Hiratsuka Raichō (, transliterated according to the historical kana orthography; born Hiratsuka Haru, ; February 10, 1886 – May 24, 1971) was a Japanese

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

political activist A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some ...

, anarchist, and pioneering feminist in Japan.

Life

Born in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

in 1886, the second daughter of a high ranking civil servant, and educated at

Japan Women's University is the oldest and largest of private Japanese women's universities. The university was established on 20 April 1901 by education reformist . The university has around 6000 students and 200 faculty. It has two campuses, named after the neighb ...

() in 1903, Hiratsuka came to be influenced by contemporary currents of European philosophy, as well as

Zen Buddhism Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), an ...

, of which she would become a devoted practitioner. Of particular influence to her was turn-of-the-century Swedish feminist writer

Ellen Key Ellen Karolina Sofia Key (; 11 December 1849 – 25 April 1926) was a Swedish difference feminist writer on many subjects in the fields of family life, ethics and education and was an important figure in the Modern Breakthrough movement. She was ...

, some of whose works she translated into Japanese, and the

individualistic Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and to value independence and self-relianc ...

heroine of Henrik Ibsen's ''

A Doll's House ''A Doll's House'' ( Danish and nb, Et dukkehjem; also translated as ''A Doll House'') is a three-act play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having be ...

'' (1879). Hiratsuka was also interested in the works of Baruch Spinoza,

Meister Eckhart Eckhart von Hochheim ( – ), commonly known as Meister Eckhart, Master EckhartMorita Sōhei, her teacher – a married writer – and a disciple of novelist

Natsume Soseki Natsume (夏目, 夏芽, 棗, なつめ or ナツメ) is a feminine given name and a surname, and may refer to: People with the given name *, a Japanese light novel author and manga writer *, a Japanese model, singer, and presenter *, a Japanese m ...

, in the mountains of

Nasushiobara 270px, Shiobara Onsen is a city located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 115,794 in 48,437 households, and a population density of 67 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Nasushioba ...

, Tochigi. The pair were found alive on the mountain, but the attempted suicide by such a highly educated pair aroused widespread public criticism. Upon graduation from university, Hiratsuka entered the Narumi Women's English School where, in 1911, she founded Japan's first all-women literary magazine, ''Seitō'' (, literally

Bluestocking ''Bluestocking'' is a term for an educated, intellectual woman, originally a member of the 18th-century Blue Stockings Society from England led by the hostess and critic Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800), the "Queen of the Blues", including E ...

). She began the first issue with the words, "In the beginning, woman was the sun" () – a reference to the

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

sun goddess Amaterasu, legendary ancestress of the Imperial House of Japan, and to the spiritual independence which women had lost. Adopting the pen name ''Raichō'' ("Thunderbird"), she began to call for a women's spiritual revolution, and within its first few years the journal's focus shifted from literature to women's issues, including candid discussion of

female sexuality Human female sexuality encompasses a broad range of behaviors and processes, including female sexual identity and Human sexual activity, sexual behavior, the physiological, psychological, social, cultural, political, and spiritual or religious ...

chastity Chastity, also known as purity, is a virtue related to temperance. Someone who is ''chaste'' refrains either from sexual activity considered immoral or any sexual activity, according to their state of life. In some contexts, for example when ma ...

and

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

. Contributors included renowned poet and women's rights proponent Yosano Akiko, among others. Even though many Japanese became exposed to the ideas of the modern feminists, due to rebuttals by Japan's media, most did not take their ideas seriously, thinking that Raichō and her comrades were attempting to steal a moment of fame in history. Exaggerated stories of their love affairs and nonconformism, once again spread by Japan's mainstream press, turned public opinion against the magazine and prompted Raichō to publish several fierce defenses of her ideals. Her April 1913 essay "To the Women of the World" () rejected the conventional role of women as '' ryōsai kenbo'' (, Good wife and wise mother): "I wonder how many women have, for the sake of financial security in their lives, entered into loveless marriages to become one man's lifelong servant and prostitute." This nonconformism pitted ''Seitō'' not only against the society but the state, contributing to the censorship of women's magazines that "disturbed public order" or introduced "Western ideas about women" incompatible with Japan. The journal folded in 1915, but not before establishing its founder as a leading light in Japan's

women's movement The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality between men and women. Such is ...

