Reforming Japan: The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in the Meiji Period

265 Pages·2010·4.906 MB·English

by  Elizabeth Dorn Lublin

Reforming Japan
lublin.indd 1 15/03/2010 3:56:53 PM
Asian Religions and Society Series
Also in the series:
Pilgrims, Patrons, and Place: Localizing Sanctity in Asian Religions
Edited by Phyllis Granoff and Koichi Shinohara
Images in Asian Religions: Texts and Contexts
Edited by Phyllis Granoff and Koichi Shinohara
Gandhāran Buddhism: Archaeology, Art, and Texts
Edited by Kurt Behrendt and Pia Brancaccio
Japan’s Modern Prophet: Uchimura Kanzô, 1861-1930
John F. Howes
American Missionaries, Christian Oyatoi, and Japan, 1859-73
Hamish Ion
Asian Religions in British Columbia
Edited by Larry DeVries, Don Baker, and Dan Overmyer
lublin.indd 2 15/03/2010 3:56:53 PM
Elizabeth Dorn Lublin
Reforming Japan:
The Woman’s Christian Temperance
Union in the Meiji Period
lublin.indd 3 15/03/2010 3:56:53 PM
© UBC Press 2010
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written
permission of the publisher, or, in Canada, in the case of photocopying or other
reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright
Licensing Agency), www.accesscopyright.ca.
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in Canada on FSC-certified ancient-forest-free paper
(100% post-consumer recycled) that is processed chlorine- and acid-free.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Lublin, Elizabeth Dorn, 1968-
Reforming Japan : the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in the
Meiji period / Elizabeth Dorn Lublin.
(Asian religions and society series, ISSN 1705-4761)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7748-1816-2
1. Woman’s Christian Temperance Union – History. 2. Social problems – Japan
– History. 3. Women social reformers – Japan – History. 4. Patriotism – Japan.
5. Japan – Social conditions – 1868-1912. 6. Japan – Social policy. 7. Japan – Moral
conditions. I. Title. II. Series: Asian religions and society series
HV5247.J3L83 2010 363.4’1095209034 C2010-900151-6
UBC Press gratefully acknowledges the financial support for our publishing
program of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry
Development Program (BPIDP) and the British Columbia Arts Council.
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Association
for Asian Studies.
Printed and bound in Canada by Friesens
Set in Palatino and The Sans by Artegraphica Design Co. Ltd.
Copy editor: Matthew Kudelka
Proofreader: Dallas Harrison
UBC Press
The University of British Columbia
2029 West Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2
www.ubcpress.ca
lublin.indd 4 15/03/2010 3:56:54 PM
Contents
List of Illustrations / vi
Acknowledgments / vii
Introduction / 1
Part 1: The WCTU in Meiji Japan: An Organizational History
1 The Founding of the WCTU in Japan: 1886 / 13
2 The Tumultuous Early Years of the Tokyo WCTU: 1886-92 / 33
3 The Organization and Development of the Japan WCTU: 1892-1912 / 63
Part 2: Under the Guise of National Strengthening and “Good” Citizenship:
Pillars of the WCTU’s Reform Program
4 The Fight against Prostitution / 101
5 The Struggle to Create a Sober Society / 126
6 Imperial Loyalty and Patriotic Service Japan WCTU-Style / 149
Epilogue / 171
Notes / 177
Bibliography / 225
Index / 242
lublin.indd 5 15/03/2010 3:56:54 PM
Illustrations
1 Mary Clement Leavitt / 22
2 The front cover of Tōkyō fujin kyōfū zasshi, no. 1 (14 April 1888) / 43
3 Yajima Kajiko / 46
4 Mary Allen West / 65
5 The front cover of Fujin kyōfū zasshi, no. 1 (2 November 1893) / 75
6 The front cover of Fujin shimpō, no. 1 (28 February 1895) / 81
7 Clara Parrish / 85
8 Ushioda Chiseko / 94
9 The exterior of temperance rest house at the National Industrial
Exposition in Osaka, 1903 / 145
10 The interior of the rest house at the National Industrial
Exposition in Osaka, 1903 / 146
11 A WCTU comfort bag from the Russo-Japanese War / 164
lublin.indd 6 15/03/2010 3:56:54 PM
Acknowledgments
This project originated at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. From my first
day on campus in 1994, Sharon Minichi ello made clear her belief in the value
of my research and her conviction that I had the ability and endurance to
carry it out. She acted on that faith in ways small and large and, in the pro-
cess, taught me about the kind of adviser I wanted to be to my own students.
I will forever be indebted to her for that example and for her guidance of
my work on the Japan WCTU at its most formative stage.
Many other individuals and institutions have given critical support over
the years, and I am delighted to have the opportunity to express my thanks
here. Alfred Epstein eased my way into primary research by expertly show-
ing me all that the Frances E. Willard Memorial Library and Archives in
Evanston, Illinois, had to offer and by allowing me to mine its holdings in
English and Japanese even after hours. The Crown Prince Akihito Scholar-
ship Foundation and the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of
Hawai‘i at Manoa provided the necessary funding for a much longer research
stay in Tokyo, with money left over for months of writing. Ide Sachiko fa-
