Abstract
In this paper, two books by Japanese author Fukuzawa Yukichi, "The Waiting Years" and "The River Ki", are reviewed and discussed in terms of how they address the oppression of women during the Meiji period in Japan. The main characters of both stories are analyzed and the plots reviewed in an effort to illustrate Yukichi's beliefs about the position of women in society and his opposition to the subordination of women.

From the Paper
"Fukuzawa Yukichi's ideas about women and their rights were unusual for his time. He wrote his essays on women during the Meiji Period, when women were still considered to be subordinate to men and were sometimes treated as mere instruments for producing children. Fukuzawa claimed that these beliefs about women were especially prevalent in the upper middle class. Although The Waiting Years, by Fumiko Enchi, and The River Ki, by Sawako Ariyoshi, were written after World War II, both focused on upper middle class women living in the Meiji period. In fact, the principal characters in both stories, Tomo and Hana, were based on the authors' maternal grandmothers, with some of the material for the books coming from information given to the authors from their mothers. Therefore, both books could be considered to be fairly accurate portraits of upper middle class women's lives during that time period. The main characters in both works suffered because of their patriarchal society, and much of this suffering was caused by customs that Fukuzawa criticized in his writings for that very reason."

Tags:ariyoshi, enchi, feminism, fukuzawa, fumiko, japan, rights, river, sawako, waiting, women, years, yukichi