Reflections on the Way to the Gallows: Rebel Women in Prewar Japan Reprint Edition
by Mikiso Hane (Editor, Translator)
4.8 out of 5 stars 7 ratings
ISBN-13: 978-0520084216
ISBN-10: 0520084217Why is ISBN important?
In this book, for the first time, we can hear the startling, moving voices of adventurous and rebellious Japanese women as they eloquently challenged the social repression of prewar Japan. The extraordinary women whose memoirs, recollections, and essays are presented here constitute a strong current in the history of modern Japanese life from the 1880s to the outbreak of the Pacific War.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Through these translations Mikiso Hane has reunited women with a historical political tradition, showing us how vital a part of that prewar protest they were."--"Women's Review of Books
About the Author
Mikiso Hane (1922-2003) was Szold Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois.
Product details
Series: Rebel Women in Prewar Japan
Paperback: 340 pages
Publisher: University of California Press; Reprint edition (October 6, 1993)
Language: English
Customer reviews
4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
7 customer ratings
5 star 84%
4 star 16%
Top Reviews
Walter D. Teague
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing and heroic women and men in prewar Japan.Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2013
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I highly recommend this wonderful book to all who are concerned about injustice and those who learn to work for the common good, regardless of the dangers.
Most of us had no idea of the difficult conditions and dangerous struggles going in prewar Japan by what we would call "progressives" both men and women who often on their own, had to learn the basics of social and political science just to start questioning their oppressed condition. Then when they dared to take the first steps to reach out and educate other workers, they ran the risk of death, torture and imprisonment.
Reading their stories told through their letters and those of their loved ones, I was so moved, that I had to stop from time to time. I have lost dear friends who were also good people and did what they could to help friends and try to make the world a better place, but few lived in such dire and difficult conditions as these women. They had so little resources and the inspiring history and examples we take for granted.
I wish I knew them, and that others could have helped them survive and succeed in making a more humane Japan. We all would have benefited if the progressive women and men prewar Japan had overcome the backward imperial state.
If the famous and wonderfully talented Japanese filmmakers ever told the stories of these woman, I haven't heard. I am so glad I stumbled across this book.
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Z.A. Mrefu
5.0 out of 5 stars A classic of global feminist history!Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2013
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Mikiso Hane's book is probably one of the most cited works on early-20th century Japanese feminism available in the English language. And with good reason! The stories of women like Kanno Sugako and Kaneko Fumiko are simultaneously tragic and inspiring. These anarchist women were heroic rebels who died for their principles. All feminists and revolutionaries today can learn something from their stories. I cannot recommend this book enough.
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Chimonsho
4.0 out of 5 stars The Struggle For Civil Society In JapanReviewed in the United States on April 16, 2005
This book explores paths to the modern world that Japan did not take, at least not until after 1945 under US occupation. "Reflections" is a logical extension of Hane's groundbreaking "Peasants, Rebels & Outcastes," which stands on its own in showing the darker aspects of the post-1868 Japanese "miracle." Here he presents arresting (sic) memoirs and other writings by progressive women, mostly from the 1920s and 1930s. They include feminists, journalists, trade unionists, socialists, anarchists and other activists and dissenters---in sum, major elements of any flourishing civil society. Taken together their stories reveal the extent of nonconformist opinion in prewar Japan, and the vigorous struggle against militarism and the oppressive patriarchy of post-Meiji Japan. As the title suggests, these spirited women lost out in the short run (though few were actually executed), as did all Japan and much of Asia, where aggressive imperialism -- first European, then Japanese -- led to the catastrophe of the Pacific War. If only such dissenters had had greater influence.... In the middle run, Japan currently enjoys a rather more open, if still far from ideal, civic culture. As for the future---well, who knows? In the words of JM Keynes, in the long run we're all dead anyway.
11 people found this helpful
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Christa
5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Portrait of Prewar ActivismReviewed in the United States on April 22, 2013
Mikiso Hane's Reflections on the Way to the Gallows is an excellent collection of memoirs and essays by radical Japanese activists, most of which are available in English for the first time. The volume assembles an interesting mosaic of distinct but occasionally intersecting stories and perspectives. The anthology format ensures that no one voice dominates (although admittedly everything is filtered through Hane's translation and editorial choices). Each female writer and activist featured in the book contributes her own subjectivity and perspective on prewar Japanese society and on political ideology.