cilitated that work by very graciously sponsoring my two-year affiliation
with Japan Women’s University. The institution’s library proved to be an
excellent resource, supplemented with regular forays to the National Diet
Library and the library at the Tokyo Women’s Plaza. It also served as a place
to meet Takekuro Makiko, then one of Professor Ide’s students, who kindly
spent hours helping me learn to decipher materials from the early days of
the Tokyo WCTU. Kakuko Shoji of the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa and
Kushida Kiyomi of the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Stud-
ies in Yokohama likewise went beyond the call of duty to help me translate
printed and handwritten texts that I found particularly byzantine. Takahashi
Kikue similarly helped me unravel puzzles with her answers to a long list
lublin.indd 7 15/03/2010 3:56:54 PM
viii Acknowledgments
of questions on the WCTU in Japan, and I am extremely grateful for her time
and willingness to share her knowledge and resources as a long-time member
of the union and a participant in the compilation of its one-hundred-year
history.
Among those to whom I owe more recent thanks, Paul Varley, Patricia
Steinhoff, Albert Craig, Cedric Cowing, and Harry Lamley prodded me to
think more critically and more broadly. Duncan Williams, Barbara Ambros,
Terrence Jackson, and Stephen Covell, involved at one time or another in
the self-styled Komazawa PhD Kenkyūkai (Research Group), spurred me
to consider how individual pieces of the story fit into the project as a whole.
So did Bill Londo and John Davis, as well as Louis Perez, Roy Hanashiro,
Michael Bathgate, and those others in the Midwest Japan Seminar who
travelled to Appleton, Wisconsin, for a two-hour discussion of my work one
Saturday afternoon in late 2003. Generous funding from Wayne State Uni-
versity in the form of a Minority/Women Summer Grant and a Humanities
Center Faculty Fellowship enabled me to venture even farther to gather
additional research materials in Tokyo. An early sabbatical from Wayne
State granted me time for yet another trip to Japan and allowed me the
luxury of concentrating on manuscript revisions. Work on those advanced,
with much appreciated encouragement and references from Ann Harring-
ton, A. Hamish Ion, and Garrett Washington and critical comments received
from Sally Hastings, Jan Bardsley, and two anonymous reviewers for an
article I published in the U.S.-Japan Women’s Journal. Insightful suggestions
from my two outside readers for UBC Press informed additional changes,
and the end result is more polished because of their advice. Much gratitude
goes as well to Emily Andrew, Randy Schmidt, and Megan Brand of UBC
Press. Their enthusiasm for this book and the care with which they guided
it and me through the stages of publishing made working with them a
real pleasure. My colleagues at Wayne State have also provided tremen-
dous support through their solicitation, example, and recommendations.
Marc Kruman, Sandra VanBurkleo, Elizabeth Faue, Charles Hyde, Stanley
Shapiro, Hans Hummer, Eric Ash, Janine Lanza, Catherine Ash, and Aaron
Retish deserve special mention among them. More thanks go to the History
Department and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Wayne State
and to the Association for Asian Studies for generously awarding me sub-
ventions and to Janet Olson of the Frances E. Willard Memorial Library and
Archives, Satake Junko and Yoshida Mutsuko of the Japan WCTU, and Fuji
Shuppan for granting me permission to reprint the illustrations I do. I am
likewise grateful for permission to include research previously published
lublin.indd 8 15/03/2010 3:56:54 PM
Acknowledgments ix
in Transnational Women’s Activism in Historical Perspective (Republic of Letters
Publishing), the U.S.-Japan Women’s Journal (Josai International University),
and Japanese Religions (NCC Center for the Study of Japanese Religions).
Though words are inadequate, I do want to end by trying to express my
appreciation to the following. Noell Wilson has been an exceptional friend,
mentor, critic, and inspiration, and I have been truly lucky to have her in
my corner. My parents, Jake and Carole Dorn, have long made me aware of
their unwavering support of my aspirations and interests, and their uncon-
ditional love, and I would not be where I am today without them. Finally,
my biggest thanks go to my husband, Keith, and our sons, Oliver and Isaac.
Their smiles and giggles provided levity when most needed, and the thought
of more time with them helped keep me at my computer, even when all I
wanted to do was join them at the playground. In appreciation of their
patience, encouragement, and affection, I dedicate this book to them.
Note on Japanese Names
Following the practice in East Asia, Japanese surnames come before given
names, with the exception of individuals of Japanese ancestry living in the
United States and scholars whose English-language works have been cited.
Macrons have been omitted in place names for such well-known cities as
Tokyo and Osaka when they appear in the text, in translations of Japanese
organizations and titles, and as places of publication.
lublin.indd 9 15/03/2010 3:56:54 PM