly in harsh circumstances in an effort to support their families, and, as a result, also supported the larger local and national communities of which they were a part. In conclusion, Tsurimi says that a woman working in Japan’s textile mills “made [her contributions to the industrialized economy] for her family and herself, and not for the country or company” (Tsurumi, 198). Even if their contribution was not intentional, however, the impact the factory girls of Meiji Era Japan had on the industrialization of Japan’s economy is irrefutable, and showcases

The author who brought to us The Tale of Genji, a novel now regarded as the first written novel in history, left behind an arguably more treasurable artifact: a diary that opens a window into history. The Diary of Lady Murasaki by Lady Murasaki Shikibu gives the reader a glimpse of the imperial court during eleventh century Japan and presents the past in an illuminated vision. Being an attendant in the imperial court, Lady Murasaki is frequently involved with the activities of elite Japanese women. Her day-to-day interaction with the nobles and elites enhance her account with the curious perspective of an elite female. As a woman, Lady Murasaki's descriptions are oriented around clothing

In the essentially dual religious system in Japan, ideologies and traditions play a heavy role in the everyday life of the Japanese people. Shintoism and Buddhism intertwine and complement themselves in Japanese culture, despite Buddhism coming in from mainland Asia. A particularly powerful idea from Buddhism is mono no aware, the realization and acknowledgment of the impermanence and its place in the world. This idea that nothing stays the same forever manifests itself heavily in Japanese literature, whether in personal writings or fictional works. Despite spanning hundreds of years, each work was shaped by and include manifestations of mono no aware. I intend to underline and pinpoint instances that mono no aware is influencing these works, and discuss similarities and differences between them. In this paper, I have three works that I will explore, each one corresponding to a different time period before the pre-industrial revolution; The Diary of Lady Murasaki comes from the classical period, Essays in Idleness from the medieval, and the immensely popular play Chushingura from the pre-modern era.

They are the ritualization in Japanese culture, women’s implicit expression of love, women’s hierarchy in 18th Japan, and how the landscape of Japan influences the prosperity of Geisha culture.

It is no secret that for centuries, the Japanese woman has been, to most observers, a model of elegance and graceful beauty. A picture of a kimono-clad, modest, and often silent woman has been plastered everywhere, allowing for the upmost passive subjection. If we look deeper into this image of woman, can we tell if this picture is complete? How do these women painted in representative images far in the modern world? The ideal woman in Japan is expected to be both a good wife, and a wise mother. Though these seem like reasonable expectations, there is a much deeper meaning to them that has shown signs of being outdated. During the 1800’s and 1900’s, women were subjected to society’s vision of them, and could not break free for fear of the

In his The Life of An Amorous Woman, Ihara Saikaku traces the demise of a woman whose thoughts and actions were controlled by insatiable lust and sexual desire. She begins as a wife and then progresses to a court lady-in-waiting, a concubine to a feudal lord, courtesan, priest’s mistress, brothel prostitute, and, finally a streetwalker. Though courtesans did not play a major role in ancient Japan, by the seventeenth century, the courtesan class was sanctioned by the government to the extent that official decrees created a separate district to enclose them and put up physical boundaries that mirrored the division between them and traditional prostitutes. According to Chesemore in her essay, Women of the Floating World, “as in all areas of Japanese life, attention was paid to the distinctions in the rank of the various inhabitants of this world, and clearly the courtesan reigned supreme” (Chesemore, 1990). Saikaku writes that, because of her beauty and talent, she had her choice of men, and “in the streets she walks with her head held high and does not step aside for anyone.” Far from the traditional Confucian gender roles, the amorous woman can afford to be haughty, as she was showered with gifts and other luxuries.

In The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro places Mr. Stevens’ stay at the Taylors’ house directly after Lord Darlington’s abrupt dismissal of two Jewish staff members, and he uses different tones and the repetition of key phrases in the two incidents to contrast the generosity, respect, and hospitality of the lower class with the racism, cruelty, and emotional detachment of the upper class nobles. Ishiguro especially contrasts the way the two classes treat each other with the courtesy of the lower class and the apathy of the upper class. Ishiguro uses a generally cold and distant tone while Lord Darlington is speaking to Stevens about firing the Jewish housemaids; however, he uses a warm and friendly tone when the Taylors and the rest of

A famous Japanese writer Ihara Saikaku, born in 1642, was a son of a wealthy merchant in Osaka. He had a wife and three kids, one of which was blind and in addition to taking care of his family, he learned to write haikai poetry and comics at a young age. Since his wife died at a young age, he became adventurous as “he traveled extensively writing about the various parts of the country” (Rollins, para.4). One of his first novels is called Koshoku Ichidai Otoko in 1682, which led to Saikaku becoming the first Japanese writer able to reflect the life of the modern city Japan and how he supported equality.

A sociological thought piece, Chris McKinney’s The Tattoo is bursting with toxic relationships. Amongst these, McKinney uses the strained kinship between Ken Hideyoshi and his father to partially explain how people fall into cycles of violent behaviour. To understand the richness of the text, violence will be characterised as the intentional or unintentional application of force, and/or power resulting in psychological, emotional and/or physical harm, whether it is for the perpetrator’s advantage or not. Thus, a wide definition is given to encompass the numerous acts of harm occurring throughout the novel. Ken’s father is a man instilled with traditional values and beliefs. Therefore, strength and fearlessness are expected to be in Ken to make him tough and prepared to face the world. The reader witnesses these notions take root and unfurl into his father’s ideas of the epitome of hegemonic masculinity. Consequently, this essay will analyse the connection between Ken Hideyoshi and his father as it progresses throughout the novel by looking at how socialisation, hegemonic masculinity and family violence lead impressionable people into deviant lifestyles.