Art and Gender in an Age of Revolution
This essay examines the social, cultural, and economic life of Kawai Koume (1804–1889), a bushi housewife and artist living in the Wakayama castle town of Kishū domain in the final years of the Tokugawa era and the early years of Meiji. Using a diary that Koume kept over a period of at least fifty years, the essay examines the ways in which Koume’s art was integrated with her daily life as household manager, and it explores the transformations of those relationships after the Meiji Restoration. While acknowledging the reality of class and gender ideologies and their effects on daily life, the essay focuses on Koume’s determination to contribute meaningfully to her family’s social, cultural, and economic life. And in the wake of a decade of disruption and transformation following the Meiji Restoration, it points to the unsung heroism of many women in forging new paths to economic recovery and self-sufficiency.
