Hiratsuka Raichō | |
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 Raichō, from her autobiography | |
| Born | Hiratsuka Haru (1886-02-10)February 10, 1886 |
| Died | May 24, 1971(1971-05-24) (aged 85) |
| Nationality | Japanese |
Hiratsuka Raichō (平塚 らいちょう, transliteratedらいてう according to thehistorical kana orthography; bornHiratsuka Haru,平塚 明; February 10, 1886 – May 24, 1971) was a Japanesewriter,journalist,political activist,anarchist, and pioneeringfeminist in Japan.
Born inTokyo in 1886, the second daughter of a high ranking civil servant, and educated atJapan Women's University (日本女子大学) in 1903,[1] Hiratsuka came to be influenced by contemporary currents of European philosophy, as well asZen Buddhism, of which she would become a devoted practitioner. Of particular influence to her was turn-of-the-century Swedish feminist writerEllen Key, some of whose works she translated into Japanese, and theindividualistic heroine ofHenrik Ibsen'sA Doll's House (1879). Hiratsuka was also interested in the works ofBaruch Spinoza,Meister Eckhart, andG. W. F. Hegel during her time at Japan Women's University.[2] In 1908 she attempted a double-suicide withMorita Sōhei, her teacher – a married writer – and a disciple of novelistNatsume Soseki, in the mountains ofNasushiobara,Tochigi. The pair were found alive on the mountain, but the attempted suicide by such a highly educated pair aroused widespread public criticism.[3][4]
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 (青鞜, literallyBluestocking).[5] She began the first issue with the words, "In the beginning, woman was the sun" (「元始、女性は太陽であった」) – a reference to theShinto sun goddessAmaterasu, legendary ancestress of theImperial House of Japan, and to the spiritual independence which women had lost. Adopting the pen nameRaichō ("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 offemale sexuality,chastity andabortion. Contributors included renowned poet and women's rights proponentYosano 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.[6] 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" (「世の婦人たちに」) rejected the conventional role of women asryōsai kenbo (良妻賢母, 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 andprostitute." This nonconformism pittedSeitō 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" deemed incompatible with Japan.[7]
The journal folded in 1915, but not before establishing its founder as a leading light in Japan'swomen's movement. Meanwhile, in 1914, Hiratsuka began living openly with her younger lover, artistOkumura Hiroshi, with whom she had two children out of wedlock and eventually married in 1941.[8]
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.[9] 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.[10][11] Afterwards,Yamakawa Kikue andYamada Waka 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).[10]
In 1920, following an investigation into female workers' conditions in textile factories in Nagoya which further galvanized her political resolve, Hiratsuka founded theNew Women's Association (新婦人協会,Shin-fujin kyokai) together with fellow women's rights activistIchikawa Fusae.[1][12] 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, however, remained elusive in Japan. A further and more controversial campaign attempted to ban men withvenereal disease from marrying. This unsuccessful campaign remains a point of controversy surrounding Hiratsuka's career in that it saw her aligning herself with theeugenics movement, asserting that the spread ofvenereal diseases 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.[6] 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 thepeace movement. In 1950, the day after the outbreak of theKorean War, she traveled to the United States together with writer and activistNogami Yaeko and three other members of the Japan Women's Movement (婦人運動家) in order to presentUS Secretary of StateDean 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 theNew Japan Women's Association (新日本婦人の会) in 1963 together with Nogami and noted artistIwasaki Chihiro, and continuing to write and lecture up until her death in 1971.
While her career as a political activist covered many decades, Hiratsuka is primarily remembered for her stewardship of theSeitō 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 pioneeringKorean feminist authorNa Hye-sok (나혜석; 羅蕙錫) who was a student in Tokyo duringSeitō's heyday, toanarchist and social criticItō Noe whose membership in the Seitō organization generated some controversy. Her postwar organization, theNew Japan Women's Association, remains active to this day.[13]
On February 10, 2014, Google celebrated Raicho Hiratsuka's 128th birthday with adoodle.[14]
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