Paper short abstract:

This presentation attempts to trace the ideas and anxieties regarding "onna-rashisa" (femininity) held by Jugaku Akiko (壽岳章子, 1924-2005), pioneering researcher on gender in Japanese language, through introducing diary excerpts from 17 years of her life.

Paper long abstract:

In Jugaku Akiko's (1924-2005) major work, "Japanese Language and Women" (Iwanami Shoten, 1979), she argued that the Japanese language has suppressed and constrained women's lives in various aspects of daily life. In "Japanese Language and Women," Jugaku argues that "onna-rashisa" (femininity or the appearance of being womanly) has oppressed and constrained women in Japan by showing the actual state of Japanese language through women's weekly magazines, songs, proverbs, and sugoroku. In the fall of 2019, I had the opportunity to access Jugaku’s diaries from 1941 to 1958, that is, from the ages of 17 to 34. In this presentation, I attempt to trace the ideas and anxieties of Jugaku’s youthful days up until publishing “Japanese Language and Woman” through her diary. In particular, I will trace Jugaku's views on women as recorded in her diary and examine the process that led to her eventual criticism of "onna-rashisa."

In a 1943 entry, Jugaku used demeaning words regarding friendships with women, such as "onna nante" (the likes of women) (1943/8/25). In her impressions of postwar American films, she praised the acting of the female leads as being "feminine and natural" (1946/5/8). There are also entries that allude to her losing self-confidence as a woman; in one case, after listening to a passionate, powerful performance by a male pianist, she wrote, “I feel the limitations of women, and I feel ashamed of myself” (1955/10/18). Jugaku's first negative reference to "onna-rashisa" appears in her diary in 1956: "At a round-table discussion on 'femininity' in Fujin Koron, I was impressed by Sawamura Sadako" (1956/1/19). In this discussion, Sawamura said that men call a domestic wife "onna-rashii," but a wife who satisfies a man in this way is left with nothing once she gets old. She stressed the necessity for women to have a job that is useful to society, not just to protect the home. In her diary, Jugaku articulated that she was "impressed" by Sawamura's comments. Looking at her diary, it can be assumed that this was the starting point of Jugaku's research on "onna-rashisa" after her earlier shifting views on women.