{
  "issue_key": "vol10-no1-2025",
  "volume": 10,
  "number": 1,
  "season": "Autumn 2025",
  "year": 2025,
  "sequence": 7,
  "type": "research-article",
  "section": "Research Article",
  "title": "Western Women’s Influence in Japanese Education, 1868–1912",
  "subtitle": null,
  "slug": "western-women-s-influence-in-japanese-education-1868-1912",
  "corporate_author": null,
  "authors": [
    {
      "given_name": "Gerry",
      "family_name": "Takamura",
      "credentials": null,
      "affiliation": "London Churchill College",
      "email": "gerry.takamura@lcc.ac.uk",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3107-1874",
      "is_corresponding": true,
      "sequence": 1
    }
  ],
  "abstract": "Between 1868 and 1912, Japan underwent a radical transformation as it emerged from over two centuries of relative seclusion and launched an ambitious programme of modernization. Central to this national project was the reform of education, marked notably by the 1872 Gakusei (Education Order), which aimed to reshape Japan’s schooling system along Western lines. This study reframes the narrative of Meiji educational reform by highlighting how Western women, many of them missionaries, reformers, or independently hired educators, helped redefine female education and expand the horizons of Japanese womanhood in ways that both aligned with and subtly challenged the Meiji government’s domestic ideal of ryōsai kenbo (“good wife, wise mother”). Their influence, though often omitted from mainstream accounts, was crucial to Japan’s transformation and offers vital insights into the gendered dynamics of cultural exchange during a pivotal era of global change.\n\nThe study draws on memoirs, letters, and institutional records to explore how these women interpreted and navigated Japanese society. Rather than passive transmitters of Western ideals, they engaged in complex negotiations of identity and cultural difference. Many challenged Victorian gender expectations even as they embodied them, asserting intellectual agency in a space historically defined by domesticity. Their experiences reveal how gender conditioned their access to Japanese households and their ability to shape cross-cultural interactions through the informal realm of “soft diplomacy,” influencing social attitudes and fostering intercultural understanding from within the private sphere.\n\nThis project contributes to a more gender-sensitive historiography of the Meiji era, engaging with scholarship that has typically privileged race and nationality while sidelining gender as a lens of analysis. It also addresses contemporary relevance: Japan’s current ranking of 118th in the 2024 Global Gender Gap Index underscores the need to historicize gender inequality and recognize the long-standing struggles and contributions of women - both foreign and Japanese - in shaping educational discourse. By focusing on themes such as cross-cultural adaptation, and the role of women in knowledge transmission, the research positions Western women not as peripheral figures but as active participants in Japan’s modernizing project.",
  "keywords": [
    "Education",
    "Japan",
    "Western women",
    "Meiji era",
    "Gender",
    "missionaries"
  ],
  "first_page": 52,
  "last_page": 64,
  "pdf_start": 52,
  "pdf_end": 64,
  "references": [
    {
      "ordinal": 1,
      "raw_text": "Adam, E. (1910) Behind the Shoji. London: Methuen. & Co.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Adam, E. (1910) *Behind the Shoji*. London: Methuen. & Co."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 2,
      "raw_text": "Bacon, A. M. (1891) Japanese Girls and Women. Boston and New York: Houghton-Mifflin.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Bacon, A. M. (1891) *Japanese Girls and Women*. Boston and New York: Houghton-Mifflin."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 3,
      "raw_text": "Bird, I. (2005) Unbeaten Tracks in Japan. New York: Dover Publications.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Bird, I. (2005) *Unbeaten Tracks in Japan*. New York: Dover Publications."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 4,
      "raw_text": "Chamberlain, B. H. (1901) A Handbook for Travellers in Japan. London: Murray.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Chamberlain, B. H. (1901) *A Handbook for Travellers in Japan*. London: Murray."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 5,
      "raw_text": "Davies, J.D. (1894) A Maker of New Japan, Rev. Joseph Hardy Neesima. New York: Fleming H. Revell.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Davies, J.D. (1894) *A Maker of New Japan, Rev. Joseph Hardy Neesima*. New York: Fleming H. Revell."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 6,
      "raw_text": "Fraser, M. C. (1910) A Diplomatist’s Wife in Many Lands. New York: Dodd, Mead.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Fraser, M. C. (1910) *A Diplomatist’s Wife in Many Lands*. New York: Dodd, Mead."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 7,
      "raw_text": "Griffis, Willian Elliot (1913) Hepburn of Japan and His Wife and Helpmates: A Life Story of Toil for Christ. Philadelphia: Westminster Press.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Griffis, Willian Elliot (1913) *Hepburn of Japan and His Wife and Helpmates: A Life Story of Toil for Christ*. Philadelphia: Westminster Press."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 8,
