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diff --git a/35511-h/35511-h.htm b/35511-h/35511-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3b8be92 --- /dev/null +++ b/35511-h/35511-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5229 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Working Women of Japan, by Sidney Lewis Gulick</title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +h1 { + margin-top: 7%; + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +h1.pg,h3.pg { + margin-top: 0%; + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +h2 { + margin-top: 4%; + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +/* paragraphs */ + +p { + margin-top: 3%; + margin-bottom: 3%; + text-align: justify; +} /* general paragraph */ + +p.h2 { + margin-top: 7%; + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; + font-size: 150%; + font-weight: bold; +} + +p.h2a { + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; + font-size: 150%; + font-weight: bold; +} + +p.cnobmargin { + text-align: center; + margin-bottom: .0%; +} /* centered no bottom margin */ + +p.cnomargins { + text-align: center; + margin-bottom: .0%; + margin-top: .0%; +} /* centered no bottom or top margin */ + +p.cnotmargin { + text-align: center; + margin-top: .0%; +} /* centered no top margin */ + +p.indent { + text-indent: 4%; +} /* indented paragraph */ + +p.cap:first-letter { float: left; clear: left; + margin: 2% 0% 0 0; + padding:0; + line-height: 1.8%; font-size: 250%; +} /* unindented with large first letter cap */ + +p.margin-left8 +{ + margin-left: 20%; +} /* text unindented with medium indentation of paragraph */ + +/* horizontal rules */ + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 8%; + margin-bottom: 8%; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +.hr2 +{ + width: 90%; + max-width: 90%; + color: #CCCCCC; + background-color: #FFFFFF; + border: none; + border-bottom: 6px double black; + margin: 8% auto; +} /* horizontal rule for chapter divisions */ + +/* tables */ + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +/* block quotes and notes */ +.blockquot { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +/* Formatting */ + +.center { + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; +} + +.right {text-align: right;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Links attributes */ + +a:link { color:#000000; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px dashed #808080;} + +a:visited { color:#25383C; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px dashed #808080;} + +a:hover { color:#008000; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px dashed #808080;} + +a:active { color:#000000; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px dashed #808080;} + +/* Images */ + +img { + padding: 6px; +} /* without border */ + +img.border{ + border: 1px solid black; + padding: 6px; +} /* with border */ + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ + +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px; background-color: #FFDDFF;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration:none; +} + +/* Other */ +span.ralign { + position: absolute; + right: 20%; + top: auto; +} + +.TOCRSC { + list-style-type:upper-roman; + margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + font-variant: small-caps; + color:black; +} + +.TOCU { + list-style-type:none; + margin-left: 10%; + color:black; +} + + +div.tnote { + background-color: #FFDDFF; + border-style: dotted; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + padding: 1%; + font-style: normal; + font-size: 75%; + text-align: justify; +} + + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, Working Women of Japan, by Sidney Lewis Gulick</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Working Women of Japan</p> +<p>Author: Sidney Lewis Gulick</p> +<p>Release Date: March 7, 2011 [eBook #35511]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKING WOMEN OF JAPAN***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3 class="pg">E-text prepared by Meredith Bach, Delphine Lettau, Ernest Schaal,<br /> + and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/ibookad.png" alt="LIBRARY +OF CHRISTIAN PROGRESS" title="LIBRARY +OF CHRISTIAN PROGRESS" /> +</div> + +<p class="center"><i>Volumes Issued</i></p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="indent">The Church a Community Force. <i>By Worth M. Tippy</i></p> +<p class="indent">The Church at the Center. <i>By Warren H. Wilson</i></p> +<p class="indent">The Making of a Country Parish. <i>By Harlow S. Mills</i></p> +<p class="indent">Working Women of Japan. <i>By Sidney L. Gulick</i></p> +<p class="indent">Social Evangelism. <i>By Harry F. Ward</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="center"><i>Cloth, 50 Cents, Prepaid</i></p> + +<p class="center">ADDITIONAL VOLUMES TO BE ISSUED</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="ifrontis" id="ifrontis"></a><img class="border" src="images/ifrontis.png" alt="A FARMER'S HOME" title="A FARMER'S HOME" /><br /> +<span class="caption">A FARMER'S HOME</span> +</div> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<h1>WORKING WOMEN<br /> +OF JAPAN</h1> + +<p class="indent"> </p> + +<p class="h2">BY<br /> +SIDNEY L. GULICK</p> + +<p class="center">Twenty-five years a missionary in Japan, Professor in<br /> +Doshisha University, Late Lecturer in the<br /> +Imperial University of Kyoto</p> + +<p class="center">Author of<br /> +<i>Growth of the Kingdom of God; Evolution of the Japanese;<br /> +The White Peril in the Far East; The American<br /> +Japanese Problem; The Fight for Peace</i></p> +<p class="indent"> </p> + +<p class="center">1915<br /> +Missionary Education Movement of the<br /> +United States and Canada<br /> +NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p class="center"> +COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY<br /> +MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT OF THE<br /> +UNITED STATES AND CANADA +</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p class="center"> +Dedicated<br /> +to<br /> +SHINJIRO OMOTO<br /> +in appreciation of more than a decade<br /> +of untiring service<br /> +for the<br /> +Working Women of Japan +</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p class="h2">Contents</p> + +<p class="margin-left8">CHAPTER <span class="ralign">PAGE</span></p> + +<ul class="TOCRSC"> +<li>Preface <span class="ralign"><a href="#PREFACE">ix</a></span></li> + +<li>Social Classes in Japan, Old and New <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></span></li> + +<li>Farmers' Wives and Daughters <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">8</a></span></li> + +<li>Domestic Industries in Farming Families <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">24</a></span></li> + +<li>Silk Workers <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">32</a></span></li> + +<li>Wives and Daughters of Artizans and Merchants <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">36</a></span></li> + +<li><i>Komori</i> (Baby-tenders) <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">42</a></span></li> + +<li>Household Domestics <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">48</a></span></li> + +<li>Hotel and Tea-house Girls <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">52</a></span></li> + +<li>Factory Girls and Women <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">61</a></span></li> + +<li>Geisha (<i>Hetæræ</i>) <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">87</a></span></li> + +<li><i>Shogi</i> (Licensed Prostitutes) <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">104</a></span></li> + +<li>Ameliorative Efforts <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">118</a></span></li> + +<li>The Matsuyama Working Girls' Home <span class="ralign"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">137</a></span></li> +</ul> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p class="h2">ILLUSTRATIONS</p> + +<p class="margin-left8">PAGE</p> + +<ul class="TOCU"> +<li><span class="smcap">A Farmer's Home</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#ifrontis"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></span></li> + +<li><span class="smcap">Separating the Wheat Heads from the Straw</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#i016">16</a></span></li> + +<li><span class="smcap">At the Loom</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#i016">16</a></span></li> + +<li><span class="smcap">A Family at Work in a Rice-Field</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#i028">28</a></span></li> + +<li><span class="smcap">Transplanting Young Rice Plants</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#i028">28</a></span></li> + +<li><span class="smcap">Spinning Cotton Thread for Weaving</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#i032">32</a></span></li> + +<li><span class="smcap">At Work in a Kitchen</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#i032">32</a></span></li> + +<li><span class="smcap">Carrying Fagots</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#i044">44</a></span></li> + +<li><span class="smcap">Baby-Tenders</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#i044">44</a></span></li> + +<li><span class="smcap">At Work in a Silk Factory</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#i082">82</a></span></li> + +<li><span class="smcap">O Hamayu (Geisha)</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#i092">92</a></span></li> + +<li><span class="smcap">Matsuyama Working Girls' Home</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#i156">156</a></span></li> + +<li><span class="smcap">Girls in the Matsuyama Home</span> <span class="ralign"><a href="#i156">156</a></span></li> +</ul> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg ix]</span></p> + +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> + +<p class="indent"><span class="smcap">Japan</span> is rapidly swinging into the current +of an industrial civilization imported from +the West. How is this movement modifying +her ancient civilization? And, especially, +what effect is it having on her homes +and on the character of her manhood and +womanhood? These are questions of profound +interest to students of national and +social evolution.</p> + +<p class="indent">While many works on Japan consider +these questions more or less fully, they do +so almost exclusively from the standpoint of +the effect on men. So far as is known, no +work studies the problem from the standpoint +of the effect on women, who, it may +be incidentally remarked, constitute one +half of the population.</p> + +<p class="indent">One book, indeed, that by Miss Alice M. +Bacon, on <i>Japanese Girls and Women</i>, describes +the homes, lives, and characteristics +<span class="pagenum">[Pg x]</span> +of Japanese women. This important work +should not be overlooked by any who wish +to know Japan thoroughly. Yet Miss Bacon's +study is largely confined to the higher and +upper middle classes, who, though important, +constitute but one section of the women +of Japan. To understand Japan it is also +needful to know the lives and characteristics +of the working classes. Especially important +in the eyes of those who study social +development is the transformation that is +taking place in the Japanese home because +of the influx of Occidental industrialism.</p> + +<p class="indent">The purpose of this book is to give some +information as to conditions prevailing +among working women, which conditions +have called for the establishment of institutions +whose specific aim is the amelioration +of the industrial and moral situation. Two +classes of workers have not been considered—school-teachers +and nurses.</p> + +<p class="indent">The reader will naturally ask what the +native religions have done to help women +meet the modern situation. The answer +<span class="pagenum">[Pg xi]</span> +is short; practically nothing. They are seriously +belated in every respect. For ages the +native religions have served by doctrine and +practise to hold women down rather than +to elevate them. The doctrine of the "triple +obedience" to father, to husband, and when +old to son, has had wide-reaching and disastrous +consequences. It has even been utilized +for the support of the brothel system. Popular +Buddhism, especially during the feudal +era, has emphasized the inherent sinfulness +of woman; some have even taught that her +lightest sins are worse than the heaviest sins +of man. The brothel system flourishes in +certain districts where Buddhism is most +strongly entrenched. Brothels abound in the +immediate vicinity of famous and popular +temples. I have yet to hear of a Buddhist +anti-brothel movement or a Buddhist rescue +home for prostitutes. Japanese philanthropy, +under the impulse of Buddhism, did indeed +start early and attain striking development +at the hands of Imperial and princely personages. +Men and women of lowly origin +<span class="pagenum">[Pg xii]</span> +also attained high rank in the annals of +Buddhist philanthropy. With the decay of +Buddhism in recent centuries, however, little +philanthropic activity has survived. With +the revival of Buddhism Buddhists have +again undertaken philanthropic work; they +have established orphan asylums, schools, ex-convict +homes, and various benevolent enterprises +for the poor, the old, and invalids; +but not yet do they seem to appreciate the +moral and industrial situation, or undertake +anything commensurate with their numbers +and resources. The conception of private +enterprise for the amelioration of industrial +difficulties and moral need is still the almost +exclusive possession of Christians.</p> + +<p class="indent">The closing chapter describes one institution +in which the Christian ideal is applied +to the moral and industrial situation +in one small town. It serves as an illustration +of what is being done by Christians +in other places and along many other lines +as well. Christianity is being accepted in +Japan, not so much because of its doctrine, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg xiii]</span> +as because of its practical methods of inspiring +and uplifting manhood and womanhood. +While the purpose of this book is, +as stated, to describe the industrial condition +and the characteristics of Japanese working +women, back of this purpose is the desire +to show how the Christian gospel, when +concretely expressed, takes hold of Japanese +working women in exactly these conditions +and becomes to them "the power of God +unto salvation."</p> + +<p class="indent">The problems of life are substantially the +same the world around, for human nature +is one; and the heart with its needs, desires, +temptations, defeats, and victories is essentially +the same, East or West. The problems +created by industrialism do not differ, +whether in Germany, England, and America +or in Japan and China. And their fundamental +solution likewise is the same.</p> + +<p class="indent">Let not the reader assume that the discussions +of this volume give adequate acquaintance +with the working women of +Japan. It deals with only a few specific +<span class="pagenum">[Pg xiv]</span> +classes and inadequately even with them. +A more comprehensive treatment would +doubtless be enlightening. Limitations, however, +of time and space forbid a more adequate +discussion.</p> + +<p class="indent">And let the reader be wary of generalizing +certain criticisms herein made and applying +them universally to all classes of women. +Many years of life in Japan have led the +writer to a high estimation of the character +as well as the culture of Japanese women.</p> + +<p class="indent">Especial thanks are due to Colonel Yamamuro +for valued criticisms and suggestions +in the preparation of this work. The responsibility, +however, for its statements rests +upon the writer. The limitations of this +book none can feel more than he. +</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 1]</span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<p class="h2a">SOCIAL CLASSES IN JAPAN, OLD AND NEW</p> + +<p class="cap">IN old Japan, next to the Imperial family +and court nobles, came the feudal lords +(<i>Daimio</i>), upheld by the warrior class +(<i>Samurai</i>), below whom in turn were ranked +the three chief working classes,—farmers, +artizans, and tradesmen. These three classes +produced and distributed the nation's wealth +and paid taxes to their respective feudal lords +by whom the warriors were supported. Below +all were day laborers and palanquin +bearers,—in those days a large and important +though a despised class, for they lived entirely +by bare, brute strength, lacking all +special skill. Still lower were the <i>eta</i> or +pariah class, excluded from towns and villages, +except when they entered to do the +foulest work, such as digging the graves +of criminals and the slaughtering of animals, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 2]</span> +and curing their skins. And lowest of all +were <i>hi-nin</i>, literally translated "non-humans." +These were beggars and criminals, +who would not or could not work. +The name, popularly given, well indicates +how they were regarded.</p> + +<p class="indent">With the fall of the feudal system, in the +early seventies, society was reorganized. +Those above the Samurai were divided in +1886 into five grades, not counting the Imperial +princes, namely: prince, marquis, +count, viscount, and baron. These constitute +to-day the hereditary peers of Japan, and +possess considerable wealth and, of course, +overwhelming prestige.</p> + +<p class="indent">They numbered, in 1903, 1,784 families. +Besides the 1,784 heads of these families, +there were 1,786 male and 2,485 female members +of these families of rank. The number +of these peers is constantly being increased +by Imperial favor, the conferring of rank +being the customary method of rewarding +distinguished service. According to the +<i>Japan Year Book</i> for 1914, the number of +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 3]</span> +peers in 1911 was 919, there being 17 princes, +37 marquises, 101 counts, 378 viscounts, and +386 barons. Promotion from one rank to +another causes constant change in the numbers +of the various ranks.</p> + +<p class="indent">The <i>Samurai</i>, deprived of their swords and +military privileges, were given the name +<i>shizoku</i> (Samurai families) and were paid +off in lump sums, thereafter being thrown +on their own resources. There are 439,154 +shizoku families, numbering altogether +2,169,018 individuals. The remaining classes +were designated as <i>heimin</i> (common people). +Statistics show that they number 8,471,610 +families, totaling 44,558,025 individuals. +The eta were elevated, hence popularly +called <i>shin-heimin</i> (new common people) +and allowed to live anywhere and take up +any desirable calling. The hi-nin also were +classed along with the rest of humankind. +As a matter of fact, the eta and hi-nin were +but a small fringe of the whole population, +the descendants of the former being now estimated +at something less than one million, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 4]</span> +and those of the latter amounting to about +35,000.</p> + +<p class="indent">With the national reorganization it was +inevitable that the new executive offices +from the highest to the lowest should be +given to men of experience. At first, therefore, +the reorganization amounted to little +more than a great shuffle of names and titles. +Peers took the highest governmental positions, +while Samurai and their sons as a rule +filled the lower posts. Many Samurai, however, +received no appointments and had to +go to work. In time, as education has progressed, +sons of farmers and merchants have +become qualified and have been appointed +to government offices. The new departments, +such as the educational, the postal and telegraph +offices, the railroads, and especially +the army and navy, call for large numbers +of efficient men. These posts are filled almost +entirely on the basis of fitness. While +ancestry is not entirely ignored in the making +of appointments, nevertheless old class +distinctions are gradually being obliterated.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 5]</span> +The fortunes of the women have naturally +followed those of the men. All families that +lost their hereditary income had to go to +work; this was true chiefly of the Samurai. +Where the men were fortunate, the women +could maintain the old customs, limiting +themselves to their familiar domestic work, +with a servant or two to help, but tens of +thousands of Samurai families found themselves +reduced to the direst poverty; women +having generations of genteel ancestry were +forced to enter the ranks of the workers.</p> + +<p class="indent">Let us define what we mean by a working +woman. Women whose husbands or parents +provide the support of the family are +not to be included in this term. These +women may, and indeed doubtless do, labor +abundantly and fruitfully in the home; their +time is fully occupied. Probably no working +women toil more diligently or for longer +hours than do these wives and mothers in +hundreds of thousands of homes, in most +of which there are no servants. All the +cooking, sewing, and housecleaning is done +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 6]</span> +by them, so that they are indeed workers. +But they are not "working women." They +are the true gentlewomen of Japan, whose +culture, graces, and charms are not easily +described.</p> + +<p class="indent">By "working women" we mean only those +women who, in addition to the regular duties +of the home, must share in the labor +of earning the daily bread. In Japan the +number of such is exceptionally large, if +compared with that of some countries of +the West. They may be divided into eleven +classes, according to the nature of their occupations, +namely: school-teachers, nurses, +clerks and office girls, farmers, home industrial +workers, factory hands, domestics, baby-tenders, +hotel and tea-house girls, geisha, +and prostitutes. Omitting the teachers and +nurses, these are the classes whose conditions, +numbers, education, and character we +are now to study. Taken as a whole we do +not hesitate to say that the working women +of Japan, while probably lower in point of +moral and physical energy and personal initiative +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 7]</span> +than corresponding classes of the +West, are not inferior to them in point of +personal culture. And if civilization is +defined, as it should be, in terms of personal +culture rather than in those of mechanical +contrivances and improvements, then +Japan will surely take her place among the +highly civilized nations of the world. +</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 8]</span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<p class="h2a">FARMERS' WIVES AND DAUGHTERS</p> + +<p class="cap">JAPAN has three leading wealth-earning +occupations: agriculture, sericulture, and +factory work. In each of these women take +an important part. In the cultivation of the +soil farmers' wives and daughters share +equally with men the toil of planting and +reaping the crops. For instance, in the cultivation +of rice, the most important and the +hardest work of the farmer, it is often the +women who plant it spear by spear in regular +rows, and it is they who "puddle" the +paddy-fields with their hands four or five +times in the course of the season. In some +districts, however, men and women do this +work together. The toil and the weariness +involved cannot be appreciated by one who +has not actually shared it. Fancy, if you +can, the fatigue of standing more than ankle +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 9]</span> +deep in mud, stooping all day long as you +set out the tiny rice plants in regular lines! +And at short intervals of a few days each you +must repeatedly puddle the whole paddy-field: +that is, stir up the mud with your +hands in order to destroy the sprouting +weeds and prevent the soil from caking and +hardening around the tender rice roots, preventing +their best growth. And remember +that you must do all this regardless of the +broiling summer sun, or the pelting rain, for +the planting must be done at exactly the right +time, and the successive puddlings must follow +in due order. So severe is the strain +that, after the planting and each puddling, +the whole village takes a rest. My gardener, +an ex-farmer, speaking of those summer days +of toil in the rice-fields, expatiates on the +extreme fatigue and the joy of the rest days, +and as women take the brunt of the stooping-work, +theirs is the lion's share of the weariness. +He says that, during the rice-planting +season, the women are so important that +those days are called the "women's daimio +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 10]</span> +days," and adds that we must not forget +how during that time the regular work of +the women must also go on, for they must +cook the food and care for the children. For +this, indeed, young girls and grandmothers +are pressed into service as far as possible, +but the responsibility and care rest nevertheless +on the wives and mothers.