日本の近世女性のあり方に関する一考察 : 阿波国における「桜戸日記」を中心に

In the history of Japanese women's life, modern period has been considered as a dark age. This standpoint of view may be originated from the historical study of feudalism in Edo period. However, recent empirical studies have suggested another standpoint of view. In the present study, we analyzed descriptions in a woman's dairy “SAKURADO-NIKKI” by Misu Ueda in Awa domain in the late Edo era. The dairy is written using not only hiragana but also Kanji indicating high literacy of her. Her reading history of books suggests that she had an intellectuality of Confucianism. She was a teacher of a community school and a adviser of the community. She had a talent for the creator of haiku poetry, and many haiku poets were also described in the dairy. She communicated with many other haiku creator not only in the same district but also in other far districts of Japan consisting a intellectual network using mail system. Thus, some women contributed for the social system as the intellectual basis in the late modern period in Japan.