      "raw_text": "Hart-Bennett, E. M. (1906) An English Girl in Japan. London: Wells Gardner. 2nd ed.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Hart-Bennett, E. M. (1906) *An English Girl in Japan*. London: Wells Gardner. 2nd ed."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 9,
      "raw_text": "Hearn, L. (1903) Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan (vol I). London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Hearn, L. (1903) *Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan* (vol I). London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 10,
      "raw_text": "The Russell Collection at Kwassui Gakuin in Nagasaki, Japan. The Russell Collection houses Russell's original journal (and a typescript), copies and typescripts of her letters, Russell's personal library, census records, travel documents, and photographs, among other materials.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "The Russell Collection at Kwassui Gakuin in Nagasaki, Japan. The Russell Collection houses Russell's original journal (and a typescript), copies and typescripts of her letters, Russell's personal library, census records, travel documents, and photographs, among other materials."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 11,
      "raw_text": "Whitney, C. A. N. (1979). Clara's Diary: An American Girl in Meiji Japan. Tokyo; New York: Kodansha International.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Whitney, C. A. N. (1979). *Clara's Diary: An American Girl in Meiji Japan*. Tokyo; New York: Kodansha International."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 12,
      "raw_text": "Berry, J. C. (1912) ‘Medicine in Japan: Its Development and Present Status.’ Journal of Race Development, 2(4): 471.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Berry, J. C. (1912) ‘Medicine in Japan: Its Development and Present Status.’ *Journal of Race Development*, 2(4): 471."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 13,
      "raw_text": "Bersma, R. P. (2002) Titia: The First Western Woman in Japan. The Netherlands: Hotei.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Bersma, R. P. (2002) *Titia: The First Western Woman in Japan*. The Netherlands: Hotei."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 14,
      "raw_text": "Boyd, J. (1996) Hannah Riddell: An Englishwoman in Japan. Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo: Turtle Publishing.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Boyd, J. (1996) *Hannah Riddell: An Englishwoman in Japan*. Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo: Turtle Publishing."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 15,
      "raw_text": "Chaiklin, M. (2003) Cultural Commerce and Dutch Commercial Culture: The Influence of European Material Culture on Japan, 1700-1850. Leiden, the Netherlands: Leiden University Press.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Chaiklin, M. (2003) *Cultural Commerce and Dutch Commercial Culture: The Influence of European Material Culture on Japan, 1700-1850*. Leiden, the Netherlands: Leiden University Press."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 16,
      "raw_text": "Eder, E. K. (2003) Constructing Opportunity: American Women Educators in Early Meiji Japan. Lanham, MD.: Lexington Books.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Eder, E. K. (2003) *Constructing Opportunity: American Women Educators in Early Meiji Japan*. Lanham, MD.: Lexington Books."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 17,
      "raw_text": "Fukuchi, I. (1993) ‘Kokoro and ‘the Spirit of Meiji’. Monumenta Nipponica, 48(4):469-488.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Fukuchi, I. (1993) ‘Kokoro and ‘the Spirit of Meiji’. *Monumenta Nipponica*, 48(4):469-488."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 18,
      "raw_text": "Hellyer, R. (2002) ‘Review of Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on the “Sakoku” Theme in Japanese Foreign Relations: 1600-2000.’ Social Science Japan Journal, 5(2):255–59. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30209385.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Hellyer, R. (2002) ‘Review of Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on the “Sakoku” Theme in Japanese Foreign Relations: 1600-2000.’ *Social Science Japan Journal*, 5(2):255–59. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30209385."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 19,
      "raw_text": "Hesselink, R. (2001) Prisoners from Nambu: Reality and Make-Believe in Seventeenth-Century Japanese Diplomacy. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Hesselink, R. (2001) *Prisoners from Nambu: Reality and Make-Believe in Seventeenth-Century Japanese Diplomacy*. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 20,
      "raw_text": "Koyama, S. and Sylvain, G. A. (1994) ‘The ‘Good Wife and Wise Mother’ Ideology in Post-World War I Japan.’ U.S.-Japan Women’s Journal. English Supplement, 7:31–52.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Koyama, S. and Sylvain, G. A. (1994) ‘The ‘Good Wife and Wise Mother’ Ideology in Post-World War I Japan.’ *U.S.-Japan Women’s Journal. English Supplement*, 7:31–52."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 21,