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="i016" id="i016"></a> +<img class="border" src="images/i016.png" alt="SEPARATING THE WHEAT HEADS FROM THE STRAW +AT THE LOOM" title="SEPARATING THE WHEAT HEADS FROM THE STRAW +AT THE LOOM" /><br /> +<span class="caption">SEPARATING THE WHEAT HEADS FROM THE STRAW<br /> +AT THE LOOM</span> +</div> + +<p class="indent">Also in the harvesting and threshing of +the rice, barley, wheat, and millet, women +take an important part. But it is needless +to enter into details. Enough to say that, +in general farming, women share with husbands +and brothers the heavy toil and fatigue +of agriculture. It should be added that +this is not because men shirk heavy work, +but only because Japanese agriculture is so +largely done by hand that every possible +worker is pressed into service. As a fact, +men do the heaviest part of the work, preparing +the soil for the successive crops and +carrying the heavy loads.</p> + +<p class="indent">So varied are the modes of agriculture in +different parts of Japan that general statements +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 11]</span> +are dangerous, but I know that in some +districts the weariness and drudgery of rice-planting +and puddling are relieved by the +singing or chanting of old folk-songs. The +chorus leader intones a descriptive phrase, +oftentimes improvising his own story, and is +answered with a refrain from a dozen or a +score of women. A story slowly evolves as +the hours pass, and thus the work is lightened +and the time beguiled.</p> + +<p class="indent">In spite of fatigue, rice-planting has its +charm for those who have been reared in +farmers' homes. It is a time of hope, of +social intercourse, of rest days and festivals, +so that even the drudgery of the farmer has +its compensations. Miss Denton, of the +Doshisha Girls' School, says it is interesting +to note how country girls get restless at rice-planting +time, and for one reason or another +usually succeed in getting excused from +school work, to be off to the homes and share +in the toils and joys of the season.</p> + +<p class="indent">Tea-picking is probably the pleasantest +form of toil undertaken by farmers' wives +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 12]</span> +and daughters. The labor comes in the +spring and early summer, when the temperature +is delightful. It gives opportunity for +social intercourse that is highly appreciated. +Rice-planting and tea-picking constitute the +two extremes of laborious and delightful toil +engaged in by Japan's agricultural women.</p> + +<p class="indent">How many are the women engaged in +agriculture? The <i>Japan Year Book</i> for +1914 says that in 1912 there were 5,438,051 +farming families, constituting about 58 per +cent. of the entire nation. According to the +<i>Résumé Statistique</i> for 1914 the total number +of females in Japan proper, in 1908, was +24,542,383. Omitting those under fifteen +years of age, 8,364,000, and those over sixty +years of age, 2,216,000, we have 13,962,000 as +the number of able-bodied women, of whom +58 per cent., or 8,077,000, are the farmers' +wives and daughters.</p> + +<p class="indent">In regard to their education it may be said +that until the most recent times they have +had practically none. In recent decades, +however, farmers' children have begun to go +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 13]</span> +to school. Until 1908 the elementary course +(compulsory) covered four years, but the +results were so poor that the period has now +been extended to six. Four years' schooling +does not give ability to read easily even a +simple daily paper, much less an ordinary +book. Our cook, an intelligent and able +farming woman, when she came to us twelve +years ago, could not read even the simplest +Japanese characters, and thinks that at present +relatively few farmers' wives have enough +education to read papers or write letters. +Whether or not six years' schooling will give +this ability remains to be seen. It is safe +to say that to-day Japanese adult farming +women, as a whole, lack book education and +have received little, if any, systematic training. +They are accordingly largely controlled +by tradition, and it goes without saying +that their level of mental, moral, and +spiritual life is low. The Shinto and Buddhist +religions, as they exist among the farmers, +are largely lacking in ethical content; +they are rituals rather for burying the dead +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 14]</span> +and through the use of charms and magic +rites they promise future happiness and present, +temporal blessings. Priests, as a rule, +do not seek to cultivate the minds of the +people, to strengthen their wills for moral +life, or to elevate their personalities.</p> + +<p class="indent">Yet it must not be inferred that farming +women are without mental ability or common +sense. They are indeed not inferior +to the men with whom they share the burdens +and toil of life. As a rule they are a +sturdy, intelligent, self-respecting folk, having +ideals of conduct which include cleanliness, +gentleness, and politeness, and in comparison +with the peasant classes of Europe +are much to be commended. The women not +seldom appear to better advantage than their +husbands in point of intelligence and common +sense, which I have thought might be +due to the greater variety of their daily +occupation.</p> + +<p class="indent">In her excellent work on <i>Japanese Girls +and Women</i> Miss Bacon writing of this class +says: "There seems no doubt at all that +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 15]</span> +among the peasantry of Japan one finds the +women who have the most freedom and independence. +Among this class, all through +the country, the women, though hard-worked +and possessing few comforts, lead lives of +intelligent, independent labor, and have in +the family positions as respected and honored +as those held by women in America. +Their lives are fuller and happier than those +of the women of the higher classes, for they +are themselves breadwinners, contributing +an important part of the family revenue, and +are obeyed and respected accordingly. The +Japanese lady, at her marriage, lays aside +her independent existence to become the +subordinate and servant of her husband and +parents-in-law, and her face, as the years +go by, shows how much she has given up, +how completely she has sacrificed herself +to those about her. The Japanese peasant +woman, when she marries, works side by +side with her husband, finds life full of +interest outside of the simple household work, +and, as the years go by, her face shows more +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 16]</span> +individuality, more pleasure in life, less suffering +and disappointment than that of her +wealthier and less hard-working sister."<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_1_1"> +<span class="label">[1]</span></a> +Pp. 260, 261.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">The home of the average tenant farmer is +a small, single-storied, thatch-roofed building, +having usually two or three small rooms +separated by sliding paper screens, and a +kitchen with earthen floor. The smoke escapes +as it can, passing through the roof or +pervading the whole house. No privacy of +any kind is possible, nor is any need of it +felt. The house is free of furniture, save +for one or two chests of drawers. A closet +or two affords a place for the <i>futon</i> (bedding) +by day, and for the little extra clothing. +Of course no books are found in such +homes. The main room often has a board +floor, with a fire box in the center, over +which is a kettle suspended from the roof. +Here the family eat, and friends gather to +chat after the day's work is over. The food +is of the poorest grade in the empire, though +usually adequate in amount. Of course +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 17]</span> +there are well-to-do farmers, not a few, who +own their farms, employ fellow farmers, and +cultivate large areas. Their homes are larger +and better, but still in arrangement and structure +they are practically the same. Their +sons attend the middle schools and books and +the daily paper are familiar objects.</p> + +<p class="indent">The economic condition of the farming +class may be judged from the fact that +the land cultivated by each family averages +three and one-third acres, which must provide +food and clothing for five or six persons. +The great majority of farmers live +in little, compact villages, having populations +ranging from 500 to 5,000. There are +12,706 villages under 5,000, and only 1,311 +villages, towns, and cities over 5,000. These +facts suggest the nature of the social conditions +of the farming population. They +live under the severest limitations of every +kind, physical, intellectual, and spiritual. +Yet during the recent era of Meiji (enlightened +rule), from 1868 to 1912, the economic +condition of the agricultural classes made +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 18]</span> +great improvement. My gardener, a man of +sixty, who remembers Japan before the reformation, +1868, says that farmers now live +in luxury. The taxes they pay to-day are +slight compared with what was required of +them in former times, when, in his section, +farmers had to give to their Daimio about +five twelfth of the rice crop, while taxes +to-day require but one fifth or less. He +adds that families owning three and one third +acres of land are well-to-do, seeing many +families have to make their entire living from +only one acre!</p> + +<p class="indent">Of course, farmers, without education or +social demands, require little beyond the +simplest food and shelter. The clothing +needed by their families is the cheapest cotton, +with cotton wadding added in the winter +for warmth. The heat of the summer renders +much clothing a burden. A farmer is +adequately dressed for the field or his own +home if he has on his loin-cloth. His wife +or grown-up daughter, when in the house +with only the immediate members of the family +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 19]</span> +or most intimate acquaintances present, +is satisfied with the <i>koshimaki</i>—a strip of +cloth some two feet wide tied around the +waist and covering the lower part of the +body. But on the street both men and women +conform to the national customs and wear the +kimono.</p> + +<p class="indent">The Japanese household and bathing customs +have served to prevent the development +of that particular type of modesty characteristic +of Western lands. It is difficult for +Occidentals to understand this feature of +Japanese civilization, but such an understanding +is essential if one would do justice +to the moral life of this people. We may +not apply to them Occidental standards in +matters of modesty or dress. They have +standards of their own, to understand and +appreciate which requires no little study.</p> + +<p class="indent">At this point, I venture a second quotation +from Miss Bacon, for she has studied +carefully this subject, which all foreigners +seeking to estimate the nature of Japanese +civilization and moral character should not +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 20]</span> +fail to master. "As one travels," she writes, +"through rural Japan in summer, and sees +the half-naked men, women, and children +that pour out from every village on one's +route, surrounding the <i>kuruma</i> (wheeled +vehicle) at every stopping place, one sometimes +wonders whether there is in the country +any real civilization, whether these half-naked +people are not more savage than civilized. +But when one finds everywhere good +hotels, scrupulous cleanliness in all the appointments +of toilet and table, polite and +careful servants, honest and willing performance +of labor bargained for, together with +the gentlest and pleasantest of manners, one +is forced to reconsider the judgment formed +only upon one peculiarity of the national +life, and to conclude that there is certainly a +high type of civilization in Japan, though +differing in many particulars from our own. +A careful study of Japanese ideas of decency, +and frequent conversation with refined and +intelligent Japanese ladies upon this subject, +has led me to the following conclusion. +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 21]</span> +According to the Japanese standard, any +exposure of the person that is merely incidental +to health, cleanliness, or convenience +in doing necessary work is perfectly modest +and allowable; but an exposure, no matter +how slight, that is simply for show, is in +the highest degree indelicate. In illustration +of the first part of this conclusion, I would +refer to the open bath-houses, the naked laborers, +the exposure of the lower limbs in wet +weather by the turning up of the kimono, the +entirely nude condition of the country children +in summer, and the very slight clothing +that some adults regard as necessary +about the house or in the country during +the hot season. In illustration of the last +point, I would mention the horror with +which many Japanese ladies regard that style +of foreign dress which, while covering the +figure completely, reveals every detail of the +form above the waist, and, as we say, shows +off to advantage a pretty figure. To the +Japanese mind, it is immodest to want to +show off a pretty figure. As for the ballroom +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 22]</span> +costumes, where neck and arms are +frequently exposed to the gaze of multitudes, +the Japanese woman who would with entire +composure take her bath in the presence +of others, would be in an agony of shame at +the thought of appearing in public in a costume +so indecent as that worn by many respectable +American and European women."<a name="FNanchor_1_2" id="FNanchor_1_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_2" id="Footnote_1_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_2"><span class="label">[2]</span> +</a> <i>Japanese Girls and Women</i>, 257-260.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">This completes our study of the homes and +characteristics of five eighths of Japan. Here +the brawn of the nation is reared. Hence +come the sturdy, docile, patient, and courageous +soldiers. Here are raised boys and +girls by the hundreds of thousands who must +at an early age begin to earn a living. This +is the hunting-ground of those who seek for +builders of railroads, factory hands, domestics, +hotel girls, baby-tenders, and occasionally +geishas, concubines, and prostitutes. +Considering the severe economic conditions +under which Japan's agricultural classes live, +who can fail to admire their courage and +grit, their personal culture, their even temper +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 23]</span> +and cheerful faces, their innate habits of +courtesy and good breeding, their mutual +patience and forbearance, and their simple +artistic tastes and pleasures! Do they not +compare well with the peasant classes of any +other nation?</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 24]</span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<p class="h2a">DOMESTIC INDUSTRIES IN FARMING FAMILIES</p> + +<p class="cap">BEFORE passing on to study the various +classes of workers constantly recruited +in no small numbers from the homes of +farmers, we should first consider the high +development of industrial occupations within +these homes themselves. To appreciate both +the opportunity and the need for this, we +turn to the official statistics of marriage and +education. Until 1908 compulsory education, +as has been already stated, covered four +years from the age of six to ten. According +to governmental statistics (1912) 98.8 per +cent. of the boys and 97.5 per cent. of the +girls were actually fulfilling the requirement. +This percentage seems high to American +statistical students, but investigations show +that, while Japanese rules for the attendance +of pupils and methods of counting the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 25]</span> +same differ in some respects from those that +prevail in the United States and Canada, yet, +as a matter of fact, in school attendance +Japan compares well with other lands. It +should be remembered, however, that the +nature of the Japanese written language is +such that even six years of elementary education +is probably not equal to four years +of similar schooling in Western lands. +American children, at the close of their elementary +education, possess a mastery of the +tools of civilization and a degree of general +intelligence considerably in advance of +Japanese children who have enjoyed the same +number of years of school life. As we have +already seen, this amount of compulsory education +is insufficient to give children ability +to read and write with freedom.</p> + +<p class="indent">The question for us however is as to the +number of girls above school age and still +unmarried who, because of family poverty, +must find some form of wage-earning occupation. +Turning to the vital statistics provided +by the government (1914), we find +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 26]</span> +that in 1908 there were 2,496,142 girls between +ten and fifteen years of age, and 2,180,408 +young women between fifteen and twenty +years of age. But how many of these are +married? Again relying on government statistics +for the same year, we learn that only +199 girls under fifteen had been married, +whereas 193,978 had married under twenty +years of age. In view of the fact that 709,021 +marriages took place between twenty +and twenty-five years of age, it is altogether +probable that, of those married under twenty, +a large majority were married in their nineteenth +year. Remembering that many do +not marry until the twenty-third or twenty-fourth +year, we can confidently assert that +there are over 4,000,000 unmarried girls and +young women between the ages of ten and +twenty-five; and, as 58 per cent. belong to +the farming class, we have in the vicinity of +3,000,000 girls who belong to families of +such economic state that they, no less than +the boys, must contrive in some way to earn +a share at least of their own living. Girls of +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 27]</span> +fifteen and upwards in farmers' families help +their fathers in the lighter forms of agriculture, +planting the rice, as we have seen, +and reaping and threshing the crops. But +the small acreage to each family barely provides +work enough for the man, much less +for the half-grown boys and girls, hence the +need of finding something besides the agricultural +work for the growing family. The +younger children (under fifteen) are pressed +into lighter farming, and such household duties +as are within their strength and ability, +as cooking and caring for the still younger +children; while the older children and the +mother help the father, or take up some domestic +industry, such as the rearing of silkworms, +reeling of silk, spinning of thread, +and weaving of silk and cotton fabrics, or +similar work which can be easily and profitably +done in the house in spare hours. Hence +has come the widespread practise of household +industries, by which the female members +supplement the family income. There +were, in 1907, 1,628,000 members of farming +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 28]</span> +families who were earning a part of +their living in this way. This condition has +prevailed for many generations, and is the +secret of the wonderful development of the +arts and home industries in Japan.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="i028" id="i028"></a> +<img class="border" src="images/i028.png" alt="A FAMILY AT WORK IN A RICE-FIELD +TRANSPLANTING YOUNG RICE PLANTS" title="A FAMILY AT WORK IN A RICE-FIELD +TRANSPLANTING YOUNG RICE PLANTS" /><br /> +<span class="caption">A FAMILY AT WORK IN A RICE-FIELD<br /> +TRANSPLANTING YOUNG RICE PLANTS</span> +</div> + +<p class="indent">From of old Japan's industrial system, like +that of other lands, has been domestic—carried +on in the house. There have been +families and gilds which have made their +entire livelihood by these manual industries. +There have also been hundreds of thousands +of farming families which have supplemented +their meager income from their farms by +taking up some of these domestic industries, +and those who have displayed or developed +special aptitude for such work have naturally +drifted into this wholly industrial life. +This has doubtless been the origin of industrial +families and gilds. But the point to be +especially noted is that this wide development +of domestic industries is due to the +skill and diligence of Japan's working +<i>women</i>. Japanese men have produced the +food by which the nation has been fed; her +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 29]</span> +women have produced industries by which +the nation has been clothed, as indeed is the +case of all great civilized nations. Their +long-continued drill, from generation to generation, +in home industrial occupations, has +produced a high degree of manual dexterity; +the eye and hand instinctively move accurately +and rapidly in the work, and the result +is that Japan's leading industries to this +day are dependent on female labor. "Sericulture, +silk-reeling, cotton spinning, <i>habutae</i> +(a particular variety of silk fabric), and +other woven goods, tea-picking, straw and +chip braids, etc., are practically dependent on +female labor," says the <i>Japanese Year Book</i> +for 1910. "But an industry depending on +female labor has this peculiarity, namely: +it is not compatible with the factory system, +but thrives best on the domestic plan. Generally +speaking it is in industries which admit +of being carried on independently at separate +homes by housewives and mothers that +skilled female labor is seen to the best advantage. +As operatives of family industries +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 30]</span> +Japanese women show an efficiency rarely +reached by their foreign sisters." But in this +connection we may remind ourselves of the +great skill and industry of our grandmothers +and preceding generations of women, who +lived before the great factory system made +their home industrial occupations unnecessary. +Japan is merely several decades behind +Western lands in her industrial development.