I propose the cornerstone to understanding how women disappeared from the Noh stage, as well as the radical redefinition of gender perception, is the pervasive Neo-Confucian ideology that swept through Japan at the beginnings of the 17th century. While classical Confucianism had been imported to Japan as early as the 6th Century (Oldstone-Moore 2002, 20) the impact it had upon women and the role they played within the greater Japanese society was insignificant. Women enjoyed positions of power and importance in the post-Kamakura age (after 1333 A.D.) which would remain unchallenged until the establishment of the Tokagawa shogunate.
The Tokagawa era marks a time in history when Japan transitioned from unrest and tumultuous warring factions to political stability and peace.(Morinaga 2002, 253) This transformation was aided by Ieyasu aligning his political ideology with that of the philosophical teachings of Neo-Confucianism. Why would Tokugawa align his strongly “Japanese” mentality on an ideology that is so obviously foreign? Unlike the native Shinto or even Zen Buddhism, Neo-Confucianism “...directly supported the ideas of performing one's role within a socially and politically hierarchical society.” (Kasulis 2004, 108) A rigid value system stressing loyalty, filial piety and civil responsibility, Neo-Confucianism provided a structured environment where every Japanese individual knew their place. Even the newly restless samurai, faced with peacetime, were acculturated into the Neo-Confucian ethic by means of bushidō, “the way of the warrior”. Loyalty to the emperor replaced the allegiance formerly given to regional lords, and samurai warriors traded in their swords for positions of governmental power. (Kasulis 2004, 110)
The “official” Tokagawa moral code was built solidly upon the Five Relationships of Confucianism: “...the obligations between sovereign and subject, father and child, husband and wife, elder and younger brother, and friend and friend- in the given order of importance.” (Ortolani 1995, 171) The Five Relationships are essential to understanding what happened to the position of women both within Japanese society and with the world of traditional arts.
I have already outlined the roles of importance women played with relation to religion and Noh prior to the introduction of Neo-Confucian morality. In addition, it is also important to understand the positions of power women held in the sphere of work outside the household. Obviously, class is a factor in the degree of power a woman held, but even rural village women held positions as artisans, merchants and peddlers as well as manufacturers of commercial goods. (Tabata 1999, 103-111) Even after the notion of labor division by gender was introduced, “...women continued to receive rights to property, joined in battles alongside men, and actively managed their property.” (113) Within the warrior class as well women “...exercised considerable authority within the household...inherit[ing] the rights and responsibilities that went along with their land. Both mothers and fathers bestowed rights to income and obligations for service on sons as well as daughters. Wives continued to own these rights and obligations after they were married....”(Tonomura et. all 1999, 7, emphasis mine)
It is within the upper echelon of Japanese society where women enjoyed the greatest positions of power and the rights and responsibilities that came with those positions, prior to the Tokugawa era. Female officials within the Imperial palace were in charge of keeping a record of events including “...dates, weather, visitor's names, food consumed by the emperor, and ceremonial details,” (Tonomura 1997, 142) as well as managing public relations, and issuing proclamations which conveyed the private intentions of the emperor. (Wakita 1999, 85) Even the male secretaries, who were in charge of the issuing the emperor's imperial orders, had to go through the mediation of the female palace official's office.
Whatever gains women made during the Muromachi period, those responsibilities were eradicated by Ieyasu Tokugawa's rise to power, subsequent regime, and the “...establishment of the 'patriarchal house' as it is understood in modern Japan.” (Tonomura et. all 1999, 8) The foundation for this patriarchal establishment was based on the writings of Kaibara Ekken (1630-1714), lead promoter of Japanese Neo-Confucianism. (Oldstone-Moore 2002, 20).
Ekken is attributed with penning a moralistic text, Onna Daigaku (Greater Learning for Women), which outlines the virtues of wifely submission to her husband. (Yokota 1999, 153) Onna Daigaku reflects a morality of misogyny in its instructions for women to “...'obey her husband as her master...not go out needlessly, but to stay at home to sew clothes for her parents-in-law, fix meals, serve her husband, wash and fold clothes, sweep the floor, and rear children'.” (153) Unlike other Neo-Confucian texts, Onna Daigaku was written in the Japanese syllabary, geared for consumption by Japanese women who, except for the elite, were not generally able to read Chinese characters. (165) The submissive position of women within marriage made a wife the abject servant of her spouse, his parents and any male offspring produced. (Oldstone-Moore 2002, 99)
Another subsequent change to the position of women concerned the rights that govern inheritance, not only with regard to land and titled positions, but also within schools of learning. This element of Neo-Confucian influence was incorporated into the Noh tradition through the established patronage of the Tokagawa shogunate. (Ortolani 1995, 103) Ieyasu Tokagawa not only supported the four Noh troupes whose lineage could be traced back to the time of Zeami, he celebrated his rise to power in 1603 with a Noh performance.(Rimer 1992, 221) These four schools, or za, along with a fifth za formed with Ieyasu's blessing, were headed by great masters known as iemoto. It is during the Tokagawa regime that “the iemoto system became a general pattern of social organization within the world of most traditional arts; it bore a unique cultural function encompassing the preservation and transmission of almost every kind of art...among professionals,”(Ortolani 1995, 105) imposing the strata of Neo-Confucian hierarchy upon the theatrical arts.
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