iii As the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu is the primary kami of worship and her feminine qualities are embraced and admired. ii Amaterasu is portrayed as the epitome of perfection in the Shinto religion exemplifying intelligence, beauty, fertility, and purity. The Nihongi holds insight into the birth of Shinto though the story of Amaterasu, which was previously preserved by oral tradition. i These documents facilitated the discovery of a feminine presence that is renowned and worshipped. The Kojiki and Nihongi are the two original Japanese written records that illuminate the first documented Japanese attitude towards women. Painting depicting women of ancient Japan. Joyce Lebra along with colleague Joy Paulson provides the primary historiography pertaining to the role of women in Japanese society, setting the foundation for this argument. Through literature and written records a window to the past is created, allowing modern day analysis on the status of women in antiquated Japan. Evaluating the feminine identities educed by these beliefs illustrates the drastic changes that occurred for women. Integration of the two major religions of Japan, Shintoism and Buddhism, created a paradox for the female identity altering women’s place in Japan’s matriarchal antiquity to a state of acquiescent confinement by the dawn of the Meiji Restoration.ĭifferent conjectures of ancient Japanese women were formed in direct correlation to the spiritual beliefs of the time. The primary influence that contributed to these inconsistencies was religion.
The role of women in ancient Japan elicits inconsistencies due to different influences that were integrated at various time periods.