Folkloric Expressions of the Feminine in Images of the Ubume Michaela Leah Prostak Florida International University, [email protected]
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Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 3-27-2018 Monstrous Maternity: Folkloric Expressions of the Feminine in Images of the Ubume Michaela Leah Prostak Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FIDC004088 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Asian History Commons, Asian Studies Commons, Buddhist Studies Commons, Folklore Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Japanese Studies Commons, Painting Commons, Women's History Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Prostak, Michaela Leah, "Monstrous Maternity: Folkloric Expressions of the Feminine in Images of the Ubume" (2018). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 3714. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3714 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida MONSTROUS MATERNITY: FOLKLORIC EXPRESSIONS OF THE FEMININE IN IMAGES OF THE UBUME A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in ASIAN STUDIES by Michaela Leah Prostak 2018 To: Dean John Stack Green School of International and Public Affairs This thesis, written by Michaela Leah Prostak, and entitled Monstrous Maternity: Folkloric Expressions of the Feminine in Images of the Ubume, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this thesis and recommend that it be approved. _______________________________________ Amy Bliss Marshall _______________________________________ Matthew Marr _______________________________________ Steven Heine, Major Professor Date of Defense: March 27, 2018 The thesis of Michaela Leah Prostak is approved. _______________________________________ Dean John Stack Jr. Green School of International and Public Affairs _______________________________________ Andrés G. Gil Vice President for Research and Economic Development and Dean of the University Graduate School Florida International University, 2018 ii DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to my niece, Dylan June Villavicencio, my nephew Bentley Prostak, and my grandfather, Seichi Edwin Sato. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I first thank my committee members: Dr. Steven Heine, Dr. Amy Bliss Marshall, and Dr. Matthew Marr, not only for their guidance, patience, and invaluable advice but also for their confidence in me. I also thank Maria Sol Echarren, my SIPA family in the Green School and Asian Studies Program, Lisa Brown for her editorial support, and Marcela Lopez-Bravo for allowing me to drag her all over Tokyo during my fieldwork. Without them, I would not have been able to complete this. I would not have gotten this far without the inspiration and advice from my professors and friends at the College of Charleston and Kansai Gaidai University. Lastly, I thank my family and friends who helped me when they could and knew when to stay out of my way as I navigated this journey. A special thanks to my mother, who allowed me to rent every horror movie I could get my hands on at the video rental store. iv ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS MONSTROUS MATERNITY: FOLKLORIC EXPRESSIONS OF THE FEMININE IN IMAGES OF THE UBUME by Michaela Leah Prostak Florida International University, 2018 Miami, Florida Professor Steven Heine, Major Professor The ubume is a ghost of Japanese folklore, once a living woman, who died during either pregnancy or childbirth. This thesis explores how the religious and secular developments of the ubume and related figures create a dichotomy of ideologies that both condemn and liberate women in their roles as mothers. Examples of literary and visual narratives of the ubume as well as the religious practices that were employed for maternity-related concerns are explored within their historical contexts in order to best understand what meaning they held for people at a given time and if that meaning has changed. These meanings and the actions taken to avoid becoming an ubume and interacting with one create a metanarrative that contributes to our understanding of the historical experience of women. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................1 Methodology ......................................................................................................3 What is an Ubume? ...........................................................................................5 Situating the Ubume within Yōkai Culture .......................................................9 Folklore Research in Japan ..............................................................................13 Forming the Metanarrative ..............................................................................15 Why Ubume? ..................................................................................................21 II. LITERARY LIGATIONS ...............................................................................24 Early Inklings of Defining the Ideal Female Gender Model ...........................25 Setsuwa ............................................................................................................27 Konjaku – The First Textual Reference Explained .........................................31 Summary ..........................................................................................................41 III. RELIGIOUS RAMIFICATIONS ....................................................................43 Indigenous Ideals .............................................................................................44 Buddhist Influence ...........................................................................................47 The Ketsubonkyō .............................................................................................52 Mifutatsu and Nagare kanjō .............................................................................60 Summary ..........................................................................................................64 IV. TOKUGAWA TERRORS ...............................................................................66 Popularity of the Grotesque .............................................................................67 Envisioning the Ubume....................................................................................69 From Print to Stage ..........................................................................................76 Summary ..........................................................................................................79 V. CONTEMPORARY CUMLINATIONS .........................................................82 The Place of Folklore in Japanese Society Today ...........................................84 The Ubume, Kosodate Yūrei, and the Spiritual ...............................................87 Recent Depictions of the Ubume as Abject Mother ........................................92 The Call is Coming from Inside the House! ...................................................97 Summary ........................................................................................................101 VI. CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................103 Retracing the Ubume .....................................................................................103 Further Research ............................................................................................106 VII. BIBLIOGRAPHY ..........................................................................................108 vi LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE 1.1 Tokugawa period (1603–1868) artist Sawaki Sūshi’s (1707–1772) rendering of an ubume ............................................................................................................................7 1.2 The ubume depicted as a guhuoniao ..............................................................................9 1.3 Ideology of motherhood, the stigmatization of non-reproduction, and cultural influences .....................................................................................................................17 3.1 Just inside the main entrance of Shōsenji ....................................................................56 3.2 A sign displayed at Shōsenji explaining the Ketsubonkyō ..........................................57 4.1 Banryō’s ubume ...........................................................................................................70 4.2 Toriyama Sekien’s ubume ...........................................................................................72 4.3 幽霊之図 うぶめ by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839–1892) ...............................................74 4.4 Nightly Weeping Rock by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861) ....................................76 5.1 Kappa mother with children, nursing ...........................................................................88 5.2 Advertisement for the service posted outside of the temple ........................................89 5.3 Priests officiating the ceremony with practitioners lined up behind them, waiting to place their dolls into the fire ..........................................................................................90