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="i032" id="i032"></a> +<img class="border" src="images/i032.png" alt="SPINNING COTTON THREAD FOR WEAVING +AT WORK IN A KITCHEN" title="SPINNING COTTON THREAD FOR WEAVING +AT WORK IN A KITCHEN" /><br /> +<span class="caption">SPINNING COTTON THREAD FOR WEAVING<br /> +AT WORK IN A KITCHEN</span> +</div> + +<p class="indent">We are to understand, then, that a large +portion of these 3,000,000 unmarried Japanese +women and girls are engaged more or +less continuously in some sort of industrial +work, either in their own homes or in small +groups in their immediate vicinity. The +introduction into Japan of Occidental mechanical +civilization, with its great machinery +run by steam power, and the great +factory system, taking girls and young women +away from their home industries, home restraints, +and home training, is producing +mighty changes in Japan's traditional civilization. +The real consequences of these new +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 31]</span> +modes of life and labor are still little appreciated. +There is taking place a rapid readjustment +of population, which indeed is easily +seen, but the disastrous results to the +mental, moral, and religious life of the people, +even to the maintenance of the ideals +and standards that controlled the older arts +and industries, are yet little realized, for the +great changes have only begun within the +past two decades. A generation or two must +pass before we can see clearly what it all +really means. Meanwhile it is for those who +foresee coming evils to sound aloud the call, +and, as prophets, to do that which in them +lies to meet the threatened disasters, and +turn new conditions into blessings. Japan +has the advantage of a century of European +experience from which to learn wisdom. It +is to be hoped that she will avoid many +of the perils and evils into which the West +has fallen, but the signs of the times are +not altogether reassuring. There are, as we +shall see later on, ominous clouds on Japan's +industrial horizon. +</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 32]</span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<p class="h2a">SILK WORKERS</p> + +<p class="cap">THE chief wealth-earning domestic industry +carried on by farmers' wives +and daughters is the rearing of silkworms +and the reeling, spinning, and weaving of +the silk. Japan supplies about 28 per cent. +of the total silk of the world and 60 per cent. +of that used in the United States. The +value of the silk exported in 1913 was +$63,000,000. Women are the chief workers, +contributing 90 per cent. of the labor. Here +again the toil is taxing beyond belief.</p> + +<p class="indent">The brunt of the work consists first in +filling the mouths of the worms, which must +be fed at regular intervals night and day +for about three weeks, during the last few +days of which they eat continuously and voraciously. +It has been found that the rearing +of worms can best be done only on a +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 33]</span> +small scale, where minute attention can be +given to each tray, almost to each worm. +This means that worms are reared in the +homes of the people, rather than in large +establishments. During the silkworm season +everything else must give way; the house +is filled with trays of ravenous worms; rest, +recreation, and sleep, for old and young alike, +are neglected in order that the precious +worms may get their fill. Men and boys +bring in the mulberry leaves from the hills +and fields, while women and girls strip the +branches, chop the leaves and feed them to +the magic creatures that transform worthless +green leaves into costly silk. The leaves must +not be damp, nor old, and every condition +of weather and temperature must be watched +with the closest care. Otherwise there is +loss. This heavy work comes twice each +year, in some places three times. That is +to say, there are two or three crops of silkworms.</p> + +<p class="indent">Then, after the cocoons have been formed, +comes the reeling off of the silk, as much +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 34]</span> +as possible before the sleeping grub wakens +and eats its way out, destroying the silk +it has spun for its nest. So again there is +pressure, and again women do the work—I +never heard of a man reeling silk. It takes +the deft hand and quick eye of a girl to +catch the thread in the boiling water, connect +it with the wheel, and unroll without +breaking the almost invisible thread so wonderfully +wound up by the worm. This work +is often done in the homes, but increasingly +now, because more profitably, in factories +where the girls can be closely watched by +inspectors and paid according to the skill +and the amount of their work.</p> + +<p class="indent">The number of families engaged exclusively +in raising silk in the nine principal +districts is reported (1911) at 370,332. In +addition however there are many tens of +thousands of families which make this only +a secondary business. Many merely raise +the worms, selling the cocoons to the factories, +and in such cases the work and strain +are over in a few weeks. The value of the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 35]</span> +cocoons raised in 1911 was estimated at +$89,001,988, which gives some idea of the +great importance of this industry to the +families engaged in it. But it must be remembered +that the industry demands heavy +expense and the most taxing of toil while it +lasts.</p> + +<p class="indent">As this industry is carried on chiefly in +the homes, the personal conditions of the +workers are relatively favorable, as favorable +as those of the homes. This requires +therefore no special consideration. +</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 36]</span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<p class="h2a">WIVES AND DAUGHTERS OF ARTIZANS AND MERCHANTS</p> + +<p class="cap">IN old Japan, among the workers the highest +rank was held by farmers, next by +artizans, and last came the merchants, for +they were regarded as resorting to means +somewhat degrading for making their living. +In fact they were not producers of +positive wealth, but lived by cunning wit on +what others had made.</p> + +<p class="indent">Artizans, such as carpenters, masons, and +professional weavers, as well as merchants, +naturally live in towns and cities. The first +work of the wife is of course in the home, +but when the husband's work is of such a +nature that it is possible the wife naturally +helps him. Merchants' wives and daughters, +for instance, keep the shops while the husbands +peddle the goods or secure fresh supplies. +Weavers' wives and daughters aid +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 37]</span> +directly, the whole family sharing in the +work and acquiring skill. Carpentry and +masonry however are trades in which women +take no part, so women of these classes also +seek some suitable domestic industry. In +the smaller towns especially, in recent years, +rearing of silkworms is a common occupation +for all classes of moderate means, but +in the cities it is impossible to secure the +necessary mulberry leaves, so straw braiding, +the making of fans, embroidery, and similar +occupations are here sought; and there are +produced the thousand and one articles used +by the middle and wealthy classes and for +export. As a means of increasing the income +the wives of artizans often open their front +rooms as shops and carry on a small retail +business.</p> + +<p class="indent">In times of prosperity these classes flourish +and grow luxurious, but hard times occasionally +come, when they are reduced to +dire poverty and even to the verge of starvation; +for, living away from the land, they +are more dependent than farmers on the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 38]</span> +continuous success of their labors and secondary +industries.</p> + +<p class="indent">The school education of the women of +these classes is in general the same as that +of the farming class. But inasmuch as they +live, for the most part, in the larger villages, +towns, and cities, they enjoy many advantages +over their farming sisters. Along with +their husbands they have more need of ability +to read and write, and, becoming quick-witted +through the stimulus of city life, they +learn more easily. In recent decades, especially +the last, many of their children, naturally +those of the more successful families, +are pressing up into the higher schools of +learning. As a body, therefore, from the +standpoint of mere intellect and wit, this +class surpasses the farming class. From the +standpoint however of moral character, of +conjugal fidelity, of industry, and of trustworthiness +in all relations the farming class, +along with the shizoku, surpasses all others, +and probably even the peers themselves. But +in these higher classes we must distinguish +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 39]</span> +between the men and the women; for while +the wives are, as a rule, beyond praise in +the matter of conjugal fidelity, the same may +not be said of the husbands.</p> + +<p class="indent">Among the many classes of working +women named on a previous page are the +"clerks." This is a new feature of Japanese +life worthy of note, although the class is still +small. Under this name we include ticket +sellers in railway stations, assistant barbers, +and saleswomen and shopgirls. Members of +this class have of course enjoyed a relatively +large amount of education, and are therefore +above the average in general intelligence and +ability. These girls are recruited from the +families of city artizans and merchants.</p> + +<p class="indent">The descendants of palanquin bearers, day +laborers, eta, and hi-nin form to-day the +lowest stratum of society, dwelling on the +outskirts of large cities, in wretchedness, +filth, and poverty, getting their living from +day to day and breeding criminals, geisha, +and prostitutes. The stone-breakers, gravel +gatherers, coolies, and most irregular of city +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 40]</span> +day laborers come from this class. Many of +these men have illustrious pedigrees. Some +fell to this estate through wanton lust and +reckless expenditure of inherited wealth; +some are descendants of disinherited sons; +the ancestors of some have met political +reverses and found refuge and safety only +among the "non-humans," where they could +live unrecognized and unknown. Thus all +grades of blood course through the veins of +this, the lowest class in Japan. The wives +and daughters of these men share their fate +and fortune, living from hand to mouth. +Their life is so low and uncertain that it +is absurd to speak of secondary occupations—they +lack even a primary occupation; and +their homes, which constitute the slums of +the cities, are no places in which to carry +on any domestic industry.</p> + +<p class="indent">With the coming to Japan however of +modern industrialism and the building of +large factories in or near the cities, the wives +and daughters of this class have opportunity +for regular work, earning enough and more +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 41]</span> +than enough to support themselves while actually +at work. But when attacked by laziness, +fickleness, or disease, they easily slump +back into the same economic pit. From +this lowest class comes one of the serious +dangers threatening the better life of modern +Japan. The insufficiency of these laborers, +their unreliable character, and the +inferior quality of their work, have forced +the factories to search elsewhere for hands. +These they have found in the relatively +workless, but industrious and comparatively +moral farming class. These farmers' girls +have been brought to the cities and thrown +into intimate relations with the lowest, most +dissolute, despised, and really despicable +classes, and the results have naturally been +disastrous in many ways, as we shall see in +a later chapter. +</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 42]</span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<p class="h2a"><i>KOMORI</i> (BABY-TENDERS)</p> + +<p class="cap">THE great poverty of the majority of the +people renders necessary, as already +noted, not only the utmost economy in the +home, but also a high degree of industry, +and the beginning of productive labor at +an early age. As soon as the child has completed +the elementary education, and, in cases +of exceptional poverty, even before that, he +or she must begin to do something of value +and earn a living, at least in part. In the +case of farming families, younger children +care for the youngest and share in the +household duties, thus relieving the mother +and elder children, enabling them to aid +the husband and father in the field. But the +positive agricultural or industrial work which +girls of from ten to fifteen can do is insignificant, +yet they eat as much as a grown +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 43]</span> +person, and hence comes the search for suitable +openings for such workers. This is +found for many of the younger girls in the +homes of the middle and upper classes, where +they go as <i>komori</i> (baby-tenders).</p> + +<p class="indent">Girls even as young as ten leave their +homes and go out to service. They receive +food and lodging, in some cases a garment +in summer and one in winter, and sometimes +in addition a small cash stipend. A komori +thus is usually the daughter of a poor family +who goes into a well-to-do family to aid +the mother in the care of her infant. Her +chief duty is to carry the infant, sleeping +or waking, on her back for many consecutive +hours during the day. In addition to +this she aids a little in the household work, +washing dishes and cleaning the house, her +hours of service being unlimited. In some +families she may be called on at any hour +of the night to carry the baby, if it is restless +or fretful and needs to be "jiggled" to +sleep! A komori is employed by the year, +but usually without specific contract, her +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 44]</span> +parents sometimes receiving a few yen<a name="FNanchor_1_3" id="FNanchor_1_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> when +she enters upon service. Her time is entirely +at the disposal of her mistress and she goes +to no school, receives no regular instruction, +and no training other than that which comes +incidentally from association with members +of the family. Long hours each day are spent +on the street with an infant on her back, +playing hop-scotch and other games with +other komori.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_3" id="Footnote_1_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_3"><span class="label">[3]</span> +</a> A yen has the value of forty-nine cents.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">In a few places efforts are being made, I +am told, to provide these baby-tenders with +educational advantages, but the movement is +as yet small. Buddhists are said to be particularly +active in this matter.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="i044" id="i044"></a> +<img class="border" src="images/i044.png" alt="CARRYING FAGOTS +BABY-TENDERS" title="CARRYING FAGOTS +BABY-TENDERS" /><br /> +<span class="caption">CARRYING FAGOTS<br /> +BABY-TENDERS</span> +</div> + +<p class="indent">A blind man in Matsuyama, a Christian +of my acquaintance, put out one of his daughters +to service as a komori. After two years +of such life, poverty-stricken though the +family was, he brought her home again, for +the child of fourteen, so far from learning +anything good, was learning many things +bad on the street, and was being dwarfed +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 45]</span> +in mind by the long hours when she was +wholly without mental stimulus. The life +of a komori will of course vary much with +the nature of the family by which she is employed, +but at best the service cannot fail to +stunt the growth of both body and mind.</p> + +<p class="indent">I heard not long since of a boy who became +a komori. His father had died a +drunkard, leaving the family ruined financially. +The mother and children were accordingly +distributed among the creditors to +work off his debts. The little boy of eight +went with his mother, and, so long as she +lived—some three years—life was endurable +for him, but after her death he was made +increasingly miserable. Long hours by day +and many interrupted nights, unkind words, +and unutterable loneliness vexed his orphaned +spirit, until he could endure it no +longer, and planned to run away. The stern +master however discovered him doing up +his bundle, and, to prevent his escape, ordered +his few possessions, even his clothing, +to be taken away. In spite of this he +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 46]</span> +slipped out one night in the darkness and +hid in a barn in a neighboring village until +morning, when he was taken pity on by some +children who shared a kimono or two with +him, and so he got away. With increasing +years he led a wild, roving life; at eighteen +he became a murderer and was imprisoned +for life, escaping the death penalty on account +of being a minor. In prison he first +heard the Christian gospel of God's forgiving +love, of peace and hope and joy. This +"good news" he accepted, and learned to +read, that he might read the New Testament, +which he committed to memory. +Upon the death of the Empress Dowager, in +1896, his penalty, with that of many other +prisoners, was remitted, and now for fourteen +years he has been living a life remarkably +fruitful in Christian service.</p> + +<p class="indent">But, to return to our subject, we note that +not all komori are children. Superannuated +old women who have neither strength nor +brains for anything else also act in this +capacity, their conditions of service and +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 47]</span> +wages being the same as those of girls. I +have tried to get some idea as to the number +of komori in Japan, but have been able to +find no statistics. One gentleman assures +me that at least one family in five of the +middle and upper classes employs a komori. +As the number of families in Japan, exclusive +of farmers, is 3,981,940 (1912), this would +make about 796,000 komori; but many well-to-do +farming families also employ komori, +so the total number in Japan would be not +far from 1,000,000. A lady however assures +me that this estimate is altogether too high, +and thinks that not more than one family +in twenty has the means to employ a komori. +If this is true, then the number is in the +vicinity of 250,000. In either case, the system +and its nature are clear, and the numbers +of children sent out to service at a +tender age is not inconsiderable. The attention +of educators and parents is being +directed to the dangers to infants of this +komori system, to say nothing of the harm +it does to the girls themselves. +</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 48]</span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<p class="h2a">HOUSEHOLD DOMESTICS</p> + +<p class="cap">BY the time a girl is fifteen or sixteen she +is regarded as sufficiently large, strong, +and mature to enter on more responsible +work. Among the several fields open to her +is that of <i>gejo</i>, or domestic service, of which +we may distinguish two varieties: those who +serve in private families and those who become +maids in hotels and tea-houses. A +komori may gradually work into the position +of a domestic; indeed, in the majority of +homes a komori not only tends the baby but +aids the mother in her household work. It +is only in the homes of the well-to-do that +both gejo and komori are to be found. The +work of a gejo consists in taking the brunt +of the cooking, housecleaning, and washing, +serving from daybreak, that is, from five +or six in the morning, till ten or eleven +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 49]</span> +at night. Her status is somewhat better +than that of the komori. Her hours of +service however are long and taxing. Her +time for rest is after the family has retired +for the night and before they rise in the +morning. Frequently her private room is +the front hall, or entrance room; she accordingly +is the last person to retire and the +first to rise. It is to be noted however that +in the houses of the middle classes in the +large cities there is usually now a small room +for the servant-girl. The gejo draws the +water from the well, washes the rice, lights +the fires, cooks and lives in the dingy and +usually smoky kitchen, washes the clothes, +aids in the sewing, and has no relaxation but +an occasional festival. Her lot is truly +pitiful.</p> + +<p class="indent">Besides her living (eating what is left +from the family meal), she usually receives +some two to three yen per month. Recently +however some have been receiving even as +much as five yen. The drudgery and monotony +of the life are usually such that the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 50]</span> +opportunity to become a factory hand is +quickly taken, especially as the cash earnings +are relatively large. I am told by +Japanese ladies that the problem of securing +domestics in the cities or in the vicinities +of factories is becoming serious.</p> + +<p class="indent">Of course the average domestic has no +opportunity nor desire for mental improvement. +Having enjoyed no education to speak +of, she can read neither papers nor books, +nor may she attend meetings fitted to cultivate +the mind or promote her higher life. +Thus she is controlled by the culture and +mental and moral traditions of the home in +which she was reared.</p> + +<p class="indent">Household domestics are recruited from +farming and industrial families. They earn +their living for from four to six years, until +their parents or guardians find them husbands; +for in Japan the girl has practically +nothing to say as to whom she marries. +Marriage is based, not on mutual acquaintance, +much less on mutual attraction, but +wholly on the judgment of parents or go-betweens, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 51]</span> +and is from first to last—if it is +proper—a utilitarian affair.</p> + +<p class="indent">It thus comes to pass that in Japan domestics +are, as a rule, young unmarried women. +A domestic in her thirties, or over, is rare, +and is almost certain to be a widow or a divorced +woman. +</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 52]</span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<p class="h2a">HOTEL AND TEA-HOUSE GIRLS</p> + +<p class="cap">A distinct class of domestics is that +which serves in hotels, tea-houses, and +restaurants. Here the hours of labor are +longer,—from four or five in the morning +till midnight, or later. My attention was +early called to their hard lot by observing +that the poor girl who was serving rice for +my meal, sitting before me as I ate, often +fell into a sleep, from which I had to awaken +her to get my rice. Inquiry would show +that she had risen at four o'clock that morning, +and further questioning would bring the +information that she had retired the previous +night at midnight or later, sometimes even +not till two o'clock! Rarely do these girls +get five hours of rest; frequently there are +not more than three. They must open all +the <i>amado</i> (sliding wooden shutters which +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 53]</span> +protect the paper "windows"), and get the +general cleaning done before the first guest +rises, and must continue their service until +late into the night, answering the calls of +the guests, till the last one has retired. In +addition to the usual cleaning of the rooms, +which is really not much of an undertaking, +these girls carry all the meals of all +the guests from the kitchen on the ground +floor to their rooms on the second or third +floors, serve them while they eat, and carry +away the trays when the meal is completed. +In preparation for the night the girls bring +out the heavy <i>futon</i> (quilts) and make the +"beds" on the floor; and in the morning remove, +fold, and lay them all away in closets. +The work of a Japanese hotel is relatively +heavy for the number of guests, but that +which is most taxing is the long hours of +service and the insufficient time for rest. As +in the poorer homes, so in the poorer and +smaller hotels, the girls have no private +rooms, but sleep in entryways and reception-rooms. +Of course they have neither time nor +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 54]</span> +opportunity for personal culture, nor even +for recreation; and from the nature of their +occupation, is it strange if they sometimes +yield to the solicitations of guests?