      "raw_text": "Koyama, S. (13 Nov. 2012). Ryōsai Kenbo. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Koyama, S. (13 Nov. 2012). *Ryōsai Kenbo*. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 22,
      "raw_text": "Kumojima, T. (2022) Victorian Women's Travel Writing on Meiji Japan: Hospitable Friendship. Oxford: Oxford University Press.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Kumojima, T. (2022) *Victorian Women's Travel Writing on Meiji Japan: Hospitable Friendship*. Oxford: Oxford University Press."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 23,
      "raw_text": "Matthews, G. (1987) “Just a Housewife”: The Rise and Fall of Domesticity. New York: Oxford University Press.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Matthews, G. (1987) *“Just a Housewife”: The Rise and Fall of Domesticity*. New York: Oxford University Press."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 24,
      "raw_text": "Maxey, T. (2020) Niijima Jō, the Dōshisha, and the Christian Liberal Arts in Meiji Japan. In Martha Saxton (ed.), Amherst in the World. Massachusetts: Amherst College Press. pp 73-88.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Maxey, T. (2020) Niijima Jō, the Dōshisha, and the Christian Liberal Arts in Meiji Japan. In Martha Saxton (ed.), *Amherst in the World*. Massachusetts: Amherst College Press. pp 73-88."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 25,
      "raw_text": "Molony, B. and Uno, K. (Eds). (2005). Gendering Modern Japanese History, 1st ed. Vol. 251. Cambridge MA. & London: Harvard University Asia Center.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Molony, B. and Uno, K. (Eds). (2005). *Gendering Modern Japanese History*, 1st ed. Vol. 251. Cambridge MA. & London: Harvard University Asia Center."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 26,
      "raw_text": "Nishida, Y. (2022) ‘Missionary Froebelians’ Pedagogy and Practice: Annie L. Howe and Her Glory Kindergarten Teacher Training School.’ History of Education Quarterly, 62(4):447-474.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Nishida, Y. (2022) ‘Missionary Froebelians’ Pedagogy and Practice: Annie L. Howe and Her Glory Kindergarten Teacher Training School.’ *History of Education Quarterly*, 62(4):447-474."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 27,
      "raw_text": "Patessio, M. (2011) Foreign Women Missionaries and the Japanese Female Charges. In Women and Public Life in Early Meiji Japan: The Development of the Feminist Movement. Michigan: University of Michigan Press. pp. 71–106.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Patessio, M. (2011) Foreign Women Missionaries and the Japanese Female Charges. In *Women and Public Life in Early Meiji Japan: The Development of the Feminist Movement*. Michigan: University of Michigan Press. pp. 71–106."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 28,
      "raw_text": "Pearson, S. (2010) Constructing Masculine Narrative: Charlotte Brontë’s The Professor. In Frantz, S.S.G. and Rennhak, K. (Eds), Women Constructing Men: Female Novelists and Their Male Characters, 1750- 2000. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. pp. 83-99.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Pearson, S. (2010) Constructing Masculine Narrative: Charlotte Brontë’s The Professor. In Frantz, S.S.G. and Rennhak, K. (Eds), *Women Constructing Men: Female Novelists and Their Male Characters, 1750- 2000*. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. pp. 83-99."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 29,
      "raw_text": "Robins-Mowry, D. (1990). Westernizing Influences in the Early Modernization of Japanese Women's Education. In E. R. Beauchamp and A. Iriyo (Eds.), Foreign Employees in Nineteenth Century Japan. New York: Routledge. pp. 121-136.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Robins-Mowry, D. (1990). Westernizing Influences in the Early Modernization of Japanese Women's Education. In E. R. Beauchamp and A. Iriyo (Eds.), *Foreign Employees in Nineteenth Century Japan*. New York: Routledge. pp. 121-136."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 30,
      "raw_text": "Seat, K. (2008). Providence Has Freed Our Hands: Women's Missions and the American Encounter with Japan. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Seat, K. (2008). *Providence Has Freed Our Hands: Women's Missions and the American Encounter with Japan*. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 31,
      "raw_text": "Sterry, L. (2003) ‘Constructs of Meiji Japan: The Role of Writing by Victorian Women Travellers.’ Japanese Studies, 23(2):167-183.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Sterry, L. (2003) ‘Constructs of Meiji Japan: The Role of Writing by Victorian Women Travellers.’ *Japanese Studies*, 23(2):167-183."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 32,
      "raw_text": "______, (2009) Victorian Women Travellers in Meiji Japan: Discovering a ‘New’ Land. Folkestone, Kent: Global Oriental.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_, (2009) *Victorian Women Travellers in Meiji Japan: Discovering a ‘New’ Land*. Folkestone, Kent: Global Oriental."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 33,