. Meanwhile, in 1914, Hiratsuka began living openly with her younger lover, artist Okumura Hiroshi, with whom she had two children out of wedlock and eventually married in 1941. From 1918 to 1919, Yosano Akiko started to claim the importance of women's financial independence in the context of the rapid development of capitalism in Japan after the end of World War I. Since Hiratsuka were influenced by Key's argument for the priority of motherhood through her translated works, she claimed that complete independence was an impractical expectation in the situation at that time, and added that maternity protection with financial assistance by the government would be necessary to establish women's national, social existence in the context of the difficult condition of women's workers, against Yosano's argument. Afterwards,

Yamakawa Kikue was a Japanese essayist, activist, and socialist feminist who contributed to the development of feminism in modern Japan. Born into a highly-educated family of the former samurai class, Yamakawa graduated from the private women's college Josh ...

and

Yamada Waka was a pioneering Japanese feminist and social reformer, active in the late Meiji period, Taishō and Shōwa periods of Japan. Early life Born Asaba Waka in Kurihama Village, Miura County (present day Yokosuka), in Kanagawa Prefecture to a p ...

participated in this debate, and it became a big social movement known as the Maternity Protection Controversy (母性保護論争, Bosei-hogo ronso). HIRATSUKA Raicho

In 1920, following an investigation into female workers' conditions in textile factories in Nagoya which further galvanized her political resolve, Hiratsuka founded the

New Women's Association The New Women's Association (NWA, also known as New Women's Society 新婦人協会, ''Shin-fujin kyokai'') was a Japanese women's rights organization founded in 1919. The organization strove to enhance women's rights in the areas of education, empl ...

(, ''Shin-fujin kyokai'') together with fellow women's rights activist Ichikawa Fusae. It was largely through this group's efforts that Article 5 of the Police Security Regulations—which, enacted in 1900, had barred women from joining political organizations and holding or attending political meetings—was overturned in 1922.

Women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

, however, remained elusive in Japan. A further and more controversial campaign attempted to ban men with

venereal disease Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are Transmission (medicine), spread by Human sexual activity, sexual activity, especi ...

from marrying. This unsuccessful campaign remains a point of controversy surrounding Hiratsuka's career in that it saw her aligning herself with the

eugenics Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior o ...

movement, asserting that the spread of V.D. was having a detrimental effect on the Japanese "race". Hiratsuka would join the cooperative movement in the 1930s, concluding that this would be the best option to include the most number of people towards the main goal of social reform. The next several years, however, saw Hiratsuka withdraw somewhat from the public eye, saddled with debts and her lover beset with health problems, although she would continue to write and lecture. In the postwar years, she emerged again as a public figure through the

peace movement A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals, such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world peac ...

. In 1950, the day after the outbreak of the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, she traveled to the United States together with writer and activist Nogami Yaeko and three other members of the Japan Women's Movement () in order to present US Secretary of State Dean Acheson with a request that a system be created in which Japan could remain neutral and pacifist. Hiratsuka continued to champion women's rights in the postwar era, founding the New Japan Women's Association () in 1963 together with Nogami and noted artist Iwasaki Chihiro, and continuing to write and lecture up until her death in 1971.

Legacy

While her career as a political activist covered many decades, Hiratsuka is primarily remembered for her stewardship of the ''Seitō'' group. As a leading light of the women's movement in early twentieth century Japan, she was a highly influential figure whose devotees ranged from pioneering

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

feminist author

Na Hye-sok Na Hye-seok (, 28 April 1896 – 10 December 1948) was a Korean feminist, poet, writer, painter, educator, and journalist. Her pen name was Jeongwol (). She was a pioneering Korean feminist writer and painter. She was the first female professio ...

() who was a student in Tokyo during ''Seitō''s heyday, to anarchist and social critic

Itō Noe was a Japanese anarchist, social critic, author, and feminist. She was the editor-in-chief of the feminist magazine '' Seitō (Bluestocking)''. Her progressive anarcha-feminist ideology challenged the norms of the Meiji and Taishō periods ...

whose membership in the Seitō organization generated some controversy. Her postwar organization, the New Japan Women's Organization, remains active to this day. On 10 February 2014, Google celebrated Raicho Hiratsuka’s 128th Birthday with a doodle.

Selected works

Original works

* (''Marumado yori'', ''The View from the Round Window'') * (''Genshi, josei wa taiyō de atta'', ''In The Beginning Woman Was The Sun'') * (''Watakushi no aruita michi'', ''The Road I Walked'')

Translations

* Ellen Karolina Key, ''The Renaissance of Motherhood'' (, ''Bosei no fukkō'') * Ellen Karolina Key, ''Love and Marriage'' (, ''Ai to kekkon'') * Teruko Craig, ''In the Beginning, Woman Was the Sun – The Autobiography of a Japanese Feminist''(, ''Genshi, josei wa taiyō de atta'')

References

Sources

* (One Hundred Million People's Showa History from Father to Child – Modern Biographical Histories), Mainichi Shimbun Press, 1977. * Sumiko Otsubo, ''Engendering Eugenics: Women's Pursuit of Anti-V.D. Marriage Restriction Law in Taisho Japan'', Ohio State University Press.

External links

Raicho Hiratsuka

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hiratsuka, Raichō 1886 births 1971 deaths 20th-century Japanese translators Anarcha-feminists Anarcho-pacifists Buddhist feminists Buddhist pacifists Zen Buddhism writers Feminist eugenicists Feminist writers Japan Women's University alumni Japanese anarchists Japanese feminists Japanese pacifists Japanese suffragists Japanese women writers Japanese writers Japanese Zen Buddhists Pacifist feminists Translators to Japanese Writers from Tokyo