</p> + +<p class="indent">These girls are of course neither professional +prostitutes nor geisha. Yet I was +assured by a provincial chief of police, some +years ago when making investigations, that, +in the eyes of the police, three fourths or +four fifths of the girls in hotels and tea-houses +are virtually prostitutes, though of +course they have no licenses and are subject +to no medical inspection. Occasionally they +are arrested for illegal prostitution, at the +instance however of brothel keepers. Hotels +and tea-houses take pains to secure pretty +girls for servants, in order to make their +service attractive. It is a dreadful statement +to make, but, if I am justified in judging +from such facts as have come to my +knowledge, it would appear that few traveling +men in Japan feel any special hesitation +in taking advantage—with financial compensation +of course—of such opportunities as +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 55]</span> +are afforded them. Hotels give the girls +their food, perhaps two gowns yearly, and +generally a small payment in cash, but their +principal earnings come from tips. This +makes them attentive to the wants of the +guests.</p> + +<p class="indent">There are many first-class hotels throughout +the country, but chiefly in the principal +cities, to which geisha are not admitted, but +in those hotels to which they are admitted +the green country girls soon learn from them +the brazen ways and licentious talk that are +evidently pleasing to many of the guests. +All in all the life and lot of the hotel and tea-house +girl are deplorable indeed. She does +differ from the geisha and licensed prostitute, +however, in that she can leave her place +and retire to her country home at any time, +being held by no contract or debt. Hotel +and tea-house girls are recruited largely from +the families of artizans and small tradespeople, +living in interior towns and villages; +they do not often come from farming families, +since they would lack the regular features +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 56]</span> +and light complexion desired by hotels. +Their family pedigree explains in part this +easy virtue. They are saved from more +disaster than they actually meet, because +geisha and prostitutes abound and are more +attractive.</p> + +<p class="indent">I remember, one summer at a little country +hotel, a girl rushed into my room from +a neighbor's in order to escape from the +urgency of a guest. She told me the following +day quite freely of her troubles, of +the horrid men that came to the hotel, and +of the fact that most of the girls did not +mind what she found unendurable. She had +been there but a few weeks and was resolved +to go home as soon as possible, claiming it +was better to starve than to lead such a +hard and especially such a disgusting life. +Realizing that I had an exceptional opportunity +for sociological study, I improved the +occasion and asked many questions. When +asked for her reasons for not responding to +the solicitations of the men, she replied that +it was the fear of being laughed at should +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 57]</span> +she have a child. I could not learn that she +had ever been taught to regard loose sexual +relations before marriage as immoral or as +intrinsically wrong. In her mind the question +had no connection with religion, so far +as I could discover. Her refusal was based +wholly on utilitarian grounds.</p> + +<p class="indent">At another hotel where I often stopped I +noticed on one of my tours that an especially +attractive girl of eighteen or nineteen, who +usually waited on me, was no longer there. +On asking her substitute what had become of +her, I was told she had become a regular +prostitute, having found she could earn much +more money that way than at the hotel. I +asked if the parents had not opposed. "O +no!" replied the girl, "the parents were the +ones who proposed it and arranged for it." +I asked the substitute if she herself did not +regard the business as shameful and immoral. +She looked at me with apparent surprise, +hardly understanding what I meant, +evidently regarding the matter entirely as +a financial one.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 58]</span> +Here is another case. A number of Young +Men's Christian Association secretaries, +tramping in the Japanese Alps, were convinced +by the noises one night at the hot +springs that the five or six guides and porters +were indulging in licentiousness. The next +night it came out around the camp-fire that +these guides and porters had paid the hotel +girls five sen<a name="FNanchor_1_4" id="FNanchor_1_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> (two and one-half cents) +each.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_4" id="Footnote_1_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_4"><span class="label">[4]</span> +</a> A sen has the value of one-hundredth of a yen, or almost half a +cent.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">Of course one may not generalize from +three cases. But three such cases, together +with the statement of the chief of police, and +the experience, closely corresponding with +my own, of many missionaries who have +traveled in all parts of Japan, are strong +evidence. I myself do not think that guests +often solicit the girls, nor that hotel girls +commonly yield to the requests of guests, but +there can be no doubt that it occasionally +happens, and is not regarded in any such +way by either the men or the women as an +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 59]</span> +Occidental would expect. As said above, +there are many hotels in the cities from +which geisha are rigidly excluded, and +where without doubt the relations of guests +with hotel girls are above criticism.</p> + +<p class="indent">It is an impressive fact of Japanese civilization +that the "greenest" country girls can +in but a few short weeks of hotel service become +so graceful and attractive. That in +their lives which to the Occidental is so deep +a sin is nothing to them. Their calm, innocent +eyes, winning ways, and gentle conversation +can hardly fail to impress the foreigner. +But compared with the girls in +their homes they have lost that air of modesty +and reserve which is so important an +element in the charm of Japanese womanhood. +The hotel and tea-house girl belongs +rather to the geisha class, whose loud, harsh +voices and artificial, coarse laughter are distinguishing +characteristics. Girls of both +these classes however have an advantage +enjoyed by no other women in Japan, +namely: that of meeting large numbers of +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 60]</span> +men of various occupations and interests. +They hear varied conversation and thus become +somewhat acquainted with the affairs +of the outside world, which makes them more +intelligent than the average Japanese woman, +so that it is possible to carry on some sort +of a conversation with them—a thing practically +impossible with the average young +woman of Japan.</p> + +<p class="indent">In regard to the numbers of hotel domestics, +I have found no statistics, but have no +hesitation in venturing an estimate of many +tens of thousands. +</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 61]</span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<p class="h2a">FACTORY GIRLS AND WOMEN</p> + +<p class="cap">AS already stated, many girls prefer factory +work to that of domestic service, +either in private families or in hotels. From +ancient times there have been small industrial +enterprises, employing each a few hands +in various lines of work, such as the reeling +and spinning of silk and cotton thread and +the weaving of cloth; but since the war with +China there have arisen enormous factories, +after the fashion of Western lands, which +have introduced great changes in the industrial +situation and in the condition of the +working classes.</p> + +<p class="indent">The government report for 1912 shows +that there were 863,447 individuals employed +in 15,119 factories having ten or more hands +each. Of these, 348,230 were men and 515,217 +were girls and women. In addition it +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 62]</span> +reports 427,636 weaving houses, having 733,039 +looms and employing 697,698 operators. +No statement is made as to the proportion +of the sexes. Remembering that the government +statistics take no account of industrial +enterprises employing less than ten +hands, it is probably safe to estimate the +number of women employed in exclusively +non-domestic occupations at not less than a +million.</p> + +<p class="indent">We are not concerned however with the +industries themselves, but rather with the +conditions under which the operatives work +and the effect of the work on their lives and +characters. To begin with the more pleasant +side of the question, there are factories +which come well up toward the ideal. The +terms of employment, the wages paid, the +provisions for ill health, for accident, for +long service and old age; the rooms for sleeping, +eating, and recreation; the bathing establishments; +the education given to those who +need it; the public lectures and religious and +ethical instruction given at fixed times in the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 63]</span> +public halls of the factories, Buddhist and +Christian teachers being impartially invited; +the provisions for marriage of employees +and arrangements that each couple have a +separate suite of rooms, and that the infants +are cared for while the mother is in the mill; +these and other provisions show that the best +in Japan is up to a high level of excellence. +Such is the policy of the Kanegafuchi Company, +which owns a score of mills in different +parts of Japan, and whose success moreover +is so great that it is now buying up less successful +competitors.</p> + +<p class="indent">For several years this company has set +aside annually 20,000 yen ($10,000) for its +relief and pension fund for operatives. In +June, 1913, in addition to its regular appropriation, +it voted an extra $50,000 for a +"welfare promotion fund."</p> + +<p class="indent">The president of the Fuji Cotton Spinning +Company was given in 1913 a retiring grant +of $50,000, inasmuch as the great success of +this company had been due to his skill and +energy. He however presented the entire +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 64]</span> +amount to the "employers' relief fund, and +it was decided to make this gift the nucleus +of a permanent endowment fund."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="i082" id="i082"></a> +<img class="border" src="images/i082.png" alt="AT WORK IN A SILK FACTORY" title="AT WORK IN A SILK FACTORY" /><br /> +<span class="caption">AT WORK IN A SILK FACTORY</span> +</div> + +<p class="indent">There is a silk factory in Ayabe, the Gunze +Seishi Kwaisha, whose record is the most +wonderful of all. It is managed by a Christian, +who runs it entirely with a view to the +benefit of the workers and the district. No +girls of that district go elsewhere for work. +Once enrolled as members of the working +force they are regularly instructed, both in +general education and in their particular duties; +they earn good wages, keep good health, +receive Christian instruction, have their +regular rest days, remain the full number +of years, help support the family and earn +enough besides to set themselves up in married +life, and are now beginning to send +their daughters to the same factory. This +Christian factory is Christianizing the district. +The rising moral and religious life +is transforming even the agricultural and +other interests of the region. So high is the +grade of silk thread produced, and so uniform +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 65]</span> +and reliable is the quality, that it alone +of all the factories in Japan is able to export +its product direct to the purchasing +firm in the United States, which buys the +entire output at an annual cost of about +$500,000, and without intermediate inspection +at Yokohama. Here we have a splendid +illustration of the way in which Christian +character is solving the problem arising +from the low moral and economic ideals +of the masses of Japan's working classes. As +a rule the modern industrial worker does +not put moral character into his work; and +a wide complaint of Occidental importers +of Japanese products is that goods are not +made according to contract or sample. This +is one of the greatest obstacles to the continuous +prosperity of any Japanese industry; +for as soon as a large demand has arisen +in foreign lands for any given article, its +quality, as a rule, has rapidly deteriorated. +It is this unreliability of Japanese workmen +that makes so difficult direct exportation to +foreign lands without the supervision of Occidental +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 66]</span> +middlemen. The Christian Gunze +Seishi Kwaisha is one of the splendid exceptions +which shows what Japanese workmen +and manufacturers can do, when controlled +by high ideals and motives.</p> + +<p class="indent">Unfortunately however not all factories +and their managers have the same spirit, +aim, or skill. Many factories are the exact +opposite in every respect to those owned +by the Kanegafuchi and Gunze Seishi companies. +My personal attention was first +called to the heartrending condition of servitude +imposed on vast numbers of girls by +reading, a score of years ago, of a fire in the +dormitory of an Osaka factory. The dormitory +was in a closed compound, whose +doors and gates were carefully locked to keep +the girls from running away. The result +was the death, if I remember correctly, of +every inmate, of whom there were several +score.</p> + +<p class="indent"><a name="FmFN09" id="FmFN09"></a>My personal knowledge in regard to the +conditions of life and work of factory operatives +was secured in Matsuyama, Shikoku, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 67]</span> +a small inland city of some forty thousand +inhabitants, having but a single cotton thread +spinning factory. It had no dormitories of +its own, but sent its operatives to certain +specified boarding-houses in the town. +Through a Mr. Omoto, who was at that +time working in the factory, and whose life +story is given in the final chapter, I became +intimately acquainted with the conditions +prevailing in Matsuyama. In 1901, when +Mr. Omoto began to work in the factory, +he was amazed to see how many were the +children taking their turns in work along +with the older girls by day and by night. +Large numbers ranged from seven to twelve +years old, the majority, however, being from +fifteen to twenty. They worked in two +shifts of twelve hours each, but as they were +required to clean up daily they did not get +out till six-thirty or seven, morning and night. +The only holidays for these poor little workers +came two or three times a month, when +the shifts changed; but even then there was +special cleaning, and the girls who had +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 68]</span> +worked all night were kept till nine and even +ten in the morning. +<a name="FmFN10" id="FmFN10"></a>He was also deeply +impressed with their wretched condition and +immoral life. The majority of them could +neither read nor write; their popular songs +were indecent, and they were crowded together +in disease-spreading and vermin-breeding, +immoral boarding-houses, where they +were deliberately tempted. Some of the +landlords were also brothel keepers.</p> + +<p class="indent">Mr. Omoto, having opportunity as official +"visitor" to become accurately acquainted +with their life, told me in detail +the conditions which have been briefly summarized +above. The boarding-houses were +only for girls from out of town. They had +to be "recognized" by the factory, and the +girls had to live in the houses to which they +were assigned. Of course the purpose of +these houses was to make money. The financial, +hygienic, intellectual, and moral interests +of the girls were wholly ignored. +They were crowded into ill-ventilated, sunless +rooms, the two shifts occupying the same +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 69]</span> +rooms alternately. Personal extravagance +was purposely stimulated, for girls in debt to +the keepers were compelled to stay to work +off their debts. Drinking and immoral carousings +were their only recreation. As +might be expected, sickness was common and +epidemics frequent. Many girls returned +to their homes after a few months in the +"city" ruined not only in health but in +character,—premature mothers of illegitimate +children.</p> + +<p class="indent">The conditions of the factory girls in +Matsuyama were not unique. Miss J. M. +Holland, a Church of England missionary +in Osaka, recently told me some of her observations +and experiences. She has devoted +the larger part of her time for fifteen years +to work among factory girls, and on the +whole can report improvement. When she +began her visits to the factories, the conditions +were often appalling. It was not uncommon +for girls working on the night shift +to be kept, on one pretext or another, till +noon the next day, making eighteen hours +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 70]</span> +of work. The conditions of work and life +were such that the girls frequently ran away, +to prevent which the dormitories were virtually +prisons within the factory compounds. +The girls were not allowed to go out on +the streets, were given no opportunity for +recreation, and of course no education. They +were underfed, overworked, and punished +in various ways by their overseers, cuffed and +sometimes whipped, for disobedience or blunders. +The daily papers of those days had +frequent items reporting oppression and ill +treatment; to be deprived of wages as punishment +was a common experience; police +occasionally discovered girls working in cellars +and vaults as punishment for misdeeds; +girls sometimes escaped in their night clothes, +and on a few occasions the girls rebelled +and did personal violence to the overseers.</p> + +<p class="indent">But, as already stated, the general conditions +are now much better, for it was gradually +found that such ill-treated labor was +not profitable. "Most of the superintendents +in Osaka are now splendid men, who on the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 71]</span> +whole take good care of the girls and wish +to treat them honorably." The crying evils +of the past have been largely done away. +Rest, recreation, education, wages, and health +are receiving careful consideration at all the +leading factories. Still, no true parent would +send a daughter to work in such a place, unless +under the stress of dire poverty. There +are still many small children under ten years +of age, whose parents make false statements +in regard to their ages. The work is from +six in the morning to six in the evening. +This means rising at four-thirty every morning +for work on the day shift. Some factories +have abolished the night shift. Fifteen minutes +are allowed for rest in the middle of the +forenoon, thirty minutes for lunch, and fifteen +minutes again in the afternoon, giving +thus eleven hours of steady work per day +and the same per night. On pay days the +girls, after standing eleven hours, have to +stand in file from one to three hours more, according +to their luck, and Miss Holland says +that such long hours of standing result in +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 72]</span> +serious organic difficulties. One half of the +girls fail to work out their three years' contract, +returning to their homes before time +for marriage, seriously injured, if not completely +ruined, physically. So long as this +system continues, she adds, skilled labor is +impossible. While some factories take great +care that girls are carefully guarded from +evil, others exercise no control whatever over +their goings and doings. One factory she +named as allowing its girls to be out on the +streets till two o'clock in the morning. It insists +on only two and a half hours of sleep! +The difficulties connected with private boarding-houses +for factory girls have proved so +great that most of them have been closed.</p> + +<p class="indent">One of the tragic aspects of factory life in +Japan is the large number of what would +seem to us avoidable accidents, due to the +fact that the girls know nothing whatever +about machinery. Large factories accordingly +keep surgeons on hand to care for the +wounded. Miss Holland says that in one +Osaka factory where there are a thousand +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 73]</span> +operatives, the kind-hearted surgeon told her +they had an average of fifty accidents daily +which needed his attention. The little children +especially suffer, often losing fingers. +Not long since five fingers were clipped off +in a single day! Miss Holland added that, +improved though the conditions are, factory +life for children is a "murder of the innocents." +As a rule the food provided in factory +dormitories is still inadequate. When +asked whether corporal punishment is still +inflicted, she expressed a doubt, having heard +of none for a long time.</p> + +<p class="indent">In her conversation Miss Holland expressly +limited her report to the factories +she knows in Osaka. The question arises +whether the conditions there may not be peculiar. +May not factory conditions in Yokohama +and Tokyo, where government inspection +and control would theoretically be most +complete, be better than elsewhere? The +facts do not seem to justify such a surmise. +The Kanegafuchi Company and some others +have good factories everywhere, but there +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 74]</span> +would seem also to be bad ones everywhere.</p> + +<p class="indent">A Japanese book on <i>Industrial Education</i> +has recently been published by a Mr. R. +Uno, who, for fifteen years, has been a devoted +student of Japan's industrial problems. +A summary of the statistics there given +appeared in May, 1914, in the <i>Tokyo Advertiser</i>, +from which I cull the following +facts and figures.</p> + +<p class="indent">In the cotton thread and spinning factories +of Japan, there are 81 girls to 19 +men. Out of 1,000 girls, 386 are over +20 years of age, 317 are from 17 to 20, +191 are from 15 to 16, 73 are from 12 +to 14, while 7 girls out of a thousand are +under 12 years of age. The vast majority +of factory girls live in the factory dormitories, +which are of enormous size. In the +region of Osaka there are more than 30,000 +girls working in 30 factories; in these same +factories there are less than 7,000 men. +Three of these factories employ over 3,000 +girls each, while three more employ 2,000 +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 75]</span> +and upward. These girls are herded together +in enormous dormitories, disastrous +both to health and morals. Statistics covering +a number of years show that out of +every 1,000 girls, 270 work less than six +months at the same place; 200 less than one +year, 179 less than two years; 121 less than +three years; 141 less than five years, and +only 89 pass the five-year period. The usual +reason for this extraordinary fluctuation of +workers is that the girls break down in +health. Government statistics declare that +out of every 100 girls to enter upon factory +work 23 die within one year of their return +to their homes, and of these 50 per +cent. die of tuberculosis. But it is also asserted +that 60 per cent. of the girls who +leave home for factory work never return. +Of the criminal girls arrested in Osaka for +a certain period, 49 per cent. had been factory +hands. As to the education of factory +girls it is stated that, out of 1,000, the number +that had completed the required number +of years of schooling (six) was 450, while +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 76]</span> +385 were entirely without education. Out +of 1,000 girls, 453 were orphans. Of 1,000 +girls, 611 came from farmers' homes, 166 +from those of fishermen, and 55 from merchant +homes, the remaining 168 being scattering. +Factory girls earn and can save more +than almost any other class. The average +earnings per month are stated to be $4.67. +The girl pays $1.20 per month for food, +which is less than the actual cost, the factory +providing the balance, namely, $1.30. The +average girl sends home fifty cents per +month. Three out of ten girls spend the +balance entirely on clothes, five out of +ten on cakes and theaters, while two out of +ten save it. Such are some of the statements +made by Mr. Uno in his enlightening book.