WOMEN UNDER POLYGAMY
Foot mutilation in China is also attributable to jealousy and the property-idea in women. Wives must not be gadabouts, and if their feet are cramped and distorted, they are not so well able to wander abroad into temptation.
Celibacy in Japan is so rare as to be almost non-existent. Redundancy in women is provided for by the concubinate. It must be noted that the children of concubines are as legitimate as those of the wife, and no stigma whatever attaches to the mother and the child.
Let us hear the views of cultured contemporary Japanese writers upon the women of their nation. Count Okuma tells us that women were priestesses and warriors in the old days. I have referred to the important status of women in all the communities wherein woman held sacred offices. It is apparent from Japanese histories that women were formerly regarded as thoroughly equipped for ruling the nation and leading armies.
"Although some of the old-time Japanese women were fond of displaying valour, as is evident from the references in the records to feminine warriors, shiko-mé, yet most of them were by nature womanly and of tender heart. All agreed, however, in loving brave men, who deemed it a high honour to win the regard of the nobler daughters of local magnates, and
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