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The Japanese Way of Silence and Seclusion: Memes of Imperial Women

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Elisheva A. Perelman
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Extract

This article examines how tropes of silence and seclusion were utilized both at the dawn of the Japanese imperial house and in its current iteration. Attempts to subjugate women and to subvert subjugation by women exist in the origin myths of Japan, and are repeated in the Heisei era.

Keywords

SilenceseclusionAmaterasuIzanamiMasakoMichikoImperial Household Agency
Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 12 , Issue 41 , October 2014 , e1
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2014

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References

Notes

1 Hiratsuka Raicho. 1992. Genshi, josei ha taiyō deatta: Hiratsuka Raichō jiden 1881-1. Tokyo: Ōtsuki Shoten.

2 Delmer Brown. “Kojiki Commentary.” Japanese Historical Text Archive. Berkeley.

3 Takashi Fujitani. 1996. Splendid Monarchy: Power and Pageantry in Modern Japan.

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5 Ruth Benedict. 1946. The Chrysanthemum and the Sword.

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7 “Kōgōsama hanron.” Mainichi Shimbun. October 10, 1993.

8 “Kunaichō ni tsuite no naka no enkaku.”

9 Louise Lague. April 1, 1991. “He's Educated, Presentable and Comes from a Good Family—So Why Can't Japan's Prince Naruhito Find a Bride?” People.

10 David Sanger. June 7, 1993. “The Molding of Masako-san, Japan's Perfect Bride.” The New York Times.

11 David McNeill and Herbert P. Bix. 2004. “Trouble at the Top: Japan's Imperial Family in Crisis.” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus.