Month: October 2020

Abandoning Family for the Cause – A Look at Kanno Sugako and Kaneko Fumiko

Though historian Arif Dirlik recognized anarchism as a body of widely varying ideas, he argues that all anarchist thought contains a ‘repudiation of authority, especially of the state and the family’.1 By this definition, anarchists must reject connection to their own families for the cause of total social revolution. While many would find this task difficult, looking at the lives of two anarchist thinkers, Kanno Sugako and Kaneko Fumiko, one can see why they may have been driven towards anarchist thought; at the least, one can see how the spurning of family could be so easily accepted by these revolutionaries. I’d like to make it clear that I’m not suggesting an individual must have had a difficult homelife in order to become an anarchist, but I would like to draw attention to its role in the lives of these particular anarchist women.

Both Kanno and Kaneko faced a great deal of hardship in their youth, which contributed to the shaping of their worldviews as teenagers and adults. In the case of Kanno Sugako, she lost her mother at ten, which soon left her at the mercy of a cruel stepmother.2 By the time she was fifteen, Kanno was the victim of rape by a miner who worked for her father. This experience, possibly encouraged by her stepmother, left Kanno with a deep-seated sense of shame, which she coped with by reading Sakai Toshihiko’s essay, ‘in which he counseled rape victims not to be burdened with guilt’.3 The comfort she found through Sakai’s work led her to read his other essays on socialism, therefore exposing her to the ideology for the first time. If it had not been for the cruelty of her stepmother and her sexual assault, Kanno may not have read any of Sakai’s works and may have been less likely to join in the movement as a young adult. What’s more, if she had grown up in a loving family environment, she would have been less likely to agree with the devaluation of family that is essential to anarchist thought. Instead, Kanno proudly claimed that ‘even among anarchists I was among the more radical thinkers’.4 That she found comfort in socialist/anarchist thought rather than in her familial network can only be taken as guiding her towards a more radical way of organizing society. However, how much of Kanno’s radicalism could be attributed to her personal background cannot be determined by this short of an examination.

As for the life of Kaneko Fumiko, she suffered through multiple years of poverty in her early childhood due to her father’s alcoholism before being put under the care of her grandmother.5 While living with her grandmother as Japanese colonists in Korea, Kaneko’s extended family treated her as little more than a maid and often physically abused her. This treatment compounded with her anger over ‘the arrogant manner in which the Japanese occupiers treated the native Koreans’.6 Like Kanno, Kaneko ‘s childhood experiences certainly primed her to accept the anarchist rejection of family’s authority in society. It is no wonder that she questioned why one should remain loyal to a person simply because they are a relative, when hers had always treated her so heartlessly. Instead, she would seek to revolutionize society to equally respect all people. This view in turn connects to her refusal to recognize the authority of the state. After viewing firsthand the abuses enacted on the Koreans, it is understandable that Kaneko would desire a nonhierarchical society based on mutual respect.

Anarchism’s tenet of individual abandonment of family as a central authority, according to Dirlik’s definition, doubtlessly drew in the loyalties of Kanno Sugako and Kaneko Fumiko. As two women who had received years long abuse at the hands of their biological families, it should be no surprise that they were drawn to a social framework that decentralized the family. While all anarchists may not have had comparable experiences, it remains intriguing that both of these Japanese anarchists did share this background. With more comparison of anarchist thinkers’ personal lives, we could learn more about why they were drawn to this seemingly impracticable social ideology. As for now, this observation is interesting but simply coincidence.

  1. Arif Dirlik, Anarchism in the Chinese Revolution (Berkeley, 1991), p. 12. [↩]
  2. For all biographical information found here see Mikiso Hane, Reflections on the Way to the Gallows: Rebel Women in Prewar Japan (Berkeley, 1988), pp. 51-2. [↩]
  3. Hane, Reflections, p. 51 [↩]
  4. Ibid., p. 56. [↩]
  5. For all her biographical information see: Ibid., 75-79 [↩]
  6. Ibid., p. 78 [↩]

A Complicated History: Feminism, Confucianism and Western Imperialism

 

The pre and early modern relationship between East Asian feminism, Confucian hegemony and Western imperialism is an extremely intricate one that cannot be dichotomised. While there were and are numerous points of conflict, as well as cooperation, between the mentioned institutions, their orientations and the modes of argument espoused across time, these dynamics must be complicated. By exploring the lived female experiences in Premodern in Korea and China, both rural and urban, and then tracing the emergence of Chinese feminism, we can see the ways in which women oriented themselves against and also alongside the Confucian tradition and, later, Western Imperialism. Indeed, the configuration of power between the latter two institutions can also be located against a gendered global hierarchy. In synthesising these notions, this article delineates women’s complex social roles and the emergence of feminism in East Asia. As well as this, it problematises female and feminist existence under Confucianism and their engagement with Western imperialism, two institutions which are themselves conversant.

The domestic and public spheres do not conceptually exist in a Confucianised East Asia in the same way they do in the Western world. Rather, the scholar JaHyun Kim Haboush has referred to them here as loose “spheres of activity [and/or] signifiers of morality”.[1] The ontological ambivalence of the inner quarters[2] and therefore those who operate within, however, meant that women had a basis from which they could renegotiate their station. The porosity of these boundaries can be seen both regionally and temporally. And of course, the female experience within premodern Korea saw vast difference differences between the rural and urban demographics as well as the upper and lower classes. With respect to that, different sections of the population, operating in those different spaces, were assigned particular class and gender-based roles which have been injected with different moral sentiments. In Korea and China, the establishment of separate moral literature for women was important to consolidating neo-Confucian culture as they were seen to be the transmitters of its particular brand of ethics and Way of life. Women were to fulfil this obligation through, note the androcentrism of the system, imparting a filial education, preserve her violable chastity/body, take care of her affines and servicing her husband.[3] Interestingly, a woman thereby held a position of considerable influence since she was tasked to ensure a conflict-free familial unit and therefore facilitated her husband’s efforts and complete devotion to outside civil affairs. With that appreciated, a woman’s value and role ultimately became heavily based on streamlining and priming the path to success of her male counterparts and she was only to exert more indirect forms of power under this system.[4]

On the note of female instruction, European missionaries and Chinese merchants, among other groups who espoused shifting agendas, began introducing girl’s educational institutions in the late 20th century.[5] On one hand, they sought to educate rural elite women or those in urban environments on how to be competent wives and wise mothers. On the other hand, they were to be delivered lessons of basic literacy and an understanding of home economy and management.[6] In these two objectives, we can see the dimensionality given to the female role and the ways in which the same forces were both furthering and hindering the feminist cause in different ways. Furthering in the fact that Western imperial projects impacted the female position in East Asia through informing and impressing their feminist framework. Indeed, the works of British liberal men such as John Stuart Mill and Herbert Spencer were imported into China and arguably formed the foundations of Chinese feminism.[7] He Yin’s engagement with Euro-American models of progress and equality was, however, very critical and she observed them to be societies which simply constituted less visible and economic form of oppression. A case in point, the forces of free market capitalism ruined many [female] livelihoods in China as they could not compete and it led them to working multiple jobs, being sold as wives and losing more of their agency to patriarchal forces.[8]  Simply another form of inequality, the departure from liberalist values is seen at work also in the socio-economic subjugation of China by imperialist colonisers. The Western operations of gunboat diplomacy, opening China up to free market capitalism and the Opium Wars of the 1800s all speak to the gendered and racialised domination of the nation by the west and, in particular, Britain.[9] We can see that the global hierarchy that was being created, through a forceful imposition, emulated the domestic hierarchies. This was while the same imperial forces were in an indirectly cooperative dialogue with feminist thinkers of China.

By taking an in depth look at the lives of women in the Korean and Chinese societies, especially the instructions prescribed to them in the inner quarters, we can understand it as microcosmic of the gendered global hierarchy which began to emerge more clearly in the 20th century. This is an order which has also shaped the origins of the feminism which seeks to agentically contest and renegotiate the very hegemony that was created. The relationship between feminism, Confucianism and imperialism is therefore heavily intertwined and dense; we should not quickly simplify the individual components nor polarise their dynamics.

[1] Dorothy Ko, Jahyun Kim Haboush and Joan Piggott, Women and Confucian Cultures In Premodern China, Korea, And Japan (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003), p.7

[2] Ibid, p. 135

[3] Ibid, p.152

[4] Ibid, p.165

[5] Liu, Lydia He, Rebecca E. Karl, and Dorothy Ko. The Birth of Chinese Feminism: Essential Texts in Transnational Theory (Columbia University Press, 2013) p. 34

[6] ibid

[7] Ibid, p. 36

[8] Ibid, p. 32

[9] Ibid, p.28

Managing Confucian Virtue: Women’s Roles in the Transmission of Confucianism.

Women are seemingly afforded a meagre role within the intellectualism and Confucian ideals of Song China. Their position in the lineage-family structure meant that their function was commanded by the dominance of their male counterparts. However, when examined in closer detail, women’s role in coordinating the household meant that she had a significant influence in the dissemination of Confucian ideals through direct access to the familial environment through which Kongzi’s ‘virtue’ was developed.

