Larson, Phyllis. “"I Am My Own": Tamura Toshiko's Narratives of Resistance in Taishō Japan.” U.S.-Japan Women's Journal, No. 28 (2005), pp. 32-48.

This article explores and contextualizes Tamura Toshiko (1884-1945) in the historical framework of Taishō Japan (1912-1926). Phyllis Larson examines the patriarchal structures present from the Meiji period (1868-1912) and Tamura’s resistance to those structures. During this period, there were some improvements with the idea of “good wives, wise mothers.” However, this slogan still carried sexist ideas as women were still confined to the role of raising children. Seitō was a magazine published in 1911 that resisted this idea and introduced the concept of a “New Woman,” one that believed women should be defined by freedom, choice, and equality.

Tamura Toshiko contributed to this magazine and interrogated the gender relations under patriarchy. Larson goes on to explore various works by Tamura exemplifying her resistance to the highly unbalanced gender relations. Most of the stories end on a conflicted note with women finding their roles as mothers demeaning or unsatisfying, but still unable to fully create a new role that is independent of motherhood. 

Many critics focused on Tamura’s domestic life and her tumultuous marriage. Many attacked her personal character, suggesting that she was decadent and loved freedom. Nogami Yaeko (1885-1985) and Hiratsuka Raichō (1886-1971), both contemporary woman writers, criticized Tamura for having passion but lacking intellectual content, and being materialistic and ordinary. There was some praise, however, as Iwano Hōmei believed that Tamura’s literary skill could not be matched by male writers. Iwano, however, criticized her — as other critics did — for portraying women as acquiescent, sentimental, or shallow. Larson suggests that this criticism arose because Tamura was from the shitamachi (merchant) class originally. 

Critics today are less caustic, arguing that Tamura’s shitamachi origins may have made her materialistic but that, more importantly, they lent her works originality. Some believe that the ambivalence in Tamura’s female characters stemmed from the inner conflict between her shitamachi (working class/older morals) and yamanote (middle-class/newer values). Larson contends that, however, gender plays a bigger role than class in Tamura’s works. Tamura Toshiko, therefore, concentrated on family gender relations. Her characters resist but are unable to escape this family system because it traps them. While critics during Tamura’s time were unsatisfied with the feeling of incompleteness in her works, Larson counters that those critics fundamentally do not understand Tamura’s analysis of gender relations. She argues that Tamura’s heroines feel so hopeless and cannot change their condition because their identity is so tied to the family; this system deprives women of an identity independent of the family. Furthermore, as explored in other works, this system provides men with power and subordinates women to them, hurting both men and women alike.

Larson’s description and contextualization of Tamura Toshiko’s works are comprehensive and insightful. It frames Tamura Toshiko within her time period and examines her reception then and today. The analyses of her other works provide more information on how exactly Tamura Toshiko criticized the family system. Many of her characters may fail to craft their identity, in itself an indictment of family gender relations, but others blaze a new identity of their own. 

This source is accessible to even those not necessarily familiar with Tamura Toshiko’s works, as Larson provides a summary of the narratives and contextual information. Larson’s analysis of the subtle feminism in Tamura Toshiko’s other works can lead to a greater appreciation of “The Vow.” 

Yamurama, Tim. “Forging "Home" on the Stage: Tamura Toshiko, Shingeki, and the New Woman.” Japan Women's Journal, No. 28 (2005), pp. 11-31.

Tim Yamurama explores Tamura Toshiko’s (1884-1945) plays in this article. Yamurama explains that the idea of the “New Woman” was inspired by actress Matsui Sumako’s portrayal of Nora in Henrik Ibsen’s (1828-1906) play, A Doll’s House (1911). This play signaled the start of Shingeki (new theater), which was more Western and shifted away from more traditional Japanese theater forms such as kabuki, bunraku, and noh. This play was released during a time in which Japan was in flux as it tried to become an empire, thereby taking on more Western ideals. Westernization happened in the theater as well, with playwrights and directors having more control over the story. This resulted in more agency for playwrights and directors to question traditional beliefs. Even so, many plays still conformed to relatively sexist notions.

Yamurama then shifts his focus to Tamura Toshiko, who also was an actress in addition to a writer. He argues that her aesthetic sensibilities were borrowed from the theater, pointing to the fact that her mother was involved in the theater. Furthermore, he argues that theater appealed to Tamura because on stage female characters were in an unusual position of power. She believed, however, that Japanese theater could never match their Western counterparts until female roles were played by actresses (since in traditional theater like noh and kabuki they were not). She believed that the future of Japanese theater had to include the active participation of women and create new plays that addressed the issues that women faced.

Yamurama goes on to analyze Slave by Tamura Toshiko. The story inverts Doll’s House by having the heroine, Fujiko, throwing her out-of-work husband, Shinnosuke, out of the household. They are unable to resolve resentments in the household; Fujiko had an extramarital affair which Shinnonsuke resents. Furthermore, Fujiko is frustrated with the fact that she is the one who has to provide for her husband. Shinnonsuke is ashamed because he knows society disapproves of his inability to provide while also living with infidelity. Yamurama suggests that their conflict arises because they are both unable to resolve a life that is true to who they are versus the one society expects them to live; their roles are reversed from the usual gender relations at the time. Furthermore, Fujiko is freeing and empowering herself by kicking her husband out and is thus able to improve herself every day and find her own sense of purpose. The story is resolved when Shinnosuke asks to be taken back as a slave to her, and Fujiko is completely in control.

