Critiquing the Discourse on Women in the Edo Era: Intertextual Studies of Ariyoshi’s Hanaoka Seishū No Tsuma (original) (raw)

At the beginning of the feudal period, women's inheritance rights to wealth were still recognized, and their role in the social and political system was still identifiable. However, the role and position of women continued to shrink continuously until the Edo period in the 17th century. Before Neo-Confucianism influenced Japanese thought, women had a very high status. Until the 12th century, they had much higher property rights, inheritance rights, and family positions; earlier, in prehistoric and early historical societies, Japanese women held high positions (Pharr, 1977). Ancient Japanese society Japan was a materialbased society. Both men and women held the same position as political and religious leaders at this time. (Reischauer, 1982: p. 269) It can be seen from various ancient texts state that a female emperor once ruled Japan until the beginning of the Muromachi period. The conquest of Japanese women was complete with the end of the feudal war and Japan's entry into the Tokugawa peace period (1603-1868). Japanese women were stripped of almost all the prerogatives they had enjoyed in the prefeudal period when Japan evolved from the traces of its matriarchal origins. (Pharr, 1977: p. 227) There are limitations in this study regarding the reading process of three Edo period works because all three were written using classical Japanese script. Therefore, the reading of these three works is done with the help of secondary texts, both in the Edo period text, which has been rewritten into modern Japanese and in the form of translation texts in English that have been officially published. Thus, the discussion of the three works of the Edo period in this section also refers to these secondary texts.