近代剣道書にみられる女性論の分析

抄録

Budo refers to Japanese traditional physical activities that have been developed under unique Japanese natural, cultural, and historical circumstances. It has characteristics as a cultural body that is able to pass traditions down to the next generations. In recent years, gender equality has become a common social attitude in the sporting world, even in Japan, and it influences the traditional budo world. National budo federations have tried to follow this trend; however, the kendo federations in particular struggle to find a proper balance between tradition and gender equality. To address this struggle, it would be helpful to clarify the traditional ideology toward women in kendo. The purpose of this research is to analyze the descriptions in modern kendo literature to reveal the traditional ideologies toward women. The descriptions were cited from 43 pieces of kendo literature that were published between 1884 and 1981 and that were involved in “Kindai kendo meicho taikei. " The descriptions were categorized into ten genres including Families or general women, Interpretation of “tae 妙, " Ethics of Confucianism and Buddhism, Ideal mother and wife, Strong-minded women, Rejection of women, Female budo practices, Women in PE and gymnastics, Promotion of kendo, and Promotion of kendo to women. Nakabayashi (1973) noted that the contents that were discussed in female budo studies were limited to two topics, such as Ideal wives or mothers at home and Self-protection, in his previous research; however, this present research reveals that there are broader discussions related to women in modern kendo literatures. Although most of the ten topics appeared as simple short descriptions in the modern kendo literature, Teru Kagawa (1862 – 1923) and Tadao Nawata (1895 – 1974) in particular encouraged women to practice kendo, devoting much space to the topic in their works. It is interesting to note that, even though both encouraged women to practice kendo, the foundations behind their ideas were completely different. Kagawa insisted that women should be independent through kendo, and Nawata insisted they should follow traditional ideologies through kendo.