Makiko’s Diary: A Merchant Wife in 1910 Kyoto

This is the intimate and richly informative diary kept in 1910 by the young wife of a bustling merchant household in Kyoto. Makiko writes perceptively about both special occasions (such as weddings, funerals, ancestral memorial services, and festivals) and the daily routine of her complex household. The year 1910 was a fascinating transitional time in the social and cultural history of Japan. Makiko’s husband shared with a stream of visitors to the household his keen interest in the many changes that had been set in motion by Japan’s opening to the West a half century earlier. Almost all of the Japanese women whose accounts of family life are available in English were members of the elite or individuals who distinguished themselves in public life or in the arts. Makiko’s diary differs in that it is a spirited, first-hand account of the domestic world of a housewife, the role played by a vast majority of Japanese women.