Knowledge, Power, and Women's Reproductive Health in Japan, 1690–1945 (Genders and Sexualities in History)

This book analyzes how women’s bodies became a subject and object of modern bio-power by examining the history of women’s reproductive health in Japan between the seventeenth century and the mid-twentieth century. Yuki Terazawa combines Foucauldian theory and feminist ideas with in-depth historical research. She argues that central to the rise of bio-power and the colonization of people by this power was modern scientific taxonomies that classify people into categories of gender, race, nationality, class, age, disability, and disease. While discussions of the roles played by the modern state are of critical importance to this project, significant attention is also paid to the increasing influences of male obstetricians and the parts that trained midwives and public health nurses played in the dissemination of modern power after the 1868 Meiji Restoration. Series Editor’ Preface 6 Acknowledgments 7 Contents 9 Notes to the Reader 11 The Periodization of Japanese History 11 The Tokugawa System 11 Names and Romanization 12 List of Figures 13 List of Tables 17 Chapter 1: Introduction 18 Chapter 2: The Reproductive Body of the Goseihō School 43 Goseihō’s Microcosmic Body15 46 Manase Dōsan and the Goseihō School 51 Obstetrics and Gynecology Through the Genroku Era28 52 Katsuki Gyūzan and His Work 53 Pronatalist Reproductive Techniques 55 Disciplining Pregnant Women 61 Representing the Birthing Process 68 Markers of Sexual Difference 78 Chapter 3: Changing Perceptions of the Female Body: The Rise of the Kagawa School of Obstetrics 93 The Rise of the School of Ancient Practice 95 The Kagawa School of Obstetrics 98 Kagawa Gen’etsu 99 The Reconceptualization of the Body in Sanron and Sanron Yoku 101 A New System of Obstetric Procedures 110 Obstetric Practice in Commercialized Society 117 The State, Physicians, and Reproductive Surveillance 124 Chapter 4: The State, Midwives, Expectant Mothers, and Childbirth Reforms from the Meiji Through to the Early Shōwa Period (1868–1930s) 141 The Establishment of New Medical and Public Health Systems 142 Changing Power Relations Involving the State, Medical Experts, and Expectant Mothers in Meiji Japan 146 Early Meiji Regulations 149 The Making of Modern, Nationalist Midwives 152 Childbirth Reforms 159 Reproductive Surveillance Through Midwives 173 Chapter 5: Women’s Health Reforms in Japan at the Turn of the Twentieth Century 193 Discourse on “Japanese Bodies” and Adopting the Eugenics Thought 196 Molding Young Women’s Bodies Through Physical Education 200 Medicalized Discourse on Women’s Clothes and Beauty 208 Women’s Resistances and Collusions 219 Chapter 6: Knowledge, Power, and New Maternal Health Policies (1918–1945) 240 Efforts to Provide Free Midwifery Services for Poor Women 243 The Aiiku Association and Maternal and Infant Health in Rural Japan 249 New Maternal and Infant Health Policies, 1937–1942 260 Chapter 7: Epilogue 299 Select Bibliography 305 Select Primary Sources in Japanese Language 305 Journals 305 Books 305 Select General Sources 307 Index 319 This book analyzes how women's bodies became a subject and object of modern bio-power by examining the history of women's reproductive health in Japan between the seventeenth century and the mid-twentieth century. Yuki Terazawa combines Foucauldian theory and feminist ideas with in-depth historical research. She argues that central to the rise of bio-power and the colonization of people by this power was modern scientific taxonomies that classify people into categories of gender, race, nationality, class, disability, and disease. While discussions of the roles played by the modern state are of critical importance to this project, significant attention is also paid to the increasing influences of male obstetricians and the parts that trained midwives and public health nurses played in the dissemination of modern power after the 1868 Meiji Restoration. .-- Provided by publisher