The organisation of the Song dynasty (960-1279) was primarily structured by ‘jiazu’, or lineage-family which favoured patrilineal relations.[1] Families were organised and divided by the allocation of a father’s property to his sons and family dynamics were governed by the relations between men. By the necessity of performing rites to a common male progenitor, female autonomy was restricted entirely by the dominance of males within these local structures. Consequently, women initially seem to have a limited role in the Confucian dynamics of family.

‘Discord arises in families mostly when women provoke…with words’.[2]

This implies that women were seen as an obstruction in the ordered arrangement of society and that they purposefully aimed to disrupt the predetermined Confucian family setting, especially if they engaged with the intellectual privilege of ‘words’. It suggests that, based on societal organisation, women would not achieve the ‘individual perfection’ which Kongzi promoted that lead to an ordering of the world based on Confucian morals.[3] This further suggests that women were disengaged with Confucian ideals and on a local level were seen as selfish and untrustworthy. Their key value was in the continuation of the family line with the birth of a son. This afforded them no place in either the household hierarchy or the evolution of Confucian thought.

However, despite the role of the female being dismissed by the moral conduct and expectations of society, women’s role did become increasingly prevalent as they became vital for the transmission of Confucian ideology within the family dynamic. Particularly in the countryside, the importance of family and kinship was expressed through ancestral rituals and conjugal relations. Philosophical thought acted to transform this into a Confucian ideology which could be transmitted locally. Lineage-family divisions presented an opportunity for women to gain more autonomy within a smaller circle of power. When a husband passed away, mothers claimed increased authority over their descendants. It thus simplified relations within the family and decreased the risk of female conflict with in-laws which had previously acted as a curb on women’s power. Moreover, the idea of ‘Zhueni’, or the ‘women’s charge’ became characterised by the ability of women to directly transmit Confucian values and influence the behaviour and structure of their family.[4] They were responsible for the allotment of domestic power and allocation of living space, physically governing Kongzi’s desire for virtue to be transmitted by those closest by blood relation. Consequently, women adopted a significant role in the transmission of Confucian values as they became managers of the family sphere, the place where virtue was propagated.

‘To live in the neighbourhood of Good is fine…’.[5]

With increased presence and action within the family, women were the creators and upholders of the Confucian ‘Good’ and responsible for the family’s collective realisation of wisdom. This is exemplified in the production of female didactic texts in the Song. ‘Mr Yuan’s Precepts’ and ‘Zeng Family Instructions’ established the parameters of female autonomy within the family sphere and exerted a Confucian influence over the function of women in this period.[6] Their social significance may have been decreased by the level of gender control and separation in these texts, but it is increased by the very fact that women were integral to the dissemination of the Confucian message.

[1] Dorothy Ko, Kim JaHyun Haboush, Joan Piggott, Women and Confucian Cultures in Premodern China, Korea and Japan, (California, 2003), p.125.

[2] Ibid, p.127.

[3] Philip Ivanhoe, Bryan Van Norden (Eds.), Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy, (2005), p.3.

[4] Dorothy Ko, Kim JaHyun Haboush, Joan Piggott, Women and Confucian Cultures, p.128.

[5] Philip Ivanhoe, Bryan Van Norden (Eds.), Readings, p.10.

[6] Dorothy Ko, Kim JaHyun Haboush, Joan Piggott, Women and Confucian Cultures, p.128.

An innovative Confucian interpretation by a conservative Confucianist: Soraigaku and its ideological influence on Kaiho Seiryō

In contrast to China and Korea, neither Confucianism nor Neo-Confucianism was fully established as the official ideological foundations of government in Tokugawa Japan. Living in a country where shoguns governed based on his military authority (bui 武威), a Confucian scholar Ogyū Sorai 荻生徂徠 (1666–1728) reconsidered the essence of Confucianism after being dedicated to Confucianism and Jinsaigaku 仁斎学 and formed the linguistic methodologies, namely Kobunjigaku 古文辞学, and the new theory of Confucianism, which is called Soraigaku 徂徠学. Consequently, he restructured Confucianism, which was considered merely one of the accomplishments in the early days of the Tokugawa era, into a governance theory that deals with the specific domain of politics. His innovative interpretation of Confucianism derived from his conservative approach had a significant impact on the thought at the end of the Edo period and beyond.

The significance of the rise of Soraigaku in Japan during the Tokugawa period appears to be that Sorai criticised the interpretation of Confucianism by Neo-Confucianism and Jinsaigaku from the perspective of the interpretation of the Way and between righteousness (gi 義) and profit (ri 利).

