The 1911 manifesto that shaped feminism in Japan
At Salon After D’Arc: Feminist Manifestos, Butoh dancer Yumi Umiumare will premiere a work inspired by the 1911 Japanese feminist manifesto ‘In the Beginning, Woman Was the Sun.’
But who authored this manifesto? And how did it spark social change in early 20th-century Japan? Here, we delve into the fascinating history of this groundbreaking text and the life of its author, Haruko Hiratsuka – better known as Hiratsuka Raichō.
Who was Hiratsuka Raichō?
Hiratsuka Raichō was born in 1886 in Kōjimachi, Tokyo. As Jan Bardsley has recounted in The Bluestockings of Japan, her family was well-off, and her childhood was a happy, if slightly unconventional, one. Her father, a Meiji government official, was well-travelled and interested in Western culture – he spoke German and spent time in Europe and the United States. He was also open to educating his daughters: unusually for the era, Raichō and her sister attended kindergarten.
At the time, Japanese society was decidedly unequal in terms of gender. Young girls were given a markedly different education to their male peers – their schooling prepared them for domestic duties and motherhood, rather than a career. At the conclusion of her education (which seldom included higher study), a young woman was expected to marry, bear children and dutifully serve her husband and parents-in-law.
These expectations did not sit well with Raichō: as early as her high school years, she began questioning these conventional notions. By the time she entered university, she was reading radical texts and secretly learning English so that she could access read books and journals from outside Japan.
While at university, she began practicing Zen meditation – a discipline she would maintain her whole life. This spiritual practice of inward looking and transcendence of the Self endowed her a sense of courage to both defy conventional expectations and withstand criticism.
These would prove useful in her chosen career. In 1911, not long after she’d completed her studies, Raichō founded the first women-run literary magazine in Japan.
What was Seitō?
Seitō was a journal that spoke to women’s concerns and interests. It was edited and published by an all-female collective: Hiratsuka Raichō, Yasumochi Yoshiko, Mozume Kazuko, Kiuchi Teiko and Nakano Hatsuko. The name Seitō, meaning ‘bluestocking’, was inspired by a group of women in mid-18th century England who regularly met to discuss literary and intellectual issues.
Initially, the magazine focussed on literary matters. But soon, Seitō shifted to exploring social issues. Under Raichō’s editorship, the magazine openly discussed women’s sexuality, engaged in political debates about the autonomy of the female body and debated issues such as contraception, adultery and abortion. Seitō also published works by feminist writers such as the Swedish philosopher Ellen Key and South African activist Olive Shreiner in translation, introducing global ideas to their Japanese readership.
The journal was radical enough that girls’ schools began to prohibit their students from reading it. Later, it came to the attention of the government and several issues were seized and subsequently destroyed for being a danger to public morals.
'In the Beginning, Woman Was the Sun'
The first issue of Seitō was published on 1 September 1911. It opened with the following words:
‘In the beginning, Woman was truly the Sun. An authentic person. Now, Woman is the Moon. Living off another, reflecting another’s brilliance, she is the moon whose face is sickly and wan.’
Raichō’s editorial was impassioned, calling for the awakening of women’s revolutionary consciousness through spiritual independence and political emancipation. Drawing on the radical philosophies she had studied and incorporating diverse references to art and ideas from across the world, Raichō’s manifesto unfolded like a prose poem or poetic essay. In it, she meditated on life and death, passion and mystery, and returned again and again to the idea that women should not be content with reflected brilliance but should work to ‘recapture our hidden Sun’.
Raichō concluded her manifesto with a defiant call to arms, writing: ‘Even if I collapse halfway, or even if I sink to the bottom of the ocean, a shipwrecked soldier, I will raise both my paralysed hands and yell with my last breath, “Women! Advance! Advance!”’
This powerful sentiment resonated with women throughout Japan. Raichō’s manifesto was a touchstone for the growing feminist movement and became known as the first public address on Japanese women’s rights.
Looking back, Raichō reflected in her memoir, ‘In my wildest dreams, I did not imagine how much my opening statement would stir the young women of my generation’.
What was Seitō’s legacy?
Through its boundary-pushing content, Seitō raised awareness about the issues women faced in Japan, laying important groundwork for the emerging women’s liberation movement. Seitō’s pages became a space for its writers to navigate their place in society and find agency in their lives and relationships, while allowing its readers access to narratives about womanhood, gender roles and sexuality that they had not previously been exposed to.
Seitō was a place for the demonstration of women's talent and encouraged them to become independent through self-emancipation rather than emulating or relying on men. It demanded political rights for women and these demands were enacted through the choices that Raichō and her fellow editors made in their personal lives – whether that was taking lovers outside of marriage or speaking openly about abortion.
More than anything, it is Raichō’s manifesto that is remembered for its galvanising effect, helping to spark a feminist awakening in early 20th-century Japan. It is this legacy that Yumi Umiumare will tap into in her performance, embodying and reinterpreting Raichō’s words through the art of Butoh.
Join us at Salon After D’Arc: Feminist Manifestos to discover more powerful writing by feminists throughout history, and experience Yumi Umiumare’s performance inspired by Hiratsuka Raichō for yourself.
Discover more about Hiratsuka Raichō in the Library’s collection:
- In the Beginning, Woman Was the Sun / by Hiratsuka Raichō; translated, with an introduction and notes, by Teruko Craig
- Hiratsuka Raichō and Early Japanese Feminism / by Hiroko Tamida
- Seitō, volume 3, no 1 / edited by Hiratsuka Raichō – this rare edition will be on display at Salon After D’Arc: Feminist Manifestos