Introduction
Mitsu-Yu-Nissi: The Japanese Wedding is a title you probably have not heard before. I hadn’t heard of this play until I found it in the Museum’s archives. Wanting to know more about this work, I set off to search the internet. I was astounded to find no information about it! Besides the many links with the basic citation information, no website detailed the story told in the play, nor analyzed it in any capacity. That is why I decided to read the short script and do so myself.
The Play Itself
The play follows Mitsu, the titular character, as she graduates college in the USA. After her graduation, she moves back to Japan to marry a man 40 years her senior in an arranged marriage.
When Mitsu returns to Japan, she is faced with a multitude of cultural differences. She is shocked by the ritual suicide enacted by nobles at the “slightest provocation,” confused by Japanese manners, and frustrated by traditions that expect women to be the center of the household.
She finds a confidant in Tasaku, the son of Kimura, the man she is to marry in a month’s time. Having recently returned from living and studying in England, Tasaku sympathizes with Mitsu’s struggles. After a provoking conversation with two young women, in which the two women are seemingly acquiesce to their roles as women in traditional Japanese society, Mitsu pleads with Tasaku for help in her escape. Tasaku offers only one solution: to marry him. He reveals that he has been in love with her since their first meeting as has been jealous of his father’s arranged marriage with her ever since. Feeling fondness for Tasaku, Mitsu agrees. In order to alleviate any suspicion, Tasaku coaches Mitsu, telling her to be “most submissive” to her parents in the time leading up to the marriage as he makes arrangements for their escape.
During the lull in which they are away from each other, they each have a conversation–Tasaku with a friend and Buddhist priest named Senkai, and Mitsu with her younger brother. Through their conversations, they both come to the realization that it is their duty to stay in Japan and help their people see the advantages of progressive beliefs. Meeting a final time before Mitsu’s marriage, they confide in each other once again, explaining to one another that they have duties to fulfill in Japan that they cannot run away from. Tasaku then vows that he will not see Mitsu again until the day of the wedding, as it is too painful for him, and that they will both support each other in their journey’s of progress, but will have to execute them separately.
The final scene is Mitsu’s marriage. The scene starts without Mitsu on stage. The rest of the cast, including Mitsu’s family, Tasaku, Kimura, and Senkai, are all on stage. Senkai, the priest that is to direct the marriage, reveals that he has been talking with Kimura all afternoon, and they have come to the conclusion that “He [Kimura] feels most deeply the worth of Mitsu-Yu-Nissi, but he thinks that it would be more suitable for her to serve him as a daughter than as a wife.” Senkai, Tasaku’s confidant, had told Kimura that his son was in love with his bride, and Kimura came to the conclusion that it was more appropriate for the young to marry the young (19).
The play ends after Mitsu walks down the aisle with a bowed head; when she finally looks up to drink from the sake cup as directed, she realizes that the man in front of her is the man she loves, Tasaku. Tasaku then declares that they will no longer have to fulfill their duties apart from one another. Mitsu thanks Senkai and her mother, who allowed the marriage because she saw that Mitsu was in love with the man, and the curtains close.
Analysis
The author of Mitsu-Yu-Nissi was the social activist Vida Dutton Scudder. Born in 1861, Scudder helped found the Denison House Settlement and organized the Women’s Trade Union League. This play was an outlier from her usual publications; most of her writings were on topics such as literature and socialism. Some of her more well-known books are The Life of the Spirit in the Modern English Poets (1895), Introduction to the Study of English Literature (1901), Socialism and Character (1912), and an autobiography, On Journey (1937).
Being an American woman, Scudder was accustomed to certain liberties inherent in the American way of life, such as freedom of education, self-expression, and the pursuit of personal independence. Having published this play only 35 years after Commodore Matthew Perry’s expedition opened Japan’s ports, ending the country’s 220 year old isolationist policy, views of Japan in the United States were characterized by idolization of Japan as an exotic paradise and Christianization and westernization of Japanese culture and society.
Throughout Mitsu-Yu-Nissi, there is an overarching theme of culture clashes. While Mitsu and Tasaku find flaws in Japanese traditional culture, spawning from their upbringings and educations in western settings, Mitsu’s family and the Buddhist priest Senkai have contrary opinions, expressing their views that Japan has unrivaled cultural superiority, even in lieu of the modernization in the west.
After Commodore Perry forcefully opened Japan’s borders, rapid industrialization occurred in the following years. After the Meiji Restoration in 1868—which replaced the Tokugawa Shogunate with imperial rule under Mutsuhito (a.k.a. Emperor Meiji)—under threat of becoming a colony like many of their neighbors (i.e. India, Hong Kong, Indonesia, etc.), Japan sought to build its economy and modernize quickly to prevent colonization.
While Mitsu-Yu-Nissi is accurate in that women’s roles were still deeply rooted in Confucian ideals of filial piety and domesticity, Scudder did take some creative liberties. The formal education of women, for example, started during the Meiji period, but the education that was given was called ryōsai kenbo. This educational model aimed to teach women how to be good wives and wise mothers; according to the Japanese minister of education in 1887, Mori Arinori, men were to be educated to better serve their country, and men could only do so if women lived by well-defined codes of behavior.
The contrasts between Mitsu’s Western education and her traditional Japanese upbringing reflect a larger cultural tension during the Meiji era: how to modernize while preserving national identity. Scudder’s decision to highlight these tensions through a woman’s perspective is particularly striking, as it underscores the unique burdens placed on women during periods of rapid societal change. Mitsu’s struggles and eventual reconciliation with her role as a bridge between old and new illustrates a broader theme of individuals, especially women, acting as agents of progress within their societies, which aligns with Scudder’s personal interests as an activist in the United States.
Conclusion
Scudder’s portrayal is not without its complications. In my opinion, the romantic resolution of Mitsu’s story, while uplifting, simplifies the challenges of cultural transformation. It assumes that love and mutual understanding are enough to overcome deeply entrenched societal norms. This idealized conclusion may reflect Scudder’s own Western biases, as it aligns with a progressive, Christianized vision of Japan’s future that prioritizes Western values over indigenous traditions.
Additionally, Mitsu-Yu-Nissi invites readers to consider the complexities of modernization under colonial pressure. Japan’s rapid industrialization during the Meiji era was a defensive strategy to maintain sovereignty, unlike the experiences of neighboring colonized nations. However, the cultural cost of this modernization is evident in the tensions explored in the play. Scudder’s work can be viewed as a subtle critique of the West’s tendency to impose its values on other cultures, yet the play also cannot entirely escape its own Eurocentric framing of progress and individual freedom.
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