Sophia University Institute of Comparative Culture
Lecture Series 2015

Searching for the Missing Women in War-Prone Society of
Medieval Japan

Hitomi Tonomura

December 17th, 18:30-20:00
Building 10, Room 301, Sophia University, Yotsuya
Campus

Social scientists assert that throughout known human
history, wars have been fought almost always and
primarily by males, despite a few celebrated
exceptions. This universal understanding fits the
Japanese case well; It was mostly men who staffed the
ranks of fighters, while records and tales feature a
few exceptionally brave women. The condition of
"near-total exclusion of women from combat forces"
parallels the masculine act of describing, narrating,
embellishing, and even defining the aesthetics of
violence in tales and records. In reality and in texts,
war conditions formulate a relatively clear contour of
gendered roles, which necessarily prize martial
prowess, often at the expense of other notions and
activities.

It is understandable that historians, students, and
popular writers look eagerly for missing female
soldiers. Needless to say, becoming armed combatants
was not the only way women participated in war culture.
We focus on two non-combatant women, whose personal
names are unknown. One was the wife of Yamanouchi
Tsuneyuki (mid 14th c.) and the other was the wife of
Kira Ujitomo (1535-1603). They left no written
materials, but the writings of their male relatives
suggest that these women may have shared a few things
in common. First, they were both warriors' wives. Their
husbands' profession, by definition, mandated
participation in military conflicts. Second, despite
the two centuries that separated the women, the reality
of violence affected both of their lives acutely,
though each was mediated by the particular scale and
nature of the ongoing battle. Both were expected to
shoulder enormous responsibility in managing the
household. Their stories, along with the stories of
male combatants, help us to explore the formulation and
application of gendered roles in wars and war-prone
conditions.

Hitomi Tonomura is Professor of History and Women's
Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She
has served as the Director of the Eisenberg Institute
for Historical Studies, Faculty Director of the Center
for Japanese Studies Publications Program, and the
Director of the Center for Japanese Studies. Her recent
research interests include war and women, combat
masculinities, and violence and gender.

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