e him with all reverence and worship, not despising or
thinking lightly of him. The great life-long duty of a woman is
obedience.... When the husband issues his instructions, the wife must
never disobey them.... Should her husband be roused to anger at any
time, she must obey him, with fear and trembling." Not one word in all
these many and specific instructions hints at love and affection. That
which to Western ears is the sweetest word in the English language,
the foundation of happiness in the home, the only true bond between
husband and wife, parents and children--LOVE--does not once appear in
this the ideal instruction for Japanese women.

Even to this day divorce is the common occurrence in Japan. According
to Confucius there are seven grounds of divorce: disobedience,
barrenness, lewd conduct, jealousy, leprosy or any other foul or
incurable disease, too much talking, and thievishness. "In plain
English, a man may send away his wife whenever he gets tired of her."

Were the man's duties to the wife and to her parents as minutely
described and insisted on as are those of the wife to the husband and
to his parents, this "Greater Learning for Women" would not seem so
deficient; but such is not the case. The woman's rights are few, yet
she bears her lot with marvelous patience. Indeed, she has acquired a
most attractive and patient and modest behavior despite, or is it
because of, centuries of well-nigh tyrannical treatment from the male
sex. In some important respects the women of Japan are not to be
excelled by those of any other land. But that this lot has been a
happy one I cannot conceive it possible for a European, who knows the
meaning of love or home, to contend. The single item of one divorce
for every three marriages tells a tale of sorrow and heartache that is
sad to contemplate. Nor does this include those separations where
tentative marriage takes place with a view to learning whether the
parties can endure living together. I have known several such cases.
Neither does this take account of the great number of concubines that
may be found in the homes of the higher classes. A concubine often
makes formal divorce quite superfluous.

I by no means contend that the women of Old Japan were all and always
miserable. There was doubtless much happiness and even family joy;
affection between husband and wife could assuredly have been found in
numberless cases. But the hardness of life as a whole, the low
posit