      "raw_text": "Takamichi, M. (2021) Universities in Modern Japan: A Historical Outline. In P. Snowden (Ed.), Handbook of Higher Education in Japan. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. pp. 1–12.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Takamichi, M. (2021) Universities in Modern Japan: A Historical Outline. In P. Snowden (Ed.), *Handbook of Higher Education in Japan*. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. pp. 1–12."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 34,
      "raw_text": "Toby, R. P. (1977) ‘Reopening the Question of Sakoku: Diplomacy in the Legitimation of the Tokugawa Bakufu.’ Journal of Japanese Studies, 3/2(Summer):323-363.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Toby, R. P. (1977) ‘Reopening the Question of Sakoku: Diplomacy in the Legitimation of the Tokugawa Bakufu.’ *Journal of Japanese Studies*, 3/2(Summer):323-363."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 35,
      "raw_text": "______, (1984) State and Diplomacy in Early Modern Japan: Asia in the Development of the Tokugawa Bakufu. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_\\_, (1984) *State and Diplomacy in Early Modern Japan: Asia in the Development of the Tokugawa Bakufu*. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 36,
      "raw_text": "Tocco, M. (2005) Made in Japan: Meiji Women’s Education. In Barbara Molony and Kathleen Uno (Eds.), Gendering Modern Japanese History, 1st ed. 251:39–60. Cambridge MA. & London: Harvard University Asia Center.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Tocco, M. (2005) Made in Japan: Meiji Women’s Education. In Barbara Molony and Kathleen Uno (Eds.), *Gendering Modern Japanese History*, 1st ed. 251:39–60. Cambridge MA. & London: Harvard University Asia Center."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 37,
      "raw_text": "Tosh, J. (1999) A Man’s Place: Masculinity and the Middle-Class Home in Victorian England. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Tosh, J. (1999) *A Man’s Place: Masculinity and the Middle-Class Home in Victorian England*. New Haven and London: Yale University Press."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 38,
      "raw_text": "Totman, C. (1993) Early Modern Japan. Berkeley: University of California Press.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Totman, C. (1993) *Early Modern Japan*. Berkeley: University of California Press."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 39,
      "raw_text": "Usui, C. (1990) Margaret C. Griffis and the Education of Women in Early Meiji Japan. In E. R. Beauchamp and A. Iriye (Eds.), Foreign Employees in Nineteenth Century Japan. New York: Routledge.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Usui, C. (1990) Margaret C. Griffis and the Education of Women in Early Meiji Japan. In E. R. Beauchamp and A. Iriye (Eds.), *Foreign Employees in Nineteenth Century Japan*. New York: Routledge."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 40,
      "raw_text": "Washington, G. L. (2013) ‘St. Luke’s Hospital and the Modernisation of Japan, 1874–1928.’ Health and History, 15(2):5-28.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Washington, G. L. (2013) ‘St. Luke’s Hospital and the Modernisation of Japan, 1874–1928.’ *Health and History*, 15(2):5-28."
    },
    {
      "ordinal": 41,
      "raw_text": "Welter, B. (1966) ‘The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860.’ American Quarterly, 18, 2/1(Summer):151-74.",
      "doi": null,
      "markdown": "Welter, B. (1966) ‘The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860.’ *American Quarterly*, 18, 2/1(Summer):151-74."
    }
  ],
  "notes": [
    "31 This article is based on research generously supported by the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Travel Grant awarded in 2023. During the three weeks course of this project, I conducted archival research at the following institutions: Ferris University Library Archives (FULA) in Yokohama; Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts Library in Kyoto; the library of the International Christian University (ICU) in Mitaka, Tokyo; and I accessed primary sources housed at the Hannah Riddell and Wright Memorial Hall in Kumamoto. All remaining research was undertaken at my home institution, the University of Buckingham, in Buckingham and London, UK."
  ],
  "figures": [],
  "files": {
    "html": "index.html",
    "body_markdown": "body.md",
    "pdf": "article.pdf"
  },
  "word_count": 5652,
  "conversion_warnings": [
    "Reference list is printed in two groups under 10pt bold sub-heads \"Primary sources\" (refs 1-11) and \"Secondary sources\" (refs 12-41); kept as one flat list.",
    "The only footnote is printed as number 31 (marker \"education.³¹\"); numbering appears to continue from another document - kept as printed."
  ],
  "manifest_notes": "Historical study. Byline 'Gerry Takamura'. Keywords comma-separated: 'Keywords: Education, Japan, Western women, Meiji era, Gender, missionaries.' One footnote on p.53 (9pt), numbered '31' (numbering continues from another document; marker in body is 'women’s education.31'). Block quotes 9pt italic indented x108 (pp.56, 59). References (heading p.62) split by 10pt bold sub-heads 'Primary sources' (p.62) and 'Secondary sources' (p.63). Contains CJK characters '鎖国' (p.53) and macrons/ligatures (ryōsai, Dōshisha, Niijima Jō, Sœurs) — utf8mb4 needed. No figures/tables.",
  "source": {
    "pdf": "vol10-no1-2025.pdf",
    "ocr": false
  },
  "reviewed": true
}