Fertility And Pleasure Ritual And Sexual Values in Tokugawa Japan

249 Pages·2009·9.53 MB·English

japanese religion/history/gender studies eeeeee e e e ee eeeeee e e e ee e e e ee e e e ee e e e ee e e e ee e e e ee e e e e e e ee e e e e
(Continued from front flap)
l
account in this context the women’s relative positions eeeeee e e e ee e e e ee e e e ee e e e ee e e e ee e e e ee e e e e e e e ee e e e ee e e e ee e e e ee e e e ee i
n
in the community and their options for ritual d
expression.He divides women’s ritual activities,which s
e
they employed both in accordance and in tension with y
F E R T I L I T Y
as their ubiquitous presence in tokugawa
the values of fertility and pleasure,into three broad
artwork and literature suggests,images of bourgeois
“William R.Lindsay has written a creative and original study of
types:entrance,placement,and exit.“Entrance”for a
wives and courtesans took on iconic status as
bourgeois daughter was marriage into a virilocal Tokugawa heterosexuality from the perspective of religious
representations of two opposing sets of female values.
household;for the courtesan,entrance rites were the studies,drawing on iconographic and literary sources and A N D
F Their differences,both real and idealized,indicate the
vehicle for establishing a formal relationship with a focusing on the symbology of entry,placement and exit within
E full range of female roles and sexual values affirmed by
client.“Placement”concerns ritual activity that not the parallel worlds of commercial pleasure-oriented sex and
R Tokugawa society,with Buddhist celibacy on the one
only occurs within an institution and exemplifies a procreation-oriented marriage.He illuminates how Buddhist and P L E A S U R E
T end and the relatively free sexual associations of the
woman’s position there,but also places a woman within Shinto concepts conditioned medical discourse on sexuality,
I urban and rural lower classes on the other.The roles of
a range of gender-specific experiences cutting across pregnancy and childbirth;helped shape marriage practices from L
courtesan and bourgeois housewife were each tied to a
social status and idealized roles.Activities around I
betrothal to divorce;and also helped to construct the rituals of T set of value-based behaviors,the primary institution to
pregnancy,both within marriage and the brothel,are
the brothel district.It is a major contribution to the history of Y RITUAL which a woman belonged,and rituals that sought to
closely examined as examples of placement rituals.
sexuality and religion that should attract wide interest.” model a woman’s comportment in her interactions
“Exit”describes a host of rituals meant to move a
A with men and figures of authority.For housewives,it
—gary p.leupp,tufts university
woman from one institution and role to another. N AND
was fertility values,promulgated by lifestyle guides and
Betrothal and departure are ritually mediated actions D
moral texts,which embraced the ideals of female
meant to facilitate both a bride’s move from her natal “By breathing new life into tired,old clichés about the dyad of SEXUAL VALUES
P obedience,loyalty to the husband’s household,and
household and a courtesan’s retirement from her sex for recreation versus sex for procreation,William Lindsey has
L sexual activity aimed at producing an heir.Pleasure
quarter.Divorce and escape are instances of other undertaken an audacious project:to examine institutions until IN
E values,by contrast,flourished in the prostitution quarters
practices that wives and courtesans could employ to
now largely unquestioned by historians and to present a novel A and embraced playful relations and nonreproductive
create unapproved exits from the marriage household TOKUGAWA JAPAN
way of juxtaposing marriage and prostitution by drawing on S sexual activity designed to increase the bordello’s
and pleasure quarter.Lindsey shows further that women
theories regarding ritual and religion. He both artfully uses U bottom line.What William Lindsey reveals in this well-
could use these rituals individually or communally,
critical theory to reinterpret data regarding women in Tokugawa R researched study is that,although the values that
either in conjunction with or resistance to their
Japan and uses this interpretation to critique critical theory. This E idealized the role of wife and courtesan were highly
institutions.
is one of the most exciting and challenging works I’ve read in a disparate,the rituals,symbols,and popular practices
Highly original in its theoretical approach and its long time.” william r. lindsey both engaged in exhibited a degree of similitude and
eeeeeeeeeee parallelism.Fertility and Pleasure examines the rituals
juxtaposition of texts,Fertility and Pleasure constitutes an
—anne walthall,university of california, irvine
available to young women in the household and
important addition to the fields of Japanese religion and
pleasure quarters that could be employed to affirm,
history and the study of gender and sexuality in other
transcend,or resist these sets of sexual values. In doing
societies and cultures. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee e e e ee e e e ee e e e ee e e e ee e e e e e e e ee e e e ee e e e ee e e e ee e e e ee
so it affords new views of Tokugawa society and
Japanese religion.
eeeeee e e e ee e e e ee e e e ee e e e ee e e e ee e e e ee e e e e e e e e e
william r. lindsey is assistant professor of religious
The author begins by conceptualizing as “value
studies at the University of Kansas. Jacket art:The courtesan Hanao¯gi dreams of her wedding
procession.Detail from a Kitagawa Utamaro print.Courtesy models”the idealized behavioral and institutional
of Les Museés royaux d’Art et d’Histoire,Brussels.
female attributes of fertility and pleasure,taking into
Jacket design:Liz Demeter
(Continued on backflap)
university of hawai‘i press
www.uhpress.hawaii.edu
honolulu,hawai‘i 96822–1888
1Lin_i-x 9/30/06 5:24 PM Page i
F E R T I L I T Y
AND
P L E A S U R E
1Lin_i-x 9/30/06 5:24 PM Page ii
1Lin_i-x 9/30/06 5:24 PM Page iii
F E R T I L I T Y
AND
P L E A S U R E
RITUAL
AND
SEXUAL VALUES
IN
TOKUGAWA JAPAN
william r. lindsey
university of hawai‘i press
honolulu
1Lin_i-x 9/30/06 5:24 PM Page iv
© 2007 University of Hawai‘i Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
12 11 10 09 08 07 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lindsey, William R., 1964–
Fertility and pleasure : ritual and sexual values in Tokugawa
Japan / William R. Lindsey.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8248-3036-6(hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8248-3036-9(hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Sexual ethics—Japan—History. 2. Social values—Japan—History.
3. Women—Japan—Social conditions. 4. Sex role—Japan—History.
5. Japan—Social conditions—1600–1868. 6.Japan—Social life and
customs—1600–1868. I. Title.
HQ18.J3L56 2007
306.810952'09032—dc22
2006022269
University of Hawai‘i Press books are printed on
acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence
and durability of the Council on Library Resources
Designed by Liz Demeter
Printed by The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group
1Lin_i-x 9/30/06 5:24 PM Page v
To Mom
1Lin_i-x 9/30/06 5:24 PM Page vi
1Lin_i-x 9/30/06 5:24 PM Page vii
contents
Acknowledgments ix
1 introduction 1
2 value models 27
3 entrance 49
4 placement 97
5 exit 137
6 conclusion 176
Appendices 181
Notes 187
Bibliography 217
Index 231
1Lin_i-x 9/30/06 5:24 PM Page viii
1Lin_i-x 9/30/06 5:24 PM Page ix
acknowledgments
THIS BOOK is not the work of one person. Many people and organiza-
tions gave their support and advice, which transformed a raw idea into
the book you now hold. Through the support of a postdoctoral fellow-
ship for foreign researchers from the Japan Society for the Promotion of
Science, I was able to put aside my teaching responsibilities and travel to
Japan for research at the Institute for the Study of Japanese Folk Culture
at Kanagawa University. I am deeply grateful to Sano Kenji for allow-
ing me to participate at the institute and for encouraging me as both
mentor and friend throughout my tenure there. I also wish to thank
Takagi Tadashi of the Enkiridera Mantokuji Shiryökan for his kindness
and openness in sharing his research and knowledge to a curious guy
who dropped by his museum one day. Long before this, I conducted
initial research at the University of Tokyo with the support of a Ful-
bright Graduate Research Fellowship. Shimazono Susumu kindly made
introductions for me, suggested ideas, and encouraged me to take full
advantage of the school’s libraries and archives at a time when the proj-
ect was still in its infancy. Many people read this manuscript at different
stages and offered valuable suggestions and criticisms, no one more so
than Linda Penkower, who, with much energy and encouragement, was
instrumental in helping me put together the initial draft. Likewise, Fred
Clothey, Ann Jannetta, Evelyn Rawski, Tom Rimer, and peer review-
ers gave their time and ideas to the manuscript, and it is an immensely
better product because of their efforts. To the editors of the University
of Hawai‘i Press I extend a special note of thanks for their faith in the
project. My departmental colleagues at the University of Kansas also
ix