</p> + +<p class="indent">In the September, 1910, number of the +<i>Shin Koron</i>, a monthly magazine published +in Tokyo, is an article by Professor Kuwada +(of the Tokyo Imperial University) entitled +"The Pitiful Environment of Factory +Girls." He gives a detailed statement of the +conditions of factory workers, in which he +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 77]</span> +estimates the number of female laborers in +factories containing ten or more hands at +700,000, of whom ten per cent. are under +fourteen years of age. In tobacco factories +ten per cent., in match factories twenty per +cent, and in glass factories thirty per cent. +of the girls are under ten years of age. He +vigorously condemns the situation as threatening +the future of the working class, whose +prospective mothers are thus being destroyed. +The efforts of the government during recent +years to enact factory laws have been successfully +thwarted thus far, says Professor Kuwada, +by shortsighted, selfish capitalists. The +girls are brought in from their country homes +by false promises. They are told of the +beautiful sights to be seen, theaters to be +visited, the regular Sunday rest, and even +of the splendid care and education they will +receive from the factory. There is also +stealing of expert workers from one factory +by the artful stratagems of another. There +are factories which resort to devices for defrauding +helpless operatives. In one town +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 78]</span> +where there are many factories, it is customary +to work overtime by setting back +the hands of the clock. To conceal this from +the operatives, no factory blows its whistles! +Some factories do not give time for the girls +to rest even while they eat, but require them +to work with the right hand while they eat +with the left. Night work in which both +male and female operatives are engaged together +is most demoralizing. Punishment of +various kinds is administered. In addition +to fines, in some places the girls are imprisoned +in dark rooms, rations are reduced, +their arms are bound and the lash applied +freely, and in extreme cases they are stripped +to the waist and marched through the factory +among young men and girls, bearing a red +flag tied to the back! Superintendents are +invariably men.</p> + +<p class="indent">So appalling was the statement made by +Professor Kuwada that I could scarcely believe +him in all the details, particularly in +regard to the use of the lash and the stripping +to the waist. I accordingly wrote both +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 79]</span> +to him and to Professor Abe of Waseda University, +who has made special study of the +social problems and conditions of industry. +Professor Kuwada, I learned, has been a +careful student of social and industrial conditions +for nearly twenty years, and is one +of the leaders in the Society for the Study +of Social Politics, composed of one hundred +and fifty university professors and high government +officials. This society was organized +to aid the government in its efforts to secure +social and industrial reforms. In reply to +my inquiries Professor Kuwada says that +most of the facts given concerning silk factories +he has himself observed. Those concerning +cotton spinning factories he has derived +from reliable sources, chiefly from the +officers of the Department of Agriculture and +Commerce, who are especially engaged in +making investigations in regard to industrial +conditions. Much of the testimony rests on +the statements of the girls themselves. Some +of the facts come from local police and some +from the published reports of the Department +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 80]</span> +of Agriculture and Commerce. "The +article in the <i>Shin Koron</i> may therefore be +regarded as semi-official," says Professor +Abe. Since the appearance of the article referred +to above, no reply has been made to +it by factory owners or managers. As to +the stripping of a girl to the waist and marching +her through the factory filled with +operatives, male and female, Professor Kuwada +was told this by the girl herself. Under +such circumstances, it is difficult to doubt +the testimony. Nor is it probable that the +cases cited are absolutely unique, although +I think it highly probable that such extreme +indignities and punishments are rare,—they +are so out of keeping with the whole trend +of Japanese civilization and culture. Mrs. +Binford, a missionary in Mito, assures me, +however, that altering the hands of the clock +is a practise known to her. Testimony is +widespread that girls are secured for factories +by all kinds of false statements.</p> + +<p class="indent">In view of the frightful conditions of industrial +labor thus indicated by Mr. Uno and +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 81]</span> +Professor Kuwada, it is amazing that the +Diet has refused on several successive occasions +to enact suitable laws. The government +began to realize in 1898 the need for legislation +on these matters. A bill which was +drafted and presented in 1902 was rejected, +as were also three subsequent bills. The +chief feature of the bill presented during +the winter of 1910-11 was the provision +that no factory may employ girls under +twelve, and that girls of any age and youth +under sixteen may not be kept at work for +more than twelve hours per day, nor be made +to do night work without "special reason." +While some provisions of this bill were enacted +and others amended, those considered +most important by social reformers and by +the government were virtually rejected. The +bill was indeed passed, but with the added +provision that the important clauses, relative +to ages and night work, be inoperative for a +period of fifteen years (!) in order to give +time to the factories involved to adjust themselves +to the new conditions. Since that time +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 82]</span> +no further factory legislation has been enacted. +Is it not astounding that in a land on +the whole so progressive as Japan the difficulty +of securing reform should be found in +the Diet? The administration at this point +is ahead of the representatives of the people, +as it is indeed in many other respects. The +fact is, as Professor Kuwada points out, that +the "representatives" in both the lower and +upper houses represent the financial interests +of capitalists, rather than the human +interests of the masses.</p> + +<p class="indent">But the reader, in his indignation over the +situation of factory workers in Japan, should +remember that Japan is no exceptional sinner +among the nations. Christian England +and America have had conditions equally +bad, and possibly worse. Dr. Washington +Gladden, in his article on "The Reason for +the Unions," in the New York <i>Outlook</i> for +March, 1911, makes the following statements +in regard to the condition of labor in England +in the early part of the nineteenth century. +Men and women stood daily at their +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 83]</span> +tasks, from twelve to fourteen and fifteen +hours; a working day of sixteen hours was +not an unheard-of thing. Government reports +of this period show that children of +five and six years of age were frequently +employed in factories. "Nor was this unmeasured +abuse of child labor confined to +the cotton, silk, and wool industries.... +The report of 1842 is crammed with statements +as to the fearful overwork of girls +and boys in iron and coal mines, which doubtless +had been going on from the end of the +eighteenth century;... Children could get +about where horses and mules could not. +Little girls were forced to carry heavy +buckets of coal up high ladders, and little +girls and boys instead of animals dragged +the coal bunkers. Women were constantly +employed underground at the filthiest tasks. +Through all this period the wages gravitated +downward and family income was steadily +lowered, while the cost of food increased. +The homes of the workers were ruined. In +a certain congested district there lived 26,830 +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 84]</span> +persons in 5,366 families, three fourths of +which possessed but one room each. The +rooms were without furniture, without everything; +two married couples often shared the +same room. In some cases there was not +even a heap of straw on which to sleep. In +one cellar the pastor found two families and +a donkey; two of the children had died and +the third was dying." And these conditions +existed, not in days of industrial depression, +but in flush times; business was booming and +wealth accumulating in the hands of factory +owners and employers.</p> + +<p class="indent">Many of the conditions of industrial workers +even in the United States to-day are heartrending +in the extreme. Who could read +of the strike of the shirt-waist makers of +New York in the winter of 1909-10 without +deep indignation over the conditions under +which those brave girls worked, and against +which they rebelled? The National Committee +on Child Labor reported in the spring +of 1911 that there were over 60,000 children +in the factories of the United States, mostly +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 85]</span> +in the South. Before condemning Japan +unduly, Occidentals should remember that +their own record is none too bright.</p> + +<p class="indent">If comparison is to be made however +between Japan and the West, it may be made +along other lines. The West fell into its +industrial difficulties with no example from +which to learn. But this is not true of Japan. +She can easily learn the lesson of a century +of Western experience; but she seems slow +to do it. Then again in Japan it is the +government that is feebly leading, and the +official popular representatives who are both +blind and resisting, whereas in the West the +great movements for industrial reform are +movements of the people themselves, backed +up and oftentimes led by enlightened humanitarian +and Christian popular opinion. +In the West, the churches are fairly in line +with forward social movements, whereas in +Japan, Shintoism, Confucianism, and even +Buddhism are apparently wholly indifferent +to the economic and even ethical condition of +the nation's toilers. Furthermore, we are +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 86]</span> +seeing to-day in Japan the strange phenomenon +of one section of the government seeking +to ameliorate social and economic conditions, +and at the same time another, seemingly mortally +afraid of allowing the people either +to discuss these matters or to attempt reform +movements themselves. Labor unions are +strictly forbidden, and any person advocating +socialism is under strict police surveillance. +Strikes are illegal and their promoters are +liable to criminal punishment. Anomalous +as it may be, the government seems to be +seeking to destroy that enlightened popular +opinion on which it must rely for the efficient +enforcement of its own plans for social +betterment of the working classes.</p> + +<p class="indent">I have dwelt at considerable length on +the conditions of factory workers, for later +on I shall describe a sociological experiment +among this class. +</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 87]</span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<p class="h2a">GEISHA (HETÆRÆ)</p> + +<p class="cap">THE word <i>geisha</i> means an "accomplished +person." A geisha is invariably +a young woman who has had years of training +fitting her to provide social entertainment +for men. The <i>gei</i> acquired are skill in +playing the samisen (a three-stringed guitar), +singing catching ditties, taking part in conversation +and repartee, and in "dancing," +which is to the Western mind rather a highly +conventional posturing, with deft manipulations +of the inevitable fan. Years of exacting +and diligent work are required for +proficiency in these "gei,"—the Geisha +School in Kyoto provides a course of six or +seven years.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="i092" id="i092"></a> +<img class="border" src="images/i092.png" alt="O HAMAYU (GEISHA) +Most celebrated in Tokyo" title="O HAMAYU (GEISHA) +Most celebrated in Tokyo" /><br /> +<span class="caption">O HAMAYU (GEISHA)<br /> +Most celebrated in Tokyo</span> +</div> + +<p class="indent">According to the Japanese ideal, geisha +singing must be shrill, and to secure this +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 88]</span> +quality the voice is purposely strained till +it is "cracked." Girls eight to ten years old +are sometimes given their "singing lessons" +in the frosty air of winter mornings before +sunrise, or late at night, in order that they +may take cold in the throat and then, by persistent, +vigorous use, the voice is "broken" +for life. Training in dancing and samisen +playing is also prolonged and severe, for no +pains are spared in efforts to excel. These +efforts however are due, not to the will or +desire of the <i>maiko</i>, the poor little girl who +is being trained, but to the persistence of her +owner.</p> + +<p class="indent">Only daughters of the very poor are secured +for this outwardly beautiful and attractive, +but inwardly repulsive, soul-destroying life. +Practically speaking, geisha are +the property of the old women who support +and educate them through the years of their +childhood, and who rent them out by the +hour for the entertainment of men at social +functions. Such functions would, indeed, be +inane without geisha to serve the meals in +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 89]</span> +their dainty ways, to fill the sake<a name="FNanchor_1_5" id="FNanchor_1_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> cups for +guests, to share in conversation by adding the +spice, to provoke laughter, themselves laughing +loudly and often, and at the proper time, +to present their music, their singing, and +their dancing. Dressed in faultless style, in +richest silks and brilliant colors, geisha are +moving pictures which have charmed generations +of Japanese men and, in recent decades, +many foreigners. Japanese political party +dinners and consultations are often held in +restaurants, where geisha make the fun and +pour the wine. If foreign guests are to be +entertained by wealthy individuals, by companies, +or even by cities, the inevitable geisha +is there, and is presented as a characteristic +product of Japan—which she truly is. But +while there is about her a certain charm of +manner and dress, to one who watches her +face, looking for traces of a soul, the story +is all too plain—behind the harsh laugh and +stoical face it is impossible not to recognize +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 90]</span> +that there is an empty and often a bleeding +heart.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_5" id="Footnote_1_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_5"><span class="label">[5]</span> +</a> Sake (pronounced sah'-ke) is the fermented liquor of Japan, made +from rice.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">The lives of these girls are pitiful in the +extreme. Chosen from among the families +of the poor on the basis of their prospective +good looks and ability to learn, they leave +their homes at an early age and are subjected +to the severe drill already outlined. +They go through their lessons with rigid, +mechanical accuracy. In public they appear +in gorgeous robes, their faces painted and +powdered, artificiality dominating everything +about them,—clothing, manners, and smiles. +As a rule nothing is done to develop their +minds, and of course the cultivation of personal +character is not even thought of. They +are instructed in flippant conversation and +pungent retort, that they may converse interestingly +with the men, for whose entertainment +they are alone designed. The songs +learned, some of the dances performed, and +the conversational repertoire acquired are +commonly reported to be highly licentious, +but these are the gei that best please the men, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 91]</span> +to whom they are open for private engagements +from the time they are eighteen years +of age. If, however, a geisha is exceptionally +beautiful, her owner does not allow her to +enter on such duties, for experience has shown +that her beauty is soon lost in this way, and +with it her highest earning capacity.</p> + +<p class="indent">Many geisha undoubtedly develop considerable +personal ability. The severe drill undergone +could hardly fail to call forth their +powers of mind, and intimate association +with educated and quasi-cultured men serves +further to stimulate their mental faculties. +In native ability too they are not lacking, +though drawn from the lowest classes of society, +for, as will soon be more fully explained, +they sometimes possess strains of +high lineage. The national custom, which +represses the normal intellectual development +and social instincts of cultured, respectable +women, is removed from this one class, which +is favored by many circumstances. They are +not subjected to the debauching excesses usual +with the ordinary prostitute, nor to humiliating +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 92]</span> +medical inspection. They are not conscious +of popular disapproval, but on the +contrary are the beauties of the town, their +photographs for sale on every street. Indeed +one well-informed gentleman told me that +probably ten per cent. of the geisha enter +the calling by their own choice. No wonder +that from time to time the tale is told of +some Japanese man of social position falling +under the spell of an accomplished geisha, +whom he prefers to any of the silent, passive, +timid, incompetent girls selected for +him, who in all probability have never talked +with any man except immediate relatives or +tradesmen. The national custom which predetermines +the social incompetence of the +majority of cultured women compensates for +the loss by providing this geisha class. Not +until Japanese ladies can hold their own in +social life will the vocation of the geisha be +ended.</p> + +<p class="indent">Among the surprises one meets in studying +the geisha question is the fact that not +a few of the girls have features which indicate +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 93]</span> +distinguished ancestry. My explanation +for this fact is the further fact that for +ages the standards of moral life in Japan +have allowed large freedom of sexual relations. +The result is that in the lowest classes, +from which geisha are recruited, there run +strains of gentle blood. It thus comes to +pass that now in the midst of coarse surroundings +and in deep poverty there are born +of parents manifestly belonging to the lowest +class, children of exceptional beauty, +fitted, so far as individual appearance indicates, +to belong to the highest ranks of society. +Whether or not this suggested explanation +is correct as a matter of historic +fact I am not able to say, but I offer it as +the most plausible that has occurred to me.</p> + +<p class="indent">Parents in this class of society much prefer +daughters to sons, for they are likely to +become valuable sources of income. At eight +or nine, those destined for the "accomplished" +calling are put into the care of some +experienced geisha and a mutual contract is +given for a specific period (five or six years), +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 94]</span> +during which the child is termed a <i>maiko</i> +(dancing girl). As a rule the parents receive +a small sum at the beginning of this +first period. The owner undertakes to support +and train the girl, and expects to profit +by her earnings. By the time the girl is +fifteen or sixteen she has finished her apprenticeship, +when, if she has exceptional graces +and charms likely to win her a place in +the highest social gatherings, she will secure +quite a competency (many hundreds of yen, +and in some cases even a few thousand) for +the keeper and parents. On the expiration +of the first contract a new one is made, and +so on, until the girl has passed her prime and +is no longer sought for entertainments. If +in the interval she has not become the concubine +of some rich man, she then either returns +to her poor home or, what is more +usual, becomes a servant in a hotel or tea-house. +If her ability is exceptional, she may +set up as geisha keeper, train other maiko, +employ younger geisha, and so make her +living.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 95]</span> +The great ambition of a geisha is to +"catch" some wealthy man of rank with +her charms and become his concubine. My +informant estimates that this is what happens +to perhaps one half of the geisha. In +such cases the man pays down a handsome +sum to the owner, who sends part of it to +the parents. Thus he buys his concubine, +whom he usually keeps in a villa, not his +home. I have asked if geisha ever become +true, legal wives and am told "only very +rarely." But, if they do, are they cordially +received by the man's kindred? "Oh, no! +that is not possible," is the repeated answer. +The effects of her training can never be obliterated, +and the new relatives cannot forget +the despicable class from which she comes, +and the calling by which she has gained her +husband. She may become indeed refined +and altogether correct in manner, but the +taint of her origin as a rule adheres to her. +Then too the years of immoral life before +she won her husband make it a rare thing +for a geisha to have children, and childless +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 96]</span> +wives in Japan are not at a premium, for the +prime purpose of marriage is the maintenance +of the family line.</p> + +<p class="indent">Foreigners commonly say that geisha are +not prostitutes. It is true they are not licensed, +that is to say, professional, prostitutes +in the eye of the law, nor are they +procurable, as are regular prostitutes, by the +average man, for the expense is too great. +But the chief of police already referred to, +and many Japanese of whom I have inquired, +insist that a large proportion of geisha are +corrupt—two geisha keepers have estimated +the proportion as high as ninety per cent. +Geisha who decline engagements leading to +immorality are rare indeed, and for that very +reason are unpopular.</p> + +<p class="indent">But better than generalized statements is +the story of an actual life. There lives to-day +in Hyogo a paralytic whose influence +through her words, newspaper articles, and +books is widely felt throughout central Japan. +She is one of the few girls who, though +trained as a geisha, refused to follow the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 97]</span> +calling. The story of her life is worthy of +more than passing mention.</p> + +<p class="indent">Her father died in her infancy, and shortly +after the death of her mother, who had married, +her stepfather likewise married again. +These stepparents, deciding to have her become +a geisha, expended much time and +money on her training.