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Bushido was so thoroughly imbued with the spirit of self-sacrifice, that it was required not only of woman but
of man. Hence, until the influence of its Precepts is entirely done away with, our society will not realize the
view rashly expressed by an American exponent of woman's rights, who exclaimed,  May all the daughters of
Japan rise in revolt against ancient customs! Can such a revolt succeed? Will it improve the female status?
Will the rights they gain by such a summary process repay the loss of that sweetness of disposition, that
THE TRAINING AND POSITION OF WOMAN. 36
Bushido, the Soul of Japan
gentleness of manner, which are their present heritage? Was not the loss of domesticity on the part of Roman
matrons followed by moral corruption too gross to mention? Can the American reformer assure us that a
revolt of our daughters is the true course for their historical development to take? These are grave questions.
Changes must and will come without revolts! In the meantime let us see whether the status of the fair sex
under the Bushido regimen was really so bad as to justify a revolt.
We hear much of the outward respect European knights paid to  God and the ladies,  the incongruity of the
two terms making Gibbon blush; we are also told by Hallam that the morality of Chivalry was coarse, that
gallantry implied illicit love. The effect of Chivalry on the weaker vessel was food for reflection on the part of
philosophers, M. Guizot contending that Feudalism and Chivalry wrought wholesome influences, while Mr.
Spencer tells us that in a militant society (and what is feudal society if not militant?) the position of woman is
necessarily low, improving only as society becomes more industrial. Now is M. Guizot's theory true of Japan,
or is Mr. Spencer's? In reply I might aver that both are right. The military class in Japan was restricted to the
samurai, comprising nearly 2,000,000 souls. Above them were the military nobles, the daimio, and the court
nobles, the kugé these higher, sybaritical nobles being fighters only in name. Below them were masses of
the common people mechanics, tradesmen, and peasants whose life was devoted to arts of peace. Thus
what Herbert Spencer gives as the characteristics of a militant type of society may be said to have been
exclusively confined to the samurai class, while those of the industrial type were applicable to the classes
above and below it. This is well illustrated by the position of woman; for in no class did she experience less
freedom than among the samurai. Strange to say, the lower the social class as, for instance, among small
artisans the more equal was the position of husband and wife. Among the higher nobility, too, the difference
in the relations of the sexes was less marked, chiefly because there were few occasions to bring the
differences of sex into prominence, the leisurely nobleman having become literally effeminate. Thus Spencer's
dictum was fully exemplified in Old Japan. As to Guizot's, those who read his presentation of a feudal
community will remember that he had the higher nobility especially under consideration, so that his
generalization applies to the daimio and the kugé.
I shall be guilty of gross injustice to historical truth if my words give one a very low opinion of the status of
woman under Bushido. I do not hesitate to state that she was not treated as man's equal; but until we learn to
discriminate between difference and inequalities, there will always be misunderstandings upon this subject.
When we think in how few respects men are equal among themselves, e.g., before law courts or voting polls,
it seems idle to trouble ourselves with a discussion on the equality of sexes. When, the American Declaration
of Independence said that all men were created equal, it had no reference to their mental or physical gifts: it
simply repeated what Ulpian long ago announced, that before the law all men are equal. Legal rights were in
this case the measure of their equality. Were the law the only scale by which to measure the position of
woman in a community, it would be as easy to tell where she stands as to give her avoirdupois in pounds and
ounces. But the question is: Is there a correct standard in comparing the relative social position of the sexes?
Is it right, is it enough, to compare woman's status to man's as the value of silver is compared with that of
gold, and give the ratio numerically? Such a method of calculation excludes from consideration the most
important kind of value which a human being possesses; namely, the intrinsic. In view of the manifold variety
of requisites for making each sex fulfil its earthly mission, the standard to be adopted in measuring its relative
position must be of a composite character; or, to borrow from economic language, it must be a multiple
standard. Bushido had a standard of its own and it was binomial. It tried to guage the value of woman on the
battle-field and by the hearth. There she counted for very little; here for all. The treatment accorded her
corresponded to this double measurement; as a social-political unit not much, while as wife and mother she
received highest respect and deepest affection. Why among so military a nation as the Romans, were their
matrons so highly venerated? Was it not because they were matrona, mothers? Not as fighters or law-givers, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]