Migration and Gender Normsin Yosano Akiko's Prose Fiction “Keshimochi” (Poppyseed Rice Cake, 1910)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34739/fci.2025.06.03Keywords:
Modern Japanese Literature, Meiji period (1868-1912), Japanese Women writers, Yosano Akiko, I-novels, Keshimochi, Poppyseed Rice Cake, prose fictionAbstract
This paper contends that the short story, “Keshimochi” (Poppyseed rice cakes), written by the renowned Meiji period Japanese woman poet Yosana Akiko (1878-1942), is a gender defiant semi-autobiographical tale that reveals the circumstances that drive the main character to migrate within the boundaries of societal constraints. Through the trope of an unidentified female narrator, the story features elements of confession, a theme celebrated in Akiko's poetry, capturing a pivotal moment when Akiko herself, living with her family in Sakai, is invited to join a literary club in Tokyo led by a poet who will later become her husband, Yosano Tekkan (1873-1935). The unique portrayal of various elements of migration, including literary, social, and geographical, highlights the duality of the unnamed female character's adherence to societal norms while seeking opportunities beyond her present situation. In this short story, Akiko masterfully intertwines literary, social, and cultural migration, exploring female aspirations and illuminating societal limitations.
Downloads
References
Bibliography:
Primary sources:
“Keshimochi [Poppyseed rice cakes].” In kumo no iroiro [Multitudes of clouds]. Ryōkōdō Shoten, 1912. TAZ, Vol. 11.
“Kokyō no natsu [Summer at home].” In kumo no iroiro [Multitudes of clouds]. Ryōkōdō Shoten, 1912. TAZ, Vol. 11.
Secondary sources:
Aoki, Takako. “Chinomasako to ‘Seito’ [Chinomasako and Seito].” In Tekkan to Akiko: Dai 6 gō・"Myojo", “Midaregami”hyakunen, 30-49. Iwanami Shoten, 2001.
Arana, R. Victoria. “Yosano Akiko.” In The Facts on File Companion to World Poetry, 1900 to the Present, 483-484. Facts on File, 2008.
Beichman, Janine. Embracing the Firebird: Yosano Akiko and the Birth of the Female Voice in Modern Japanese Poetry. University of Hawaii Press, 2002.
Copeland, Rebecca L. Woman Critiqued: Translated Essays on Japanese Women's Writing. University of Hawai'i Press, 2006.
Fowler, Edward. The Rhetoric of Confession: Shishosetsu in Early Twentieth-Century Japanese Fiction. University of California Press, 1988.
Fujisawa, Sen. “Yosano Akiko no Shōsetsu [Yosano Akiko’s novels].” kokubungaku kaishaku to kanshō 59 (1994): 141-144.
Itsumi, Kumi. "Kaidai." In Tekkan Akiko Zenshū, 435-448. Vol. 6. Tokyo: Bensei Publications, 2002.
Itsumi, Kumi. Shinpan Hyōden Yosano Hiroshi Akiko: Taishō-hen. Tokyo: Yagishoten, 2009.
Karatani, Kojin. “Confession as a System.” In Origins of Modern Japanese Literature, 76-96. Duke University Press, 1993.
Kobayashi, Emiko. “’Ie’ ni yaburareta renai- Yosano Akiko ‘Imōto’ (Love lost to ‘Home’: Yosano Akiko’s Imōto).” In Shin・feminizumu hihyou no kai. Meijijoseibungakuron, 359-371. Kanrinshobō, 2007.
Kōchi, Nobuko. “Yosano Akiko ni Okeru Hyōgen Katsudō no Hensen: Tanka Kara Hyōron Katsudō e no Ikō Katei [The shift of expressions in Yosano’s writings: Transition from Tanka to criticism].” Josei-gaku Kenkyū: Ōsakajoshidaigaku Josei-gaku Kenkyū Shiryō-shitsu ronshū 7 (1999): 3-29.
Lee, Nachiko M. Yosano Akiko: A Study on Her Feminism and Selected Translations of Her Essays (Japan, Women's Emancipation). ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1986.
Levy, Indra A. Sirens of the Western Shore: The Westernesque Femme Fatale, Translation, and Vernacular Style in Modern Japanese Literature. Columbia University Press, 2006.
Lowy, Dina. “New Women, Gender, and Modernizing Japan.” In The Japanese "New Woman": Images of Gender and Modernity, 1-20. Rutgers University Press, 2007.
Ōta, Suzuko. “Yosano Akiko no shōsetsū ` Kokyō no natsu ' o Chūshin to shitē [Yosano Akiko’s novels: focusing Kokyō no natsu].” Nihon bungaku kiyō, Shōwajoshidaigaku Gakuen 66 (1994): 62-72.
Sen, Raj, Lakhi. “Bungaku to hō: Yosano Akiko ‘Kumo no iroiro’ ni okeru ‘Yōshi’ to ‘Abekobe’ [Literature and Law: Adult-adoption and Concept of ABEKOBE in Yosano Akiko's Novels].” Shirayuri Joshidaigaku Gengo Bungaku Kenkyū Sentā Gengo Bungaku Kenkyū Ronshū 14 (2014): 31-44.
Suzuki, Tomi. Narrating the Self: Fictions of Japanese Modernity. Stanford University Press, 1996.
Tanaka, Yukiko. Women Writers of Meiji and Taishō Japan: Their Lives, Works, and Critical Reception, 1868-1926. McFarland & Co, 2000.
Takeuchi, Michiru. “Yōshi no kurai imēji wa, ikani shite keisei sa reta no ka [How was the dark image of the adopted child formed?].” Jānaru `shūdan rikigaku, Kōeki zaidanhōjin shūdan rikigaku kenkyūjo 23 (2006): 81-89.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
