ode, are fairly
independent. As I have already stated, every woman in Japan is expected
to become a wife, and as a matter of fact, the number of unmarried women
is so small that it is hardly necessary to mention them. Wives, under
Japanese law, are divided into two classes: the wife who enters her
husband's family, and the wife whose husband becomes a member of her
family. In the latter case the wife is the head of the family, is
responsible for the debts of the family, and has the right to use and
profit by the husband's property. In the former case (and as I have
already stated, the great majority of wives enter their husband's
families), the husband is responsible, and has, consequently, the right
to use and profit by his wife's property. In all cases, unless the
husband is physically or mentally unfit, he has the management of his
wife's wealth. In case of the husband's disability the woman takes care
of her own. A wife may, by application to a court, cause the husband to
furnish security for the property that she has intrusted to him; and she
may, with her husband's consent, engage in independent business. The
property that she thus acquires is her own and not the husband's. Any
property in the family, the ownership of which is not perfectly
established, belongs to the head of the family, whether male or female.
We thus see that the law of Japan fully recognizes the right of married
women to hold property, although only in exceptional cases are they
allowed the management of their own holdings. The law also regards the
wife, in household matters, as her husband's agent.

In actual practice, it is not uncommon for the wife to manage the entire
income of the family, receiving it from her husband and acting as his
treasurer. The wife's own earnings are seldom given to the husband, and
her position is one of entire independence in the disposal of whatever
she adds to the family revenue. But should the wife bring into the
family at marriage property which passes into the husband's management,
the chances are that, unless a divorce should occur, she will never lay
any claim to the principal, or think of it again as her own. While her
husband cannot actually dispose of it without her consent, she is pretty
certain to give her consent should he ask it, and he may do very nearly
anything that he chooses with it. We thus see that the tendency is to
give the management of the income, as a part of the management of the
househo