The title comes from the writings of Kanno Sugako, an anarchist who was executed for plotting to assassinate the emperor. Her diary, written in prison, is included in the book, and it embodies much of what I found interesting about Reflections. The memoir itself is an extremely moving read, and Kanno's writing is insightful and often poetic. She wrote candidly of her faith in anarchism, her reasoning behind attempting to assassinate the emperor, and her preparations for her own execution. However, even beyond the diary's literary and ideological merits, it is significant that this book not only allows Kanno to narrate her own story, but also that through translation her works are available to a much wider audience than ever before.
Although Kanno was a major figure in the prewar Japanese anarchist community, she has often been pushed to the side. During her trial for a highly publicized attempt to assassinate the emperor, her own role in the scheme was minimized. Although she was one of the main conspirators, she was presented by the court and the media as an accomplice. A male anarchist, Kotoku Shusui (who was in reality innocent), was instead framed as the ringleader. It was only recently that the truth on this matter became public knowledge.
Additionally, much of the scant biographical information available about Kanno Sugako was actually provided by her former common law husband Arahata Kanon and is therefore less than reliable. She was frequently misrepresented by the Japanese court, the media, and those in her inner circle. It's thrilling to be able to read Kanno's own account of the assassination plot, and to hear her musings and ideology. This is perhaps my favorite aspect of Reflections: that it gives readers access to first hand accounts by radical women who faced so much resistance and so many attempts to silence them during their lifetimes.
Although Kanno's story is placed relatively early in the volume, it does not disappear from the book. References to Kanno occasionally surface in later chapters. She is mentioned by Sakai Magara, an activist whose parents were friends of Kanno's, and later in the book Tanno Setsu recalls her friends called Kanno "the greatest woman Japan has produced". And, in certain ways, Kanno's prison diary sets the tone for the rest of the book. It certainly demonstrated the stakes in radical activism at the that point in history. Like Kanno, Kaneko Fumiko was implicated in a plot to kill the emperor. She ultimately killed herself in prison after receiving a life sentence. Many of the other activists faced lengthy prison sentences and endured police brutality. Reflections offers a look at the often brutal circumstances facing radical activists, and the great personal sacrifices made by many of the women represented in it.
Although Kanno Sugako's chapter is in many ways representative of the book, and the things I find intriguing about it, it does not dominate the entire anthology. Reflections definitely offers a variety of perspectives on prewar society and political activism. In addition to showing many different ideologies and covering various periods of prewar Japanese history, it occasionally offers multiple perspectives on the same movement. Yamakawa Kikue and Tanno Setsu, for example, were both socialists, but came from radically different backgrounds. Yamakawa, who was highly educated and came from a fairly affluent family, wrote of tensions among intellectuals and blue collar workers within the socialist movement. Yamakawa herself recommended that, rather than try to imitate their working class comrades, intellectuals contribute their own skills to the movement.
Tanno, by contrast, came from a poor mining community and her father could barely afford to feed her large family. Whereas Yamakawa was shocked by the bleak conditions of a factory she visited as a student, Tanno had to provide first aid to miners injured in explosions. She and Yamakawa came at socialism from opposite ends, so to speak. Whereas Yamakawa became disillusioned with bourgeois values, Tanno became a socialist after experiencing some of the worst cruelties of capitalism. However, the differing perspectives are not pitted against each other (and in fact Tanno wrote admiringly of Yamakawa). Both views of the socialist movement are given equal weight in Reflections, and together they provide a more complete picture.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Japanese history, feminism, radical activism, or any combination thereof.
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misoandbisous
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful wonderful book.Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2013
I really cannot speak highly enough of this book. I read it for a Japanese women's literature course, and when I saw the description I thought ...oh man this is going to be a bummer. WRONG! These women are so alive and so moving. It is extremely sad knowing their fates, but they really lived! I'm glad to know their thoughts and dreams. I would like to shake Hane's hand for inspiring me so much. I loved the compilation of memoirs and the authors notes. Really a wonderful book, and not something you will forget. It's a great precursor to the later movements in the Japanese women's suffrage movement.
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