</p> + +<p class="indent">When she was prepared at sixteen years +of age, she was entrusted to a woman whose +business it was to find employment for geisha +in hotels and tea-houses. This woman took +her to a house in Osaka, where there were +already many geisha and regular prostitutes. +Learning the nature of the duties expected +of her, she positively refused to comply. In +spite of the fact that it was twenty miles +to her home and that there were but two sen +in her pocket, she escaped from the hotel, +spent one sen on bridge toll, one sen on a +lunch, and succeeded in walking all that distance +alone, reaching home after midnight, +the home from which she had been sent out +with hopes that she should win for her stepparents +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 98]</span> +an ample support. The reception accorded +her can be fancied. She held firmly +however to her resolve, preferring poverty +and hard toil to luxury and fine clothing +along with that service on which these were +conditioned. Work was found for her in a +factory, then as a family servant, and finally +at a small tea-house, where during the winter +she was especially exposed to the cold. +An attack of rheumatism developed into paralysis. +With no hope of recovery she longed +for death, for her stepparents, considering +the case hopeless, neglected to care for her +properly, although she was so helpless. She +could not feed herself, nor even crawl to the +well in which she wished to drown herself,—the +final resource of many a despairing Japanese +woman. But, by a strange series of +circumstances, or should we not say by a +merciful Providence? a Christian man discovered +and befriended her, told the story +of Jesus, and revealed the Savior. Her faith +soon became so strong and her words proved +so thoughtful and helpful to those Christian +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 99]</span> +friends who came to see her, that her influence +began to spread. She found she could +manage to write with her crippled hand, and +as what she wrote was like her spoken words, +simple and strong, it soon found its way into +print. She was finally led to write the story +of her life, and this book, with other articles +written by her, has afforded a small income, +which with additional help from friends has +secured a comfortable home for herself and +the family of which she is now the center. +Her name is Zako Aiko, and she lives in +Hyogo.</p> + +<p class="indent">A few geisha, coming under Christian influences, +have been converted, and so far as +I know, such persons leave the calling altogether, +as incompatible with Christian principles. +But condemnation of the whole +geisha system is not confined to Christians. +Many Japanese, entirely outside our Christian +circles, regard it as a disgrace to the +country, and wish the whole business, along +with licensed prostitution, concealed from +public view. For instance, a man of high +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 100]</span> +official rank, president of a large institution, +tells me he regrets that there is no first-class +Japanese hotel in Kyoto at which he may entertain +foreign guests in Japanese style, except +where geisha serve the meals. Rather than +countenance the geisha system, he prefers to +take his guests to a hotel where the service +is not so perfect but where the women employed +are above suspicion. He deplored the +fact one day that all foreigners coming to +Kyoto in the spring visit the <i>Miyako odori</i>, +commonly known in English as the "Cherry +Dance." I myself have seen this performance +more than once, and found nothing objectionable +in either the so-called dancing, +its setting, or its accompaniments. It nevertheless +affords opportunity for the display +of something like eighty or ninety geisha, +and helps to maintain the business and the +system. As indicating the status of geisha +in the best Japanese society, it is significant +that all geisha are rigidly excluded from +every entertainment where any member of +the Imperial household is present.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 101]</span> +It is often said by foreigners that geisha +and prostitutes not infrequently make happy +matches, and by legal marriage escape from +their unhappy lives of shame. This is one +of those pretty fables one would like to +believe, but the facts do not seem to support +the theory. There are, no doubt, rare instances +where such has been the case. I +have known two women who had been geisha +and who married men of some position. In +one case the man was a physician. When +I knew the family the ex-geisha had been in +the home a number of years and was a lovely, +modest, capable woman, a regular member +of my wife's cooking class. But it was noticeable +that she always took a "back seat" +among the ladies; she was tolerated by them +and treated not unkindly, but it was clear +that they looked down on her. The man's +kindred never favored the match, and would +not let him marry the woman legally, so she +lived in his house, took excellent care of his +first wife's children, and was to them all that +a stepmother could be, yet, so far as I know, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 102]</span> +she has never gained her full position in +the home of her husband nor among his +relatives.</p> + +<p class="indent">The other case I knew but slightly, as she +died but a few weeks after I made her acquaintance, +but she must have been a woman +of exceptional character. She was a Christian +and highly respected in the church.</p> + +<p class="indent">Such cases, however, are rare. A geisha +may be in high favor during the decade or +more when at the height of her physical +charms, though even then her inner life is +empty and loveless; but when no longer attractive +she is cast aside as a faded flower, +to spend the rest of her life forlorn, unloved, +and uncared for. Truly, the way of the +geisha is hard!</p> + +<p class="margin-left8"> +Geisha naru mi to;<br /> +Michi tobu tori wa<br /> +Doko no idzuko de<br /> +Hateru yara, +</p> + +<p>is a popular ditty regarding the final disappearance +of geisha from sight. It may be +roughly translated: "What becomes of +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 103]</span> +geisha, do you ask? I ask in turn, where end +their lives the birds that fly along the +road?"</p> + +<p class="indent">In regard to the number of geisha, Mr. +Murphy's statistics show that from 1887 to +1897 they increased throughout Japan from +10,326 to 26,536, and since then the increase +has been relatively small, the number +being now in the vicinity of 30,000.</p> + +<p class="indent">So far as is known to me, no regular Christian +or philanthropic work is done for this +class. +</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 104]</span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<p class="h2a"><i>SHOGI</i> (LICENSED PROSTITUTES)</p> + +<p class="cap">IT may seem strange to class prostitutes +among working women, but the facts require +such classification, for, not only so far +as the parents and brothel keepers are concerned, +but also so far as the girls themselves +are concerned, it is entirely a matter of +money. If the business did not pay splendidly, +the keepers would not erect their +handsome buildings, pay the heavy license +fees, nor buy the girls from the parents at +considerable cost. And on the other hand, +if the parents did not receive what they +regard as large sums for their daughters, +the latter would not be sold to such lives +of shame and disease. And so far as the +poor victims are concerned, there is abundant +evidence that they often go into the +wretched business solely at the command of +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 105]</span> +their parents, for among the lowest class the +noble doctrine of obedience to parents is +shamefully perverted to this vile end. Children +are taught that obedience is a child's +first duty, regardless of the question whether +the thing required by parents is right or +wrong. The girl goes to the brothel in +obedience to her parents, who send her there +to earn a living for herself and to help them +out of special financial difficulties. Thus +from first to last, so far as the girls, the +parents, and the keepers are concerned, the +question is economic.</p> + +<p class="indent">Among the working women of Japan prostitutes +surely are the most pitiful of all. +They give the most and get the least. They +receive no training, like the geisha; have no +liberty; to prevent their running away, are +imprisoned in brothels, or if diseased or ill, +in hospitals; and have no friends except possibly +other prostitutes. Most of them soon +loathe the business, but are helpless, hopeless +prisoners,—for the keepers who paid +their parents a few score or hundreds of yen +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 106]</span> +and loaded them with beautiful clothes, +charge all these items to their account, so +that they are under a heavy debt which +must be paid before they can leave. This +debt the laws of the land theoretically ignore +but practically recognize, for the +"keeper" keeps the books as well as the +brothel, and the police and officials are often +on his side. In this way licentiously inclined +officials, merchants, and travelers provide +for the easy, economical, and legal satisfaction +of their desires.</p> + +<p class="indent">I do not propose here to give a detailed +account of this distressful and disgusting +"business." Those who desire more information +should procure <i>The Social Evil in +Japan</i>, by the Rev. U. G. Murphy. Some +years ago Mr. Murphy, by grit and pluck, +carried certain test cases through the courts +and secured legal opportunity for girls to +quit the business if they wished. The Salvation +Army and some of the daily papers +took pains to let the brothel girls know their +legal rights, and in a short period over +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 107]</span> +twelve thousand, at that time over one third +of the whole number, left the brothels, so +that for a while the business was prostrated +in many quarters. This single fact shows the +spirit and attitude of a large number of the +girls. Since then the wily keepers and all +interested in maintaining this lucrative trade +have succeeded in modifying the administration +of the regulations, so that the girls are +again closely controlled.</p> + +<p class="indent">There is however a rising public conscience +and an abolition movement is gathering +strength. The virtual slavery of the +girls; the fact that they are openly bought +and sold, and that, too, under governmental +supervision and sanction; the cruelty inflicted +on many girls by their keepers; the fraud +practised in connection with their accounts, +whereby a girl is kept hopelessly in debt, so +that, however faithful she may be, release is +impossible, and indeed the more faithful the +more profitable she is to her keeper—all +these facts are becoming widely known and +are beginning to arouse public indignation. +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 108]</span> +The government is openly charged with protecting +slavery, and that of the worst kind. +High government officials are being condemned +for licentiousness.</p> + +<p class="indent">As signs of the times, I give a few facts. +In the summer of 1909 the wealthiest and +most centrally located prostitute quarter in +Osaka was completely wiped out by a great +fire. Before the flames were fully out, the +anti-brothel forces realized their opportunity +and under the leadership of the Young Men's +Christian Association and Young Women's +Christian Union began to agitate for refusal +to allow the rebuilding of the business +in that region of the city. A petition was +prepared and signed by one hundred thousand +people. Large numbers of Osaka's best +citizens allied themselves with the movement. +The result was that the authorities in charge +saw fit to yield to the pressure and arranged +that the new buildings for prostitution should +be erected on the outskirts of the city.</p> + +<p class="indent">In the winter of 1911, the city of Tokyo +suffered from a great conflagration which +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 109]</span> +completely destroyed the section of the city +known as "Yoshiwara,"<a name="FNanchor_1_6" id="FNanchor_1_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> which for three +hundred years has been assigned to prostitution. +This center of the social evil had +become enormously wealthy, and such magnificent +buildings had been erected for the +business that it had become one of the famous +sights of Tokyo. Before the fire was +fairly over, the anti-brothel forces began +to organize their campaign, which continued +for months. A magazine called <i>Purity</i> +(<i>Kaku Sei</i>) was started. In this case, however, +success did not crown their efforts.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_6" id="Footnote_1_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_6"><span class="label">[6]</span> +</a> Foreigners commonly, but mistakenly, suppose that "Yoshiwara" means +"Prostitute Quarter."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">Not long since an army division was located +in the vicinity of Wakayama, a city +of considerable importance, not far from +Osaka, in which there have never been any +prostitute houses. This led to the suggestion +that it would be well to open there a regular +prostitute quarter. The matter was +keenly discussed and the proposition carried +through the city council and authorized by +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 110]</span> +all the lower officials, but when it came +finally before the prefectural governor for +signature, it was vetoed, and the veto message +is worthy of preservation and careful +consideration by those who are interested in +these matters.</p> + +<p class="indent">The governor says in his message: "I was +early convinced that the establishment of +licensed quarters in the city was harmful +to the public interest. It has been a subject +of discussion in Wakayama now for many +years, and I have investigated the question +thoroughly from the standpoint of public +morals, health, and economics, at places with +and without licensed quarters, and find that +the existence of such institutions is distinctly +harmful. The standard of morals is lowered, +the public health impaired, disease +made rampant, the young are sent into wrong +channels, homes are broken up, and extravagance +is encouraged. The state of affairs +in Shingu, in this prefecture of Wakayama, +where licensed houses have been established, +clearly shows that the existence of such +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 111]</span> +places is extremely harmful to public interest. +The majority representation to the +authorities urged the establishment of licensed +quarters on the ground that the quarters +would promote the prosperity of that +section of the city in which they were situated. +It is true they may benefit a section +of the city in one way, but the benefit so +obtained would be offset by many other evils. +The military authorities are strongly opposed +to the establishment of licensed quarters, +and their views are very reasonable. +For these reasons I have decided to refuse +permission for the establishment of licensed +quarters in Wakayama city."<a name="FNanchor_1_7" id="FNanchor_1_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_7" id="Footnote_1_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_7"><span class="label">[7]</span> +</a> As translated by the <i>Japan Chronicle</i>, May 13, 1911.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">In passing, it is worthy of record that the +prefecture of Joshu has for over thirty years, +by ceaseless vigilance, prevented government +sanction of prostitution. Repeatedly has the +battle been fought and repeatedly have the +anti-brothel forces won. In this respect +Joshu stands alone among the forty-eight prefectures +of the Japanese empire.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 112]</span> +As illustrating the low moral ideals prevailing +among a certain class of men, Professor +Abe of Waseda University, in a recent +brothel-abolition speech, told of a certain +politician who, though a fast liver, was +praised because he never debauched the +wives and daughters of his friends, but always +confined himself to those women whose +services he fully paid for in hard cash! +Colonel Yamamuro, the highest Japanese +officer in the Salvation Army, on the same +evening, speaking of the low moral ideals +of the classes from which prostitutes are +drawn, said that in connection with the Salvation +Army he had had opportunity to +know of twelve hundred girls who had been +aided in the two rescue homes of the Army. +Of these twelve hundred about one half had +been prostitutes. The reasons given by them +for leaving were various, such as ill health, +cruelty, lovers, but not one said she left +the business because it was wrong. The evidence +is full and convincing that a considerable +section of the Japanese people do not +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 113]</span> +regard loose sexual relations as particularly +immoral.</p> + +<p class="indent">In regard to the statistics of prostitutes, +the figures given by Mr. Murphy are probably +the most accurate available, and are +substantially official. Between 1887 and +1897 the number of prostitutes increased +from 27,559 to 47,055, reaching their maximum +in 1899, when there were 52,410. Then, +following up the work of Mr. Murphy and +the Salvation Army, came the "cessation +movement," reducing the number to 40,195 +in 1901, and the following year to 38,676. +Since that date the number has grown. In +two years four thousand fresh girls were +bought up, and a thousand more the following +year. The latest statistics are those +for 1906, when the number of prostitutes +was reported as 44,542. It is safe to say +that at the present time the number is near, +if it has not passed, the fifty thousand +mark.</p> + +<p class="indent">It would be natural to suppose that recruits +for the geisha and shogi occupations +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 114]</span> +would be found largely among the poorest +farmers, but both my outdoor man and also +my cook assert that such is not the fact. +"Farmers would never sell their daughters +for such vile purposes, however poor they +might become. Parents who do such things +are only the degenerate creatures who live +in cities," is the scornful remark of my gardener. +My cook asserts the same thing, and +adds that farmers' daughters have not the +genteel features and figures nor the light +complexion essential to girls seeking such +occupations. Other investigations confirm +these assertions. The great cities of Nagoya +and Niigata, and indeed the whole of Echigo, +are famous for the supply of girls they send +to the brothels of Tokyo. A poor man with +several daughters has a pretty good investment, +and rejoices more at the birth of a girl +than of a boy, because it means an early and +definite income.</p> + +<p class="indent">I found at one time in Matsuyama that +all the girls of sixteen to eighteen years of +age in a certain poor quarter had, in the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 115]</span> +course of one year, been sold off to the +brothels. About that time a man came to +me with a pitiful story of poverty; he had +five children, but unfortunately they were +all boys; had they been girls, he said, he +might have sold some of them and so not +have needed to ask my aid!</p> + +<p class="indent">The word used in connection with both +geisha and prostitutes is perfectly frank; +no effort is made to conceal by terms the +nature of the transaction. The girls are +"bought" and "sold." They employ the +same words as those used in buying and selling +animals, food, clothing—anything. Their +purchase and sale is a regular business in +which men and women openly engage, traveling +the country over in search of girls, and +conducting them in small groups to the keepers +of brothels, who pay so much a head. +And this takes place in civilized Japan! +Moreover, in spite of the fact that girls may +thus be bought, it is true that they are also +occasionally stolen. I have known of a +pitiful instance where the girl, a member of +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 116]</span> +a respectable family, was boxed and shipped +on a steamer as freight, to elude the police, +and taken to Siam. In five years she has +succeeded in getting one letter to her home, +but the parents dare not put the matter into +the hands of Japanese officials, as that would +make the situation hopeless.</p> + +<p class="indent">But Occidentals may not forget how terrible +a scourge is commercialized vice in +civilized and so-called "Christian" Europe, +and who has not heard of the "white slavery" +of America, with its stealing of girls +and young women for purposes of prostitution? +The institution of comparisons between +nations and individuals is alike odious,—but +unavoidable. A fair comparison would +seem to be that, whereas in the West the +moral sense of a large proportion of the +people is very strongly against the social +evil and seeks to abolish it, in Japan the +moral sense of the mass of the population +acquiesces in the situation, so that the government +and a vast majority of the influential +people of the land unite to make the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 117]</span> +business safe, legal, and remunerative; and +that, while in Occidental Christian lands +no girl can voluntarily enter this sphere of +life without being conscious of its shame +and immorality, many of the girls of Japan +may have no adequate knowledge of these +inevitable consequences until their fate has +been sealed. +</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 118]</span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<p class="h2a">AMELIORATIVE EFFORTS</p> + +<p class="cap">THE reader will desire to know what, if +any, have been the efforts to ameliorate +the evils described in preceding pages. They +are of two kinds: first, governmental in +origin, general in scope, legal and educative +in method; and second, private in origin, +both general and specific in scope, personal, +educative, ethical, and religious in method.</p> + +<p class="indent">The general educational policy of the government +is not to be regarded as a philanthropic +or ameliorative effort to meet the +conditions already described. This policy +however does have a powerful elevating influence +on the lives and character of the +entire people. As we have seen, over ninety-seven +per cent. of the girls of school age +are in attendance, according to the reports. +Though we allow a discount on these figures +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 119]</span> +(and some may perhaps be necessary), +we can still say that, if the present policy +of six years of compulsory education is carried +out, the rising generation of boys and +girls will be able to read fairly well the +daily paper and simple books. To millions +of women this means the opening of doors +of knowledge and opportunity which in ages +past have been closed to them.</p> + +<p class="indent">The government has also been the chief +initiative force in all recent movements +to improve the economic and industrial conditions +of the people. Railroads in Japan +owe their existence to the government, as +also do many forms of modern industry. +Agriculture and fruit and stock raising owe +much to the government, which has imported +Western seed, Western fruit trees, and +new breeds of horses and cattle. All these +efforts have done much to improve the economic +conditions, thus elevating the scale +of living. People eat better food and more +of it, live in better houses, and wear better +clothes than they did fifty or more years ago, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 120]</span> +and—an important item—they pay less taxes +in proportion to their income. A general +uplifting process is modifying their life and +thought, and this is profoundly affecting +Japan's working classes, and, of course, +her women.</p> + +<p class="indent">In regard to the specific evils introduced +by Western industrialism, we have already +seen how the government has sought to remedy +the difficulties, so far as laws can go, +but hitherto its efforts have largely been +thwarted by capitalists.</p> + +<p class="indent">Among the notable efforts of the government +to promote wise social reform movements +have been the large gatherings, at +considerable government expense, of leaders +of philanthropic and benevolent institutions +for instruction in the most recent +and approved sociological principles. Competent +specialists from all over the country +have been employed to instruct these leaders, +and thus the whole country is given the benefit +of the special knowledge of the few. The +government has also, during the past four +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 121]</span> +years, distributed some forty thousand yen +annually among those eleemosynary institutions +which it regards as models of +efficiency.