今田 絵里香

The purpose of this paper is to clarify how the idea of a child's gender among the middle class has changed by analyzing "Eisaishinshi", a contribution magazine for children during the Meiji Era whose publication started before the practice of gender specification. This magazine was particularly chosen due to the fact that in modern Japan, the magazine used as supplementary materials in school education have also carried out sex specification at the time when the concept of gender studies in middle school education was put into practice in 1879. The results of the analysis are as follows. From 1877 to 1882, when "Eisaishinshi" was first published, children's compositions praised the merits of studying to attain careers and abilities. Their works also represented both the boy and the girl as "Shonen (the Youth)" based on the idea that they should have the same opportunity, which perfectly reflected the meritocracy society and civilization. However, since 1882, attention has been paid to the so-called "difference in intellectual power" between men and women. This led to the separation of "Shojo (the girl)" from "Shonen (the youth)", considering that the former has different opportunity from the latter, and to the emergence of different entities "Shonen (the boy)" and "Shojo (the girl)". This transition derived from the system of the study according to sex, by which the so-called" difference between men's intellectual power and that of women" has been realized. Two things have become visible from such a transition. Firstly, the transition has demonstrated two sides of the meritocracy by learning. The ideology, on the one hand, has supported a new image for women during the 1870s and the 1880s who pursued careers through studies. On the other hand, however, it has inevitably revealed the difference in intellectual power between men and women and justified gender discrimination as a by product of this difference. Consequently, since the practice of the study according to sex, the latter idea has been strongly influenced. Secondly, it has become clear that meritocracy has created two separate entities "Shonen (the boy)"and "Shojo (the girl)'. That is, females whose education and subsequent career have been severed in relation since study according to sex, have lost continuity between their way of life as "the mother", and that as "the girl". Unlike the boyhood which has been positioned as a preparatory period for the adulthood, the girlhood has been regarded as a specific time which will be completed in itself. In conclusion, the analysis has shown that the construction of a child's gender in modernJapan has been strongly connected with the meritocracy by learning that appeared at the time.

This paper aims to clarify the image of the girl among the new urban middle class, which had a great influence in society, using analysis of the image of girls that appeared in mass-consumption culture, and especially which arose in the girl's magazine culture. In our analysis of columns in a girl's magazine, we assumed that the interaction between the editors of the magazine and its readers constructed the image of the girl in the magazine. Specifically, the readers' column of the magazine Shojo-no-Tomo from 1931 to 1945 was analyzed. The results are as follows. In the 1930s, a "girls network" among the readers was organized in Shojo-no-Tomo. Through this network, readers corresponded with each other in the columns and met at regular readers' parties. The readers were united under the concept of girlishness, especially pureness, and for a concrete thirst for culture and arts. This girlishness, with its "purity, " was constructed in opposition to the "dirty" "adults, " and took precedence over adults. However, from the end of the 1930s, in the midst of the war, editors and the surrounding adults started to condemn "girlishness, " and in response, the girls themselves changed their image to one of "Japanese girls" who served the country with patriotism. However, the image remained one constructed against "adults." Therefore, there was continuity between the "girl" of the 1930s and the "Japanese girl" of that era. The process of change during the War indicates two facts. First, "girls" came to be admired for their ability to work, and secondly, the idea of "girlishness" had become defective.

This paper attempts to clarify how the "modern girl" became an ideology, to explain the actual conditions under which it became an ideology and to investigate what kind of changes followed. The popular magazine Shojo-no-Tomo is analyzed from two different points of view. The first concerns how the family is emotionally interrelated. The second concerns the "girl's" position in such a family. The results of the analysis are as follows. From the end of the Meiji Era through the end of the Taisho Era, the relationship between the girl and her family was one in which there was a unidirectional, absolute devotion from the girl to her parents, which became the basis for the parents affection. This is traditionally known as "ko". However, starting at the beginning of the Showa Era, the relationship changed from "ko" to a relationship of modern affection and devotion, where the parents did not expect girls to reciprocate their affection with absolute devotion. As time passed, this bond of affection was expanded and strengthened. Thus, with the encouragement of family members, girls learned to pursue freedom and self-realization, by being set free from the restraints of "ko", and were able to give priority to considerations of themselves. That girl's image was different from the image of ryosaikenbo ("good wife, wise mother") that was taught in schools. During the War, this new identity served the girls well, as they were able to make contributions to the state as independent individuals with emotionally support from their families. The conclusions of this paper show the process by which the "girl" within the family has become an independent and personally involved "national." Therefore, within the family, the change of emotional relations has brought forth a new independence, which in turn expresses a change in the way that the "state" and the "individual" relate to one another.