SOURCE: "Yosano Akiko and the TaishōDebate over the 'New Woman,'" In Recreating Japanese Women, 1600-1945, edited by Gail Lee Bernstein, University of California Press, 1991, pp. 175-98.

In the following excerpt, Rodd studies Akiko's life and writings as they relate to the controversy in early twentieth-century Japan over women's place in society.

In November 1911, a production of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, starring the beautiful young actress Matsui Sumako (1886-1919) and directed by Shimamura Hogetsu 1871-1918), opened in Tokyo. Although it was only a university production, the strong performance by Matsui and the explosive message of the play generated considerable attention from the popular press. A Doll's House, with its suggestion that marriage is not sacrosanct and that man's authority in the home should not go unchallenged, created an immediate sensation in a society where women had few, if any, rights.

In his review of the production...