</p> + +<p class="indent">Furthermore, opportunity for the higher +education of women, first given on a wide +scale during the past decade, while not yet +affecting working women to any appreciable +extent, cannot fail to do so as time passes, +for it proclaims the intrinsic ability of +woman and gives her a standing of intellectual +equality with man, in sharp contrast +to the humiliating position assigned to her +by popular Buddhism, which has taught that +women must be reborn as men before they +can be saved. Indeed, they are born women +because of their sins. A Japanese proverb +has it that one must never trust a woman, +even if she has borne you seven children! +This long-believed doctrine as to the inherent +incapacity and essential depravity of woman +has no doubt been a powerful cause of her +social degradation. Under the present system +of general education, however, these +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 122]</span> +doctrines and beliefs will soon be completely +overthrown, thus making room for and producing +great changes in the social and industrial +conditions of all women.</p> + +<p class="indent">But the government is not the sole worker +for the social amelioration of industrial conditions. +Through private effort forces are +being introduced which are more potent than +any the government knows or can control. I +refer to the gospel of Jesus Christ. This +has already introduced such a leaven into +Japanese society that nothing can now prevent +its transforming the whole mass in +time.</p> + +<p class="indent">Should the entire foreign body of 624 +Protestant and 371 Roman Catholic missionaries +be withdrawn from Japan, there would +still remain (January, 1914) 728 ordained +and 713 unordained Japanese Protestant +pastors and trained evangelists, and 331 +Bible women. Among the 815 organized +churches, 182 are wholly self-supporting. +In addition to the 90,000 Protestant communicants, +67,000 Roman Catholic people, and +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 123]</span> +32,000 Greek Christians among the Japanese, +it is estimated by Christian pastors +that there are many hundreds of thousands +of the people who are conducting their lives +according to the principles and with the +spirit of Jesus.</p> + +<p class="indent">Furthermore, a careful study of modern +Japanese civilization shows that the Christian +conception of man as having intrinsic +and inherent worth has been embodied in +the constitution and laws of the land and is +being put into wide practise. The rights +of children, women, and inferiors and the +duties of parents, husbands, and superiors +are new notes in Japan, and are sounding +forth a richer music than has ever before +been heard in the Orient.</p> + +<p class="indent">Of course there are still discordant notes, +as we have seen when considering the subject +of the buying and selling of geisha and +prostitutes; but so there are even in so-called +Christian lands. Nevertheless, the +conception of the value of the individual and +of his rights is inspiring a hope among the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 124]</span> +lowly and hitherto downtrodden and oppressed +sections of the nation which cannot +be extinguished, and will in due time powerfully +transform the traditional civilization, +giving to woman a place of equality +along with man in the estimation of all.</p> + +<p class="indent">The general education of girls, and especially +their higher education, is signal proof +of a wide acceptance of Christian conceptions. +According to the <i>Résumé Statistique</i> +(1914), there were, in 1911-12, 250 girls' +high schools, public and private, whose pupils +numbered 64,809. In addition, the number +of women in normal schools preparing +to become elementary school-teachers was +8,271, and in the higher normal schools, 570. +The number of female teachers is reported +at 42,739. These girls' high and normal +schools, through the ability they give their +graduates to converse with men on a basis +of intellectual equality in regard to topics +of current interest while retaining their modesty +and personal character, are so transforming +the reticent habits and unsocial customs +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 125]</span> +of Japanese ladies that ere long scant +room will be left for the old-time geisha.</p> + +<p class="indent">The change Christianity is silently bringing +to the home life of Japan, adding to +its sweetness, purity, and conscious unity, and +contributing a mighty uplift to both head +and heart, few as yet have either eyes to see +or ears to hear. The influence already exerted +by Christian ideas and ideals on the traditional +conceptions of Japan in regard to +home life, marriage, childhood, the poor +and lowly, the orphan, the blind, the leper, +and the diseased generally,—in a word on +the value of the individual and his inalienable, +God-given rights,—is so widespread +and so beneficent that it receives little specific +comment and no opposition.</p> + +<p class="indent">There were no doubt in old Japan certain +influences predisposing many to the new +ideals and practises introduced from the +West. It is difficult, perhaps impossible, +at this stage in Japan's development to reckon +accurately how much of Japan's new life is +due to new factors introduced from Christendom, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 126]</span> +and how much to ideals already +operative in the feudal system. No one can +doubt, however, that Christian ideals have +been the most important factors in the West +to give woman her present status. Nor can +we doubt that Christian ideals and practises +are playing an important rôle in the modern +emancipation of women in Japan.</p> + +<p class="indent">Those who criticize missionaries as forcing +the Christian religion upon unwilling +peoples know not whereof they speak. The +Christian faith would make no progress +whatever in Japan were it not found by Japanese +themselves to be ennobling and satisfying. +It is welcomed because it brings hope +and peace and power to those who were +hopeless and restless and powerless.</p> + +<p class="indent">But he is very shortsighted who thinks +that the main forces Christianizing Japan +are wielded by the foreign missionary. The +missionary doubtless is an essential agent, +but of far more importance is the work of +Japanese Christians themselves; and in addition +to these is the general though vague +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 127]</span> +influence exerted by Western civilization as +a whole, and particularly by the English language +and literature. In that important +work, <i>Fifty Years of New Japan</i>, are many +remarkable chapters, but especially noteworthy +are those entitled "Social Changes +of New Japan," and "Influence of the West +upon Japan," from the pens of competent, +wide-awake Japanese scholars.</p> + +<p class="indent">Consider what Professor Nitobe says: +"The greatest influence of the West is, after +all, the spiritual.... Christianity has influenced +the thought and lives of many individuals +in Japan, and will influence many +more, eventually affecting the nation through +the altered view-point and personnel of the +citizen and the administrator. The character-changing +power of the religion of Jesus +I believe to be only just now making itself +appreciably evident in our midst." Somewhat +further on, referring to the English +language, he writes: "The effect of the +acquisition of the English tongue on the mental +habits—I had almost said on the unconscious +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 128]</span> +cerebrations of our people—is incalculable.... +The moral influence of some +of its simple text-books used in our schools +cannot be overrated.... They have been instrumental +in opening new vistas of thought +and vast domains of enterprise and interest +to young minds."</p> + +<p class="indent">No student of Japan's new life, resulting +from the influence of Western and Christian +ideas and ideals, should fail to familiarize +himself with the eighth issue (1910) of <i>The +Christian Movement in Japan</i>, which gives a +series of remarkable addresses delivered by +Japanese and foreigners at the semicentennial +celebration of the beginning of Protestant +missions in Japan. Especial attention should +be paid to the section treating of the "Influence +of Christianity on Japanese Thought +and Life."</p> + +<p class="indent">It will be obvious to any thoughtful person +that changes so wide and deep, affecting +all the fundamental conceptions of life, of +manhood and womanhood, of the state, of law +and justice, of right and duty, are not confined +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 129]</span> +to those whose privilege it is to study +Western books and acquire the higher education. +In ten thousand ways the whole national +life is being transformed, slowly it may +be and silently, yet surely and steadily. And +the benefits are accruing to the most lowly +and least educated no less than to those at +the top. All the working women of Japan +have already received in some degree, and +in the future will more and more receive, +the blessings and the uplift which are coming +to the nation through its contact with +the Christian conceptions and standards embedded +in Western civilization and literature.</p> + +<p class="indent">A volume—nay, many volumes—would be +needed to tell in detail the story of how +the Christian message has been and is being +conveyed to the people of Japan. We should +make known the story of Joseph Hardy +Neesima, of the Kumamoto Band, of Dr. +Clark and Dr. Hepburn, of Young Men's +Christian Association teachers of English in +government schools, of faithful, self-sacrificing +pastors, evangelists, Bible women, and +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 130]</span> +missionaries. We should recount the deeds +of heroic lay Christians in all the walks of +life, and above all in their homes, too often +hostile, commending their new-found faith +by their new spirit and life. We should +tell of the work of Christian teachers of +ethics in the prisons, and the remarkable results +secured. We should relate the experiences +of those who have struggled for the +rights of prostitutes, of Salvation Army officers, +of matrons of reform homes, of managers +of ex-convicts' homes, of founders of +orphan asylums, of supporters of private +charity hospitals. We should tell the story +of the scores of Christian institutions the +central aim of which is to express in concrete +life the Christian's faith and hope and +love.</p> + +<p class="indent">But in addition to the narrative of direct +Christian work, full heed should be given +to the evidences of the wide acceptance by +the nation of the best Christian ideals in +matters of philanthropy. To meet the needs +of the famine sufferers in north Japan during +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 131]</span> +the winter and spring of 1914, and of +those who were deprived of their all by the +terrific volcanic explosion of the island of +Sakurajima in January, 1914, more than a +million yen ($500,000) of private gifts +flowed into the hands of the relieving committees. +For the earthquake sufferers the +Diet voted 622,883 yen ($311,441).</p> + +<p class="indent">The late Emperor, shortly before his +death, was so moved by the medical needs +of the poor that he contributed a fund of +a million yen for the systematic undertaking +of medical work in all parts of Japan. This +started a movement among the wealthy which +has resulted in the establishment of a Medical +Relief Association (Saiseikwai), having a +fund of $5,000,000 already paid in and +pledges for $8,000,000 more.</p> + +<p class="indent">Men of wealth in Japan are following the +example set by the best Christian life in +the West. In recent years several large +gifts have been made for education. At the +close of 1913 one of the most wealthy and +always generous families of Japan, Sumitomo +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 132]</span> +of Osaka, announced their decision to establish +an industrial school for the poor, at an +expense of $200,000. And in the same year +Mr. O'Hara, one of the wealthiest and most +philanthropic men of Okayama, announced +his plan of opening a high-grade agricultural +school for poor boys of that prefecture. +The amount of the gift is not stated, but in +addition to the large sum needed for buildings +and equipment, he donates as permanent +endowment some 250 acres of rice land +whose value, roughly estimated, may be about +$50,000.</p> + +<p class="indent">There are in Japan of all denominations +and religions the following institutions for +the uplift and regeneration of the downtrodden +and for the help of the poor:</p> + +<table style="width:50%;" border="0" summary="institutions"> +<tr> + <td>Orphan asylums</td> + <td>100</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>Rescue work</td> + <td>92</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>Dispensaries</td> + <td>45</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>Reformatories</td> + <td>47</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>Homes for ex-prisoners</td> + <td>37</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>Homes for old people</td> + <td>22</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>Poor farms</td> + <td>11</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td>Total</td> + <td>354</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 133]</span> +Of these institutions, the compiler of the +statistics states that for one Shinto and three +Buddhist, there are five Christian institutions. +The leaders and inspirers in all the +forms of philanthropic work are Christians, +as from the nature of the case might be +expected.</p> + +<p class="indent">"In the matter of Christian Social Service," +writes A. D. Hail, in the <i>Japan Evangelist</i>,<a name="FNanchor_1_8" id="FNanchor_1_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> +"the Federated Missions have been +represented by two Committees whose fields +of endeavor are quite distinct. The one is +the excellent Eleemosynary Committee. It +deals with the delinquents, defectives, and +dependents of society....</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_8" id="Footnote_1_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_8"><span class="label">[8]</span> +</a> January, 1915.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">"The Industrial Welfare Committee seeks +to Christianize the industrial classes, and +to encourage the development of dealing +upon Christian principles with the complicated +questions growing out of the relations +of capital and labor. By the industrial +classes we mean the non-capitalistic laborers +and bread-winners. It includes men, women, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 134]</span> +and many thousands of children. They do +not own the machinery they handle, and have +no voice in the control of the industries with +which they are connected. Being without +any say in the control of factories, machines, +and raw material, they can be discharged at +any moment by employers for reasons satisfactory +alone to themselves. Their bodies, +their minds, and oftentime their morals, become +subservient to foremen and managers. +The unskilled laborers in particular have no +margin of either wages or time for wholesome +recreations, for accidents, old age, +widowhood, and unemployment. Besides +these there is another large class in Japan, +of small traders who rent their shops and +eke out earnings by the sweating process, +or by renting rooms for doubtful purposes. +To these are to be added fishermen who do +not own tackle, tenant farmers and their employees, +and the main body of school-teachers; +also an army engaged in transportation, +together with postal clerks, postmen, and +others. Incidental to this are the districts +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 135]</span> +of large cities and mining camps, where there +are congested populations of unskilled laborers +subjected to diseases occasioned by +bad drainage, inadequate housing, and all +the consequent evils. As these do not earn +sufficient wages to entitle them to vote, they +have no voice whatever in the betterment of +their surroundings....</p> + +<p class="indent">"There is a growing tendency toward the +fixedness of a gulf between laborers and +their employers, so much so that Japan's +great danger in this direction is that she may +fail to realize that she has a labor problem +on hand, and one that can be solved here, +as elsewhere, only on the basis of Christian +principles of common fair dealing."</p> + +<p class="indent">In spite, however, of abundant evidence +that Christian ethical and philanthropic +ideals are receiving wide acceptance in +Japan, far wider than would be suggested +by the statistics of membership in the Christian +churches, it is also true that the evils +of Occidental industrialism and materialism +are sweeping in like a flood.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum">[Pg 136]</span> +Turning now from general statements as +to the ethico-industrial conditions of the +working women of Japan, in the next chapter +I give the story of a single institution. +</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 137]</span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<p class="h2a">THE MATSUYAMA WORKING GIRLS' HOME</p> + +<p class="cap">THE origin and history of the Matsuyama +Working Girls' Home cannot be +told apart from the story of the man who +has been its heart and life, Mr. Shinjiro +Omoto. Born in 1872 and graduating from +the common school at fourteen, he at once +went into business, first as an apprentice +and later with his father. At nineteen he +opened a sugar store, which flourished and +before long overshadowed the father's business. +Money came in so easily that he soon +entered on a life of licentiousness, and for +several years he was as famous for his +drunken carousals as he had been for his +phenomenal business success. His parents cut +him off, refused him admittance to the house, +and for years he did not even speak to his +father. +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 138]</span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="i156" id="i156"></a> +<img class="border" src="images/i156.png" alt="MATSUYAMA WORKING GIRLS' HOME +GIRLS IN THE MATSUYAMA HOME" title="MATSUYAMA WORKING GIRLS' HOME +GIRLS IN THE MATSUYAMA HOME" /><br /> +<span class="caption">MATSUYAMA WORKING GIRLS' HOME<br /> +GIRLS IN THE MATSUYAMA HOME</span> +</div> + +<p class="indent">In 1899, we held a preaching service in +a theater. Mr. Omoto happened to be drinking +in the saloon opposite. Hearing of our +gathering, with some rowdy comrades, he +thought he would break it up, with the +result that we experienced persistent opposition +throughout the meeting. But the +sermons on Pessimism and the New Life, and +my statement of the reasons that had brought +me to Japan attracted his attention, and the +next day I received an anonymous letter asking +for tracts. These seem to have produced +a profound impression, particularly the tract +entitled "Two Young Men." It told of two +hardened prisoners who had been transformed +by the gospel and became highly useful +and well-known members of society. Mr. +Omoto thereupon set himself definitely to +learn about Christianity, but privately, unwilling +to make public his new hope. He +bought and read through, quite by himself, +the entire New Testament. Though he +gained some idea of the gospel, he soon found +he had lost none of his passion for drink. +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 139]</span> +After a while he went to Kobe and joined +a temperance society; but soon finding that +the society had members who broke their +pledges, he began to break his. In despair +he went to Okayama and tried to join himself +to Mr. Ishii, head of the well-known +Christian orphanage, asking to be made a +Christian, but he was told to return to Matsuyama +and join the church there in his old +home; only so could he be saved. Greatly +disappointed, he returned and called on me +early in June, 1901, but without telling fully +about himself. He also called on Mr. Nishimura, +an earnest Christian worker, who +prayed with him, telling him that to be +saved he must receive the Holy Spirit.</p> + +<p class="indent">That summer, quite exceptionally, I returned +in the middle of the vacation. Mr. +Omoto appeared at the prayer-meeting for +the first time and was evidently in a state +of great excitement, so much so that only +with difficulty could we understand his remarks +and his prayer. The gist was that +he had that day received the Holy Spirit, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 140]</span> +that he was now saved, and that his joy was +too great for utterance. Tears rolled down +his cheeks as he talked and prayed. After +the meeting I had a few words with him, +and urged him to ally himself with our experienced +workers. He was so excited that +I feared for him, and wondered whether this +might not be a tornado of emotion due to +drink and to the nervous condition incident +to his riotous life, an emotion which he mistook +for the gift of the Holy Spirit. I urged +him to begin at once to live the Christian +life, cutting loose from all bad companions +and bad habits.</p> + +<p class="indent">To gain an honest living he entered the +Matsuyama Cotton Thread Spinning Factory. +This required twelve hours of work +daily, sometimes by day and sometimes by +night, a hard pull for one who had done no +steady work for years. He attended Christian +services faithfully, so far as his hours of +work allowed, and became quite intimate +with two or three of our best Christians. Before +long he began to talk about the wretched +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 141]</span> +conditions and immoral life of the factory +girls, telling us of the situation already described +in Chapter IX.<a name="FNanchor_1_9" id="FNanchor_1_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> His first thought was +to give these tired children wholesome recreation. +He secured the use of our preaching +place in the vicinity of the factory and invited +the girls to attend what he called the +Dojokwai (Sympathy Society). He soon +persuaded the girls to add a little reading +and writing to their play, and later also, +sewing. These meetings had of course to +be held after the twelve or more hours of +work in the factory had been completed. +Care had also to be taken that the studies and +the fun should not absorb time needed for +sleep. Membership in the Sympathy Society +rose rapidly and soon numbered seventy +girls.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p> + <a name="Footnote_1_9" id="Footnote_1_9"></a> + <a href="#FNanchor_1_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> + See pages <a href="#FmFN09">67-69</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">At first meetings were held only in the +evening three times a week, and lasted but +an hour. But as the educational element of +the society developed, others were induced +to help and every evening save Sunday was +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 142]</span> +occupied. In order that girls on the night +shift might continue their studies similar +classes were also held from seven to nine +o'clock in the morning. Before six months +had passed the play aspect of the society was +largely superseded by the educational.</p> + +<p class="indent">But opposition of Buddhists now began +to show itself. A few parents refused to +let their girls attend. The most determined +opposition however came from the manager +in the factory who had charge of one of the +shifts. Members of that shift were so treated +that gradually they dropped out of the Dojokwai, +and new members from that shift +could not be secured. The hostile manager +was however himself dropped some months +later, and all opposition to the work from +within the factory ceased.