"The early socialist feminist Yamakawa Kikue (1890-1980) captures in her writings the world of women of a low-ranking samurai family in the mid-1800s. The author focuses on the unremarked lives of women confined to the domestic sphere and, in her persistent concern for the small, concrete details of daily existence, offers insights into the outlook, manners, and customs of samurai society not found in more conventional historical works. The result is a penetrating account of the myriad concerns of women's lives: food, clothing, housing, household finances, the education and discipline of children, marriage and divorce, abortion and infanticide, and the restrictions and demands placed on people by virtue of their rank in society." "Based on the recollections of the author's mother and other family records, the vivid picture of the material life and daily routine of a samurai household provided by Women of the Mito Domain is set against the backdrop of the political strife embroiling Mito in the last years of the Tokugawa period. Full, nevertheless, of affectionate humor, Yamakawa's portrait of her forebears speaks with warmth and immediacy to the reader of another culture and time."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved