IGS International Symposium: “Gender, Religion, and Social Reform in the Meiji Period: The Case of Sumiya Koume and Nakagawa Yokotarō”

Date: Tuesday, 17 January, 2017, 15:30–17:30
Venue: 306, Main Building, Ochanomizu University

The reforms that followed the Meiji Restoration propelled changes in gender roles and subjectivities across the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The case of two reform-minded individuals—bureaucrat and former samurai Nakagawa Yokotarō and his concubine Sumiya Koume—offers a case in point. In 1868, Nakagawa bought out Sumiya’s geisha contract and made her his concubine. In the mid-1870s, Nakagawa became interested in Christianity and sent Sumiya to Kobe College, an institution run by western Protestant missionaries. Sumiya decided concubinage was sinful, converted to Christianity, and left Nakagawa a few years later. She went on to play a prominent role as a social reformer in the community. Nakagawa too enjoyed a high profile as an advocate of hygiene and education. Together their lives illuminate how men and women worked to transform their world in the decades after the Restoration by focusing on education, religion, and social reform.

Coordinator/ Moderator
Laura Nenzi (IGS, Ochanomizu University / University of Tennessee)

Keynote Speech
Marnie S. Anderson (Smith College)  “Jesus Stole My Mistress”: Nakagawa Yokotarō and Sumiya Koume and Changing Lives in Nineteenth-Century Japan

Commentators
Erik Schicketanz (JSPS / The University of Tokyo)
Noriko Ishii (Sophia University)

*Simultaneous interpretation available (English-Japanese)

Prior registration required (Admission Free)  Registration Form

Organizer: Institute for Gender Studies, Ochanomizu University