</p> + +<p class="indent">In a previous chapter we have noted the +facts discovered by Mr. Omoto as he went +the rounds of the boarding-houses in which +the girls were required to live.<a name="FNanchor_1_10" id="FNanchor_1_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> As these +conditions became clearer and more appallingly +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 143]</span> +impressive, he began to say with increasing +frequency and insistence that the +Sympathy Society, however successful, could +not do what was needed. Only a Christian +home would answer. Not only do the girls +need to learn to read and write and sew, but +even more than these do they need a home +free from temptation, clean and pure and +helpful, and elevating morally and religiously. +The difficulties however in the way +of such an enterprise seemed insuperable. +To say nothing of the financial problem, a +still greater obstacle, it was felt, was the +securing of "recognition" from the factory, +for Buddhist influence in the factory was at +that time still dominant. During these +months the Sympathy Society was winning +its way among the girls and their parents, +and Mr. Omoto himself was learning valuable +lessons.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_10" id="Footnote_1_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_10"><span class="label">[10]</span> +</a> See pages <a href="#FmFN10">68, 69</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">One was that the girls were not all eager +to be in a Christian home. We of course +forbade all drinking, irregular hours, and +more irregular "friendships." Attendance +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 144]</span> +on prayers, night and morning, and at the +school, was required. It looked for a time +as if we should fail, for lack of girls to +meet the expenses.</p> + +<p class="indent">But in spite of discouragements we kept +on. The earnings of the girls who lived in +the home, for the first year, were 1,361 yen. +Of this sum they paid for board 905 yen, +and sent to their parents 456, whereas girls +in the other boarding-houses were able to +save nothing, although the amount paid for +board was the same in all the houses, being +fixed by the factory at 3.60 yen per month, +or twelve sen (six cents) per day.</p> + +<p class="indent">In February, 1903, a representative of the +government who came from Tokyo to inspect +the conditions of labor in western Japan, +heard of the Dojokwai (Sympathy Home), +and was so much interested in the story of +its work that he took time to visit it with +several local officials. He was greatly +pleased, for he knew of nothing just like +this, in any other part of Japan, particularly +in its hygienic, educational, and moral advantages, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 145]</span> +and he expressed the wish that there +might be many such. This was our first +notice from government officials.</p> + +<p class="indent">As time went on, Mr. Omoto was found +by the factory officials to be exceptionally +faithful to its interests; he was rapidly promoted +from one position to another, and in +December of the same year was made "visitor" +and "employing agent." This required +him to visit neighboring towns and villages +and collect new girls when needed. He +tried to decline this work, saying that he +could make no false promises to the girls +or to their parents, nor in any way delude +them as to the nature of their work, the +amount of their wages, the conditions of the +boarding-houses; being strictly a temperance +man, also, he could not treat with sake +(sah'-ke) and so get into friendly relations, +all of which things employing agents constantly +do; he had no expectations of gaining +any recruits; the factory would better +send some one else. They told him at least +to try. To the surprise of all, and of himself +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 146]</span> +the most, from his first trip he brought +back with him fifteen girls. For three years +he continued in this work and was always +successful in securing girls for the factory. +Because of his refusal to touch liquor in any +form, his traveling expenses were much less +than those of other employing agents, much +to the satisfaction of the management; and +the girls he secured on the whole remained +longer and more contentedly at work, because +he had always told them the truth. +This made his position in the factory more +secure and influential. After about two +years' employment by the day he was promoted +to the rank of a regular employee and +paid by the month. His hours of official +service were also largely reduced in order +that he might have time for his educational +and Christian work in the Home—a striking +testimony of appreciation on the part of the +factory officials.</p> + +<p class="indent">As the months passed by it gradually became +clear that the effectiveness as well as +the permanence of the work demanded suitable +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 147]</span> +quarters. The heavy rental paid for +the house made self-support impossible. Results +already attained seemed to warrant appeal +to friends for gifts, for the purpose of +buying land and the erection of a building. +Responses to our appeals provided the needed +funds, land was purchased and a contract +made with a carpenter on exceptionally favorable +terms, just two days before the opening +of the Russo-Japanese war (February, +1904). Immediately prices went up by leaps +and bounds; but our contract was so well +made and the carpenter had already made +such full subcontracts for the lumber, etc., +that we were not troubled because of war +prices.</p> + +<p class="indent">As we entered our new quarters in June, +1904, however, the factory shut down the +main part of its work and discharged the +majority of its workers. This was a severe +blow to the Home. The occupants were +reduced to seven girls. Although the factory +opened again after a few months, the conditions +during and after the war made it +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 148]</span> +difficult for the factory to secure girls, and +the Home, together with the other boarding-houses, +suffered from lack of boarders. Beginning +with March, 1907, however, special +circumstances combined to fill the Home to +its utmost capacity; during the three months +of April, May, and June thirty applicants +were refused admittance and as many more +who desired to enter the school were +declined.</p> + +<p class="indent">Increasing acquaintance with the disastrous +effects of factory labor,—the lint-filled +air so often producing consumption, and +the excessive heat of summer sometimes resulting +even in sunstroke,—made Mr. Omoto +unwilling to persuade girls to enter upon +such a life. The needs of the Home also +pressed upon his time. These considerations +led him, in 1906, to give up his work +in the factory altogether, in order to devote +his entire time and strength to the Home and +to the upbuilding of the moral and religious +life of the girls.</p> + +<p class="indent"><a name="FmFN11" id="FmFN11"></a>In July, 1906, Mr. Omoto attended in +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 149]</span> +Osaka the first convention of factory officials +convened to study the problem of the proper +care of operatives. Representatives were +present from sixteen factories having night +schools, and specimens of the work of the +girls were compared. +Mr. Omoto was fairly +lionized because of the superior quality of +the work sent in from our Home and many +newspapers made special mention of him and +his work.</p> + +<p class="indent">In September, 1908, there was held in +Tokyo under the auspices of the Home Department +of the Imperial government an +eight weeks' school of applied sociology. +Mr. Omoto was among the 376 persons who +attended. Again he received exceptional attention +and was asked to tell his story. At +this school no less than thirty-six learned +specialists gave lectures on every conceivable +topic suitable for such a school. Among +the speakers so many were professed Christians, +and of the rest so many advocated +such markedly Christian ideals, that some +Buddhists are said to have taken offense, regarding +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 150]</span> +the whole affair as a part of the +Christian propaganda.</p> + +<p class="indent">In the spring of 1909 there occurred an +event of considerable significance. Without +a preliminary hint of what was happening, +Mr. Omoto saw in the paper one day the +amazing statement that the Matsuyama +Working Girls' Home, along with seventy-nine +other selected institutions throughout +the country, was the recipient of a specified +sum (200 yen) as a mark of government +approval! A total of 40,000 yen were thus +distributed in varying amounts, Christian +institutions being recognized to an unexpected +degree. Later, word came from the +Prefectural Office summoning him to receive +the gift. In the entire prefecture six institutions +had been thus honored, and of these, +two were Christian. This gift from the Department +of the Interior has been repeated +each year since.</p> + +<p class="indent">Again in May, 1910, a Conference of Social +Service Workers (Chu-o Jizen Kyokwai) +was held at Nagoya at the time of the +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 151]</span> +Exposition, and Mr. Omoto was among those +invited to attend. His address and statistical +report received much attention. Mr. Tomeoka, +representative of the government and +chairman of the conference, spoke in unstinted +praise of the work of the Home, +which he characterized as "Kokka Jigyo" +(a national enterprise), and recommended +the adoption by others of several of its special +features.</p> + +<p class="indent">In the spring of 1911, the Home Department +of the central government published a +small volume describing one hundred and +thirteen model philanthropic institutions of +the country, in which we were of course +pleased to see that the Home was included, +being the only one from the prefecture.</p> + +<p class="indent">As opportunity offered and means were +available, following the advice of friends, +four small adjacent lots were purchased, one +of which we were almost forced to secure +for self-protection, because of the evil character +of the buildings upon it. We now +own altogether about two acres of land on +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 152]</span> +the north side of the beautiful Castle Hill, +around which Matsuyama is built. Here +have been erected at different times six buildings +(three of them two-storied), for residential, +dormitory, chapel, night school, +weaving, hospital, bath, and other purposes. +We have space for a playground, of which +the girls joyously avail themselves, after returning +from twelve hours of confinement in +the dust and clatter of machinery. The garden, +too, provides fresh vegetables of an +assured character at a minimum of expense, +adding much to the variety and the wholesomeness +of the diet. The present value of +the property is more than its original cost, +for land and buildings are constantly rising +in price, as is the case in other parts of the +country.</p> + +<p class="indent">The city educational authorities in 1906 +asked Mr. Omoto to open his night school +to the poor of the district. For this he had +to have a regular school license from the +National Bureau of Education at Tokyo. +This was to be a Christian school—the only +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 153]</span> +license of exactly that kind in the empire, +he was told.</p> + +<p class="indent">Industrial newspapers have been noticing +the Home and its work for some time.<a name="FNanchor_1_11" id="FNanchor_1_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> During +the past five years the favorable attitude +of local and national government officials +has been particularly pronounced. Government +inspectors have repeatedly been sent +from the Prefectural Office and occasionally +even from Tokyo to visit the Home. One +such expressed himself as amazed at the +excellent mental work done by the girls, in +view of the fact that all their study takes +place after twelve hours of toil. Nothing +but good food, sufficient sleep, and a wholesome +and happy home life could account for +their splendid health and superior school +work. One man remarked that the girls in +the Home do better work than pupils in the +same grade in public schools.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_11" id="Footnote_1_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_11"><span class="label">[11]</span> +</a> See page <a href="#FmFN11">149</a>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">Even so early as the autumn of 1906 the +Home Department of the central government +sent down special instructions to the prefectural +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 154]</span> +office in Matsuyama to investigate +our work, with the result that of nine benevolent +institutions throughout Japan selected +for commendation, ours was the one most +carefully described and unqualifiedly praised. +A recent government pamphlet concerning +industrial problems makes special reference, +covering two pages, to the work of the Home. +Thus has a small institution begun to serve +as a model for the country.</p> + +<p class="indent">The good health of the girls in our Home +has been in strong contrast with the health +of those in other boarding-houses, even in the +best dormitories of the best factories in other +cities.</p> + +<p class="indent">Statistics recently compiled by the government +show that the average death-rate +among factory operatives throughout the +country is extraordinarily high. The highest, +fifty per cent. on account of an epidemic, was +reported from a certain factory owned and +managed boarding-house in Niigata prefecture. +Not one girl has ever died in our +Home. Of the 301 girls who had lived in +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 155]</span> +our Home by 1911, only eight, all told, +died.</p> + +<p class="indent">In 1912 the Home passed through a crisis +that threatened to destroy it. Late in 1911 +the one factory in Matsuyama, where all the +girls worked, was sold out to parties living +in Osaka. A new manager was sent down +who introduced many drastic changes. The +change most affecting us was the stopping +of the night work and the lengthening of day +work to fourteen hours: namely, from 6 <span class="smcap">a.m.</span> +till 8 <span class="smcap">p.m.</span></p> + +<p class="indent">The girls in the Home soon became dissatisfied, +and not many months passed before +all had left the factory. Mr. Omoto was +urged by the manager to find and bring in +new girls. He refused however on the +ground that he could not ask anybody to +work such brutally long hours.</p> + +<p class="indent">Had it not been for a little weaving department +with which we had already been +experimenting, the Home would have been +compelled to close. More looms were secured +and those girls who wished to remain +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 156]</span> +with us were given opportunity for work. +Mr. Omoto's attention was at that time directed +to the condition of the weaving girls +in the scores and even hundreds of little establishments +in the city and its suburbs. He +soon found that an educational, economic, +moral, and religious condition existed among +them not unlike that which he had found +among the factory girls of Matsuyama a +dozen years before. The weaving establishments +are, as a rule, small private affairs, +usually having less than ten girls each, +and are therefore wholly outside of the supervision +of the government. The treatment +of workers and the hours of labor are entirely +settled by the individual owners.</p> + +<p class="indent">As a rule the girls are apprenticed for +from two to three years immediately on +leaving the primary school, at an age therefore +of twelve or thirteen. They barely +earn their living, although they work from +daybreak to ten or eleven at night, and in +some establishments even till midnight—from +fifteen to eighteen hours a day! There are +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 157]</span> +no night shifts and rare holidays on occasional +festivals. The hygienic and moral +conditions are about as bad as can be. It +is estimated that one half of the girls are +ruined before the close of their apprenticeship. +Our Home is now deliberately attacking +the new problem, which in many respects +is more difficult than was the old one. We +have put up two small buildings on our own +grounds, enabling us to have thirty looms to +give opportunity for work to thirty girls.</p> + +<p class="indent">The uniform quality of the cloth produced +by our girls, the central portions of each +piece equaling the ends in quality, shows unflagging +moral attention, without effort to +rush the work and stint the material; this +has already won such approval from merchants +that the "Sympathy Home" brand +can be sold for a little more than other +brands, and Mr. Omoto is assured that there +is no limit to the amount which could be +marketed.</p> + +<p class="indent">An owner of several weaving establishments +has become so impressed with the quality +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 158]</span> +of the work and the character developed +in our girls that he asked Mr. Omoto if he +would not take charge of a hundred of his +weaving girls. This new departure is especially +promising, for we have complete supervision +of the girls throughout the entire +twenty-four hours. The girls, moreover, are +already remaining in our Home as a rule +much longer than they used to when getting +work in the spinning factory.</p> + +<p class="indent">As successive chapters of this book have +shown, no more urgent problem faces New +Japan than that of the moral development +of her workers. This is particularly true +of the hundreds of thousands of girls in the +larger and smaller factories and industrial +establishments. The wretched physical, economic, +social, and moral conditions under +which the majority of these girls lived and +worked at the time when our Home was +started are not easily described.</p> + +<p class="indent">Many of the factory authorities<a name="FNanchor_1_12" id="FNanchor_1_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> are +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 159]</span> +neither ignorant nor unmindful of the situation, +and are striving to remedy it. The government +also has enacted laws not a few. +But laws and official actions alone provide +no adequate solution of the serious problems +raised by the extraordinary industrial and +social transformations sweeping over Japan. +A new spirit must be evoked, both on the part +of capital and labor, and new moral ideals +and relations established. This cannot be +done by laws alone. Only love and contagious +personal example are sufficient for +the needs.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_12" id="Footnote_1_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_12"><span class="label">[12]</span> +</a> It is not to be inferred from the statements in this book that the +political leaders and the organizers of industrial Japan have been +dependent on our Home for ideas and ideals in regard to the problems +raised by modern industry. Many of those leaders are men of cosmopolitan +education and are well versed in the best and most recent of literature +of the West on these matters. It is true, however, that our Home has +been an important concrete experiment affording in Japan valuable +suggestions and stimulus.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">Our Home was designed to meet just such +a situation and has to a remarkable degree, +we think, succeeded. It has provided not +only sufficient fresh air, nourishing food, +adequate bedding, clean rooms, and wholesome +recreation, but also moral and religious +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 160]</span> +instruction, and some education. The +girls in our Home have enjoyed conspicuously +better health and have done better +work and earned and sent to their parents +more money than those of the other boarding-houses +of Matsuyama. But better than +these have been the educational, moral, and +religious results. Their womanhood has been +raised. They have been better fitted for life's +duties and for motherhood than they would +have been without the training which has +been given them.</p> + +<p class="indent">Moreover, the results of the Home have +been such as to break down opposition. The +good-will and cooperation of the factory +officials were won. Factories in other parts +of the country also have recognized our +Home as presenting a splendid ideal which, +in a measure, many of them are already following. +The local and the central governments, +as already shown, have repeatedly sent +officials to inspect us, and in their reports +have not only praised us, but have described +our Home in detail, saying that we have +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 161]</span> +solved the difficult problem of how to care +for factory hands.</p> + +<p class="indent">Through the Home we are reaching the +lowest strata of the working classes of Japan, +and are providing them with ideals, motives, +and education, and in a way, too, which does +not tend to pauperize them, for each girl +pays as board a sum sufficient to cover actual +living expenses. It is also exerting an influence +on the townsfolk. The attitude of +the people toward Christianity has undergone +a marked change. Villages in the interior +likewise have altered their attitude +on seeing how their daughters, graduates of +our Home, have improved both in intelligence +and character, in marked contrast to +those who have been in other boarding-houses. +All in all, Mr. Omoto has attained +remarkable success. He is absorbed, heart +and soul, in his work of bettering the moral +and religious conditions of the working girls +of Japan, and is a man continuously growing +in spiritual life, Christian character, and +knowledge of men. I have never known a +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 162]</span> +man more thoroughly converted or more enthusiastic +in his chosen field of work. The +Omoto of to-day is a different person from +the reformed debauchee of thirteen years +ago, who began this service for factory girls +as the outcome of his sincere question, "Lord, +what wilt thou have me to do?" His family +have become possessed with the idea of +social service, and his five children are being +brought up in this atmosphere and in the +fear of the Lord.</p> + +<p class="indent">Thus has the Matsuyama Working Girls' +Home survived many threatening vicissitudes, +attained conspicuous successes, and is +now embarked on a new line of endeavor. +May it exceed in the future its successes of +the past and make still more substantial contributions +to the uplift of the working women +of Japan!</p> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<div class="tnote"> + +<p class="h2a">Transcriber's Note:</p> + +<p class="indent">The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up +paragraphs and so that they are next the text they illustrate. Thus the +page number of the illustration might not match the page number in the +List of Illustrations.</p> + +<p class="indent">Errors in punctuations and inconsistent hyphenation were not corrected +except for the following:</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 111, the book mentions "among the forty-eight prefectures +of the Japanese empire", but there were forty-seven prefectures since 1888.</p> + +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKING WOMEN OF JAPAN***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 35511-h.txt or 35511-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/5/5/1/35511">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/5/1/35511</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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