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Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the representations of unfaithful wives written by female writers. Although the Japanese modern penal code of 1880 considered criminal conversation punishable, the literary world was transgressing the bounds of decency, glorifying adultery in the name of 'true love'.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores modern fluctuations in the notion of infidelity around 1910, focusing on the representations of 'unfaithful wives' written by female writers.

"Seitō (Blue Stocking)", the first Japanese literary magazine created by women in 1911, was an important social/literary contribution to the emergence of feminism in the country. However, the members of Seitō society and the magazine caught the curious, mocking eyes of the society at the time, causing some scandals and letting the magazine banned several times. It is notable that the first ban of the magazine in 1912 was for a short story in the April issue, Iku Araki's "Tegami (Letter)", which described a married woman's love for her young lover.

To understand Araki's motif, we should examine the Japanese enthusiastic reception of the Paolo and Francesca episode in Dante's "Divine Comedy". Rediscovered by the romantic artists, this episode of The Comedy attracted attention in nineteenth-century Europe. Although the Japanese modern penal code of 1880 considered criminal conversation punishable by a sentence of major imprisonment, the literary world was transgressing the bounds of decency, influenced by this romantic revival of the Western literary canon and glorifying adultery in the name of 'true love'.

'Loveless marriage has no power before true love' was indeed the basic principle of romantic love ideology. In the Japanese literary world, the empathy with this ideology idealized the longing for the true love, and surmounted the negative feeling towards adultery. In these circumstances, female writers searching for the subjectivity regarding love and marriage were encouraged to speak out. Kusuoko Otsuka created female characters who uninhibitedly voiced their own desires. Her 1908 novella "Soradaki (Incense burner)" depicted the love of a married woman, referring to a painting of Paolo and Francesca by G. F. Watts. On the first issue of "Seitō" (September 1911), Raichō Hiratsuka carried a declaration of women's rights, where she refers with emotion to Rodin's sculpture "The Kiss":an image of Paolo and Francesca. Hiratsuka's glorification of "The Kiss" might have been the affirmation of the passion of love, also implying the denial of the marriage system of the day.

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Paper short abstract:

This paper examines how Meiji literati comprehended the natural and criminal laws by unfolding the mechanism of Kosugi Tengai's 'Hayari-uta' (1902) in which the voice of a married heroine's adultery is illustrated as an 'urge for the love' that is absurdly a repercussion of the natural law—genes.

Paper long abstract:

Among various moral codes of societies, adultery has always been as a topic of discussion in literature. Japan was no exception; Ihara Saikaku portrayed the tragic suicide and execution of false wives in 'Five Women Who Loved Love (1686)' in the Edo period where illicit intercourse with a married woman was considered a grave offense punishable by the death penalty.

A couple of centuries later in the late 19th century, there was a rediscovery of adultery as 'neta' in modern Japanese literature infused by the Kunikida Doppo and other 'shizenshugi writers' who were enthused by Zola's experimental literature impregnated with the ideas of genetics and environmental determination. Zola's and Maupassant's ideas of genetics, environment determination and their style are reflected into the works of Oguri Fuyo, Nagai Kafu and Kunikida Doppo, especially in context of 'shizenshugi' in Japan, which evolved around the concept of subjective and dark depiction of events, a byproduct of naturalism imported from the continent.

This paper aims to unfold the mechanism of Kosugi Tengai's (1865-1952) 'Hayari-uta' (Popular Songs 1902) in which the 'voice' of a married female protagonist's adultery is illustrated as an 'urge for the love' that is absurdly a repercussion of the natural law—genes. Kosugi's work will lead to understand how Meiji literati comprehended criminal laws—like many other Meiji writers, Kosugi Tengai first enrolled into the law school but dropped out and showed interest in law in his writings—along with their understanding of natural law including genetics, for the purpose of inventing male characters doomed to devastation and of female characters ironically with 'autonomous agencies.'

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Paper short abstract:

Shimazaki Toson's Vita Nova was his apologia for the scandalous relationship with his niece, in which the perspectives of the female participant were carefully excluded. This paper, by exploring other contemporary references, seeks to recuperate a marginalized voice in the patriarchal taboo system.

Paper long abstract:

Incest is, in spite of the opinions of authoritative figures such as Claude Levi-Strauss, a rather ambiguous taboo, especially, in its marginal cases. Shimazaki Toson's scandalous affair with his niece, leading to her pregnancy, is a case in point. Unexpectedly, Japanese pre-war civic code had no injunction against marriages between close relatives, let alone, against physical relationships, which were considered personal matters. Social pressure, however, did exist, which Shimazaki sought to avoid and appease by taking refuge in Paris and by writing autobiographical novel _Vita Nova_ to defend himself and restore his social ego. The voice of the female participant of the affair is, however, carefully excluded from his narrative. By exploring other contemporary reference to the case (literary/ journalistic texts, public documents, personal correspondence, etc.), this paper seeks a way to recuperate a marginalized voice in the patriarchal system of taboos, ambiguously fluctuating, though, in its evaluation within literary/journalistic/penal/personal discourses.