Firstly, he saw the concept of the Way in Confucianism as the method of governing a country by sages in ancient China, and he regarded the study of the sage’s ideal rule as the essence of Confucianism. In Distinguishing the Way (Bendō 弁道), Sorai developed his interpretation of the Way as the rites, music, punishments, and ordinances (reigakukeisei 礼楽刑政) established by preceding kings, not the natural way of Heaven and earth as explained by the Zhu Xi and Jinsai.[1] On the basis of his interpretation, in Plan for an Age of Great Peace (Taiheisaku 太平策), he envisioned a plan of the sage’s technique of the grand Way (daidō-jutsu 大道術) to establish a political and social system for radically changing the customs in Tokugawa Japan.[2] The idea of applying Confucianism to the politics of Tokugawa Japan as an academic discipline to investigate the specific domain of politics may have contributed to the necessity of Confucianism in Japan.

Secondly, Sorai offered a governance theoretical interpretation of the Confucian ‘distinction between righteousness and profit’ (giri no ben 義利の弁) and argued that they are not in conflict. Zhu Xi discussed righteousness and profit in the scheme of overcoming human greed according to the heavenly principle (tianli 天理) and claimed from the viewpoint of individual morals that only righteousness is to be pursued. On the contrary, Sorai positively acknowledged the pursuit of profit and suggested that righteousness, as a political virtue, was to govern the people in a way that would benefit them. Furthermore, in Discourse on Government (Seidan 政談), he developed the theory of samurai settlement on their land (bushi dochaku-ron 武士土着論) in light of the status quo in Edo and advocated ideal governance rooted in righteousness to alleviate the budget deficit. It can be said that he established the significance of Confucianism as political studies by proposing a concrete policy based on Confucianism reflecting the reality.

Thus, Sorai can be credited with developing a very new interpretation of Confucious’ teachings, while promoting the understanding of Confucianism by directly approaching the Four Books and Five Classics in his conservative Kobunjigaku. In the face of his duality—the methodology he introduced as a conservative Confucianist and the innovative interpretation of Confucianism presented as a result—the question arises of which side of him indeed would receive more emphasis. One of the scholars who attached great importance to the groundbreaking aspects of his interpretation of Confucianism was Kaiho Seiryō 海保青陵 (1755–1817), a disciple of Sorai.

Seiryō was influenced by Sorai’s perspective to capture the actual situation in Tokugawa Japan, and he advocated the theory to govern the society and ease the people (Keisei Saimin-ron 経世済民論), which extended the positive view of the pursuit of profit from Soraigaku. Furthermore, he advanced Sorai’s concept, which affirmed the pursuit of profit, and developed a utilitarian logic that viewed profit (i.e., economic rationality) as tianli. However, while Sorai, as a Confucian, pursued the Way of prior kings, which he considered the essence of Confucianism, Seiryō deviated from Confucianism and prioritised the practicality of political analysis by focusing on theories that were compatible with the current world, thereby reducing the authority of Confucius’ argument and the Way of sages. In other words, Soraigaku became the ideological foundation of Seiryō’s thought, setting aside the objective of Sorai to grasp more faithfully the teachings of Confucius.

The ideological influence of Soraigaku on Seiryō’s thought reveals its methodological significance as well. Criticising the Neo-Confucianist approach and understandings of Confucianism, Sorai developed his interpretation, which he believed was truer to the teachings of Confucius. In other words, the rise of Soraigaku has significant implications for subsequent diverse critical debates on the interpretation of Confucianism and provided the solid foundation of unfettered and rigorous discussions that led to the development of academic fields in Japan. Moreover, it is important to note that the government system of the Tokugawa shogunate, in which Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism were not officially adopted as its governing ideology, played a role in the development of free and varied academic disciplines including Soraigaku based on a critical review of Neo-Confucianism.

Bibliography

De Bary, Wm. Theodore, Gluck, Carol and Tiedemann, Arthur, Sources of Japanese Tradition: 1600–2000 (New York, 2005).

Lidin, Olof G., ‘Ogyū Sorai: Confucian Conservative Reformer: From Journey to Kai to Discourse on Government’, in Chun-chieh Huang and John A. Tucker (eds.), Dao Companion to Japanese Confucian Philosophy (Heidelberg, 2014), pp. 165–182.

Maruyama, Masao 丸山眞男, Nihon Seiji Shisō Shi Kenkyū 日本政治思想史研究 (Tokyo, 1952).

Kuranami, Seiji 蔵並省自 (ed.), Kaiho Seiryō Zenshū 海保青陵全集 (Tokyo, 1976).

Yoshikawa, Kōjirō 吉川幸次郎 (ed.), Nihon Shisō Taikei 36: Ogyū Sorai 日本思想体系36　荻生徂徠 (Tokyo, 1973).

[1] Kōjirō Yoshikawa (ed.), Nihon Shisō Taikei 36: Ogyū Sorai (Tokyo, 1973), pp. 13–14.

[2] Ibid., p. 473.