Title Ryōsai Kenbo : the educational ideal of 'good wife, wise mother' in modern Japan / by Koyama Shizuko ; translated by Stephen Filler

Published Boston : Brill, 2013

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Description 1 online resource Series The intimate and the public in Asian and global perspectives ; v. 1 Intimate and the public in Asian and global perspectives ; v. 1. Contents Introduction : approach to the issues -- The formation of ryōsai kenbo thought -- Ryōsai kenbo thought and the public education system -- The causes of change -- The reconfiguration of ryōsai kenbo thought -- The evolution of the concept of ryōsai kenbo in morality textbooks -- Epilogue : the meaning of ryōsai kenbo thought Summary "The famous ryōsai kenbo, or 'good wife, wise mother' role of women was not, after all, a traditional Confucian view but a modern construct. In fact, its first appearance in Japan, as Koyama Shizuko points out, was in the latter half of the nineteenth century - due principally to the influence of European ideas about women. Girls at the time were proud to fulfill their new role of contributing to not just the family but to the formation of the state. Koyama's discovery has transformed how we see modern women's history in Japan and the similar discoveries that have followed regarding China's 'wise wife, good mother' and Korea's 'wise mother, good wife.' "Previous studies have interpreted ryōsai kenbo thought, which was widely recognized in nationally-sanctioned educational standards, as a 'backward', 'feudal' or even 'reactionary' view of women, and therefore peculiar to girls' and womens' education in prewar Japan. As a result, ryōsai kenbo thought was seen to be completely distinct from postwar views of women in Japan and Western Europe that have also emphasized the role of women as wives and mothers. Here, however, ryōsai kenbo thought is examined as a mode of thought inseparable from such issues as the formation of the modern citizen-state and the formation of the 'modern family.' Instead of reducing it to a specific, pre-World War II Japanese ideal of womanhood, Koyama argues that ryōsai kenbo thought is, in fact, a modern mode of thought related to, and having much in common with, views of the qualities desirable in a woman both in postwar Japanese society, as well as in modern Western nations and beyond"--Provided by publisher Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Print version record Subject Wives -- Japan -- Attitudes Mothers -- Japan -- Attitudes Women -- Education -- Japan -- History Women -- Japan -- Conduct of life SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Women's Studies. Mothers -- Attitudes Wives -- Attitudes Women -- Conduct of life Women -- Education Japan Genre/Form History Form Electronic book ISBN 9789004244351 9004244352

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