Fukuda Hideko

Fukuda Hideko

Fukuda Hideko ( Japanese 福田 英 子 , born as Kageyama Hideko (景山 英 子); born November 22, 1865 in the province of Bizen ; died May 3, 1927 ) was a Japanese suffragette during the Meiji and Taishō periods .

life and work

Kageyama Hidoko was born as the daughter of a minor samurai of the Ikeda clan in Bizen Province, now Okayama Prefecture. At the age of 17, she helped found a school for girls, her mother's project. Encouraged by the women's rights activist Kishida Toshiko (岸 田俊子; 1864–1901) she also began to work in this direction.

Hideko became increasingly interested in the people's rights movement in general and went to Tokyo after her school was banned in 1884. There she joined the "Freedom Party" (自由 党 Jiyū-tō), was arrested in 1885 in connection with the Osaka incident and was imprisoned. After she was able to leave prison in 1889, she lived with Ōi Kentarō, but separated from him and married the journalist Fukuda Yūsaku (福田 友 作; died 1900). - During the 1890s and 1900s, she set up a school for the education of girls in order to get them on the path to more economic independence. In 1904 she published an autobiography under the title "My Half Life" (我 わ の 半 生涯; Warawa no hanshōgai).

Her struggle for women's rights led to her taking an interest in socialism. She joined the party "Heiminsha" (平民 社) and in 1907 was the editor of the newly founded magazine "Welt-Frauen" (世界 婦人, Sekai Fujin), which campaigned for women's rights. The magazine was banned as early as 1908. - Despite Fukuda's early reputation, Hideko spent the rest of her life largely forgotten and in poverty.

Remarks

1. ↑ The Osaka incident (大阪 事件; Ōsaka jiken) refers to the arrest of Japanese supporters of Korea's independence with the indirect aim of weakening their own government. Of the 130 people arrested in Osaka, 31 were jailed. a. the leading head Ōi Kentarō (大 井 健 太郎; 1843-1922) and Hideko.

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Fukuda Hideko . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X
• Hunter, Janet: Fukuda Hideko . In: Concise Dictionary of Modern Japanese History. Kodansha International, 1984. ISBN 4-7700-1193-8 .

Web links

Commons : Fukuda Hideko  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Fukuda is the family name, Hideko the first name.