was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

academic, editor and expert in medieval Japanese women's history.

Early life

Since the age of six, Wakita was interested in

Noh is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...

drama; and she regularly performs on stage. The insight gained from her lifelong study and practice of this medieval theatrical art informs her historical research.Monash University
Professor WAKITA Haruko (Distinguished Visiting Scholar)
She was awarded a BA in Japanese history at

Kobe University , also known in the Kansai region as , is a leading Japanese national university located in the city of Kobe, in Hyōgo Prefecture, Hyōgo. It was established in 1949, but the academic origins of Kobe University trace back to the establishment of ...

in 1956. Further studies led to an MA in 1960 and a PhD in 1969 from

Kyoto University , mottoeng = Freedom of academic culture , established = , type = National university, Public (National) , endowment = ¥ 316 billion (2.4 1000000000 (number), billion USD) , faculty = 3,480 (Teaching Staff) , administrative_staff ...

Career

Wakita was a professor of Japanese history at the

University of Shiga Prefecture is a public university in Hikone, Shiga, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1950, and it was chartered as a university in 1995. The nickname of the university is "Kendai". The first university president was Hidaka Toshitaka ( ...

Hikone 280px, Hikone City Hall is a city located in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 111,958 in 49066 households and a population density of 570 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Hikone is ...

. One of her works, 中世京都と祗園祭, helped pave the way for women to participate in Kyoto's modern

Gion Festival The is one of the largest and most famous festivals in Japan, taking place annually during the month of July in Kyoto. Many events take place in central Kyoto and at the Yasaka Shrine, the festival's patron shrine, located in Kyoto's famous Gion ...

, an ancient festival that had been all-male for centuries. She participated in research projects with historians in France, Italy and the United States. Her work with French scholars resulted in a monograph in Japanese. Her work with colleagues at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

produced in edited volumes and contributions in English.

Selected works

In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Haruko Wakita,

OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was ...

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

encompasses roughly 40+ works in 80 publications in 3 languages and 1,000+ library holdings. * 日本中世商業発達史の研究 (1969) * 室町時代 (1985) * 日本女性史 (1987) * "Town Festivals: Medieval Towns and Seigniorial Authority in Medieval Japan" (Translated by Dr. James McMullen), STUDIES IN JAPANESE LANGUAGE AND CULTURE, Vo. 1., 2991 * 日本中世女性史の研究: 性別役割分担と母性・家政・性愛 (1992) * ジェンダーの日本史 (1994) * 中世に生きる女たち (1995) * "Fêtes et communautés urbaines dans le Japon médiéval. La fête de Gion à Kyôto" (Traduit par Pierre-François Souyri), ANNALES 52o ANNÉE-No5, 1997. * 中世京都と祗園祭　（1999） * ''Women and class in Japanese history'' (1999) with Hitomi Tonomura and Anne Walthall * ''Gender and Japanese history'' (1999) with Anne Bouchy and Chizuko Ueno * 女性芸能の源流: 傀儡子・曲舞・白拍子 (2001) * ''Women in medieval Japan : motherhood, household management and sexuality'' (2006)

Honors

Order of Culture The is a Japanese order, established on February 11, 1937. The order has one class only, and may be awarded to men and women for contributions to Japan's art, literature, science, technology, or anything related to culture in general; recipien ...

"Nobelists Suzuki, Negishi get Order of Culture,"
''Japan Times''. October 27, 2010, retrieved 2011-04-20.

References

1934 births 2016 deaths Kobe University alumni Kyoto University alumni Recipients of the Order of Culture 20th-century Japanese historians Historians of Japan Japanese women historians Japanese medievalists {{Japan-academic-bio-stub