Tamura creates a character that is not only able to remain autonomous but also is able to stay within the home. Yamurama suggests that this implies that resistance from oppressive gender relations does not need to result in the woman fleeing the home. Furthermore, if the home is a symbol of private life, Tamura could be suggesting that societal and personal change can only happen when that inner life is resolved.

While this source is not inherently focused on Tamura’s prose works, it still provides a deeper understanding of her view on marriage and gender relations in Japan. The analysis of the play informs readers of Tamura Toshiko’s radical feminist beliefs that went against the status quo at the time. It becomes clear that, unlike some of her literary works, Slave is a truly feminist text and illuminates Tamura’s views on the role of women in society.

Even though this article focuses on the niche topic of Japanese theater, it is still accessible to most readers because Yamurama provides in-depth context. Furthermore, his in-depth analysis of Slave can help inform and enrich readers with a new lens of Tamura Toshiko’s feminist beliefs, which tend to be more subtle in her literary works. 

Bardsley, Jan. “The New Woman Meets the Geisha: The Politics of Pleasure in 1910s Japan.” Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific, Issue 29, May 2012.

Jan Bardsley analyzes the context behind a cartoon, “Dalliance in the Yoshiwara” (1912) which shows Seitō members meeting with geisha (the author uses this term to describe courtesans, but these terms are not interchangable) in the summer of 1912. For some context, the Yoshiwara was a red-light district, where Japanese men would find professional prostitutes. During this time, the number of geisha was on the rise with 2,300 in 1905 and almost 10,000 in 1910. Seitō, or Bluestockings, was a magazine that published female-authored and feminist texts. Their visit to the Yoshiwara District caused a massive uproar at the time, even leading to threats of murder.

The cartoon illustrates a geisha, who is uncaricatured. The illustrator emphasizes the woman’s beauty and femininity. She is also relatively stationary, confined in one space to be observed in a harimise (box). The woman is also in fear, scared of the oncoming lookers. On the other hand, the Seitō members look ugly and masculine, suggesting that they are less feminine. In contrast to the geisha, they are free to move in an open space as the New Women claimed the same right to navigating the public sphere as men. It is argued that Hiratsuka Raichō (1886-1971), the leader of the Seitō, is depicted here. Raichō was characterized as abnormal or not a woman in many cartoons. They sought to frame Raichō as both grotesquely masculine and having perverse thoughts or lacking morals. “BLUESTOCKING” is also written in English on one of the woman’s clothes, implying that they are less Japanese or are betraying their country for foreign influences.

While this cartoon was not directly depicting Tamura Toshiko, it is a useful source that explores how exactly the Bluestockings were viewed at the time. Bardsley expertly illuminates the controversy and public reception of this feminist magazine, which is useful for understanding the time period in which Tamura was living. Bardsley’s analysis is fairly accessible to those without background knowledge of the time period or Japanese feminism. The cartoon helps inform readers of the backlash towards feminist movements during Taishō Japan, illustrating the obstacles faced by women during that period.

Feature History. “The Meiji Restoration.” YouTube video. Filmed May 2017. Accessed May 1, 2022. 

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_b58Rpg2YY.

This video explores the Meiji Restoration (1868-1889), explaining how Japan got to the Meiji period (1868-1912). It starts by explaining the relationship between the shogun and the emperor. As the shogun made the emperor mostly a figurehead, the two were often in conflict. Japan came into contact with Western powers in the 1600s, but that led to the persecution of some foreigners because of their proselytization efforts. The Dutch were only allowed to stay after they suppressed a revolt because they did not try to proselytize Japan. Merchants became more powerful as the shoguns and his samurai elites became warriors without a war to fight. In 1853, United States Commodore Matthew Perry entered Japan with armed gunships and pressured the government to open the ports within a year. As Western traditions entered the country, the shogun tried to expel Westerners and this tension between Japanese traditions and new Western ideas continued. The Meiji Restoration (1868-1889) refers to the enthronement of the boy emperor Meiji and the removal of the shogun. Ideas such as public education and social mobility were under question and Japan quickly changed during this time.

While Tamura Toshiko also lived in the Taishō period (1912-1916), the video is still relevant because it explores the time period right before the one Tamura lived in. Through exploring the Meiji period, this source provides an understanding of how Japan shifted from expelling to embracing Western ideas. Western influences were strong and also uprooted, as argued in another source, traditions such as theater. This video contextualizes how Japan before the Taishō period was in a turbulent state of flux, and associations with the West (such as the “BLUESTOCKING” label on the cartoon above) could be seen as negative.

While it is a non-academic source that likely oversimplifies this time period, the video would be useful to those without any prior knowledge of Japanese history because it is very accessible. It breaks down the history in a way that is easy to understand for those without knowledge of the Meiji Period.