Full Description
This book bridges the gap between historical research on Japan and the field of childhood history by writing children and childhood into the general historical record of the Meiji period.
To explore the widely varying circumstances of childhood during the Japanese transition to modernity, the volume presents survey studies and "snapshots" of historical moments by authors from Europe, Japan, and North America. These histories of children and childhood address various thematic aspects, from birth and child-rearing to the representation of childhood in literary works, and these are approached from differing angles, in terms of theoretical perspectives and methodology. The contributions display a particular awareness for the problem of sources in writing the history of childhood and youth. In doing so, they provide precious insights into children's living circumstances and notions of childhood, also beyond the urban centres of evolving modern Japan.
Exploring a wealth of sources including autobiographies, educational essays, government documents, children's literature, youth journals and medical manuals, this will be a valuable resource to students and scholars of Japanese history, children's studies, the history of education, and social policy more broadly.
Contents
Introduction 1. Childbirth and child-rearing in modern Japan 2. A case study on the life and work of Japanese children in the mid-nineteenth century 3. Children, family, and state schools in the Meiji era: From "savage" behaviour to "docile" and "useful" bodies 4. Children's bodies on the state's anvil 5. Gymnastics manuals and children 6. Children and parents in Japanese morality textbooks between 1870 and 1918 7. Defining child identity under the Meiji Civil Code (1898) 8. Meiji children's dual obligation: Reassessing the shift from work to school in Meiji Japan 9. The formation of the concept of shōnen (youth) and emergence of a corresponding life stage in mid-Meiji Japan: An analysis of the magazine Shōnen sekai (The Youth's world) 10. Children's street culture in Higuchi Ichiyō's Takekurabe (1896)
