This thesis reveals the establishment and changes of the concept of motherhood (Bosei) of Itsue Takamure (1894-1964), which was the fundamental concept of whole of the works by Takamure such as feminism and anarchism writings, and her research of women’s history. Motherhood was originally developed by Ellen Key as Swedish word moderskap. The first appearance of motherhood in Japan was in 1910s, Raicho Hiratsuka turned it into Japanese Bosei from motherhood by Key’s English translated book. Motherhood in Japan has had various definitions in 1910-20s. Akiko Yosano understood motherhood as just an experience of a mother. Kikue Yamakawa explained it concern with the problem of the female labor. Hiratsuka and Waka Yamada thought it as the mother’s role from their home to the nation.
While Takamure also established original definition of motherhood too, she defined motherhood on her own logic which was more radical than any other writer. In her early works in later 1920s, she got back to the roots of motherhood concept. She criticized to the eugenic thought of Key, and referred to the theory of social evolution and made motherhood as a key factor of “evolution of love”. Her evolution theory has had a feature that it rejects any discrimination because of “love of mother” which included in motherhood, whereas many debaters criticized that her insistence was just a utopia. Afterward, from 1931, Takamure began a research of Japanese women’s history. She tried to find the ideal and scientific model of motherhood-based society in the ancient matriarchy society through the research based on Marxism’s historical materialism. Though its research rejected and ignored by other researchers for obsolete theory, finally Takamure synthesized her evolution theory and historical research, and forecasted the new era in her book Josei no Rekishi (the History of Woman) in 1958. In the future named “the century of love”, she explained, “love of mother” will bring “love for live”, which connects to “love of living together”. No one will be left behind or denied in that love, Takamure said. At last, Takamure has found the principal concept applicable to everyone for peaceful world as an original universal ideology.
Takamure’s motherhood was not just a mother herself, an essence of mother nor the role of mother. It realized the thought of rejection of discrimination with the scientific theory for affirmation of life without the god. That was fulfilled by positioning motherhood on the evolution theory and the historical materialism. Moreover, it finally brought her a universal ideology beyond various ‘-ism’.
