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Sleepyseitan (talk | contribs) Added information on her academic interests while at Japan Women's University (sourced from her autobiography) |
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== Life ==
Born in [[Tokyo]] in 1886, the second daughter of a high ranking civil servant, and educated at [[Japan Women's University]] ({{lang|ja|日本女子大学}}) in 1903, Hiratsuka came to be influenced by contemporary currents of European philosophy, as well as [[Zen Buddhism]], of which she would become a devoted practitioner. Of particular influence to her was turn-of-the-century Swedish feminist writer [[Ellen Key]], some of whose works she translated into Japanese, and the [[individualism|individualistic]] heroine of [[Henrik Ibsen]]'s ''[[A Doll's House]]'' (1879). Hiratsuka was also interested in the works of [[Baruch Spinoza]], [[Meister Eckhart]], and [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|G.W. F. Hegel]] during her time at Japan Women's University.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hiratsuka |first=Raichō |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/62732710 |title=In the beginning, woman was the sun : the autobiography of a Japanese feminist |date=2006 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=0-231-13812-1 |location=New York |oclc=62732710}}</ref> In 1908 she attempted a double-suicide with [[Morita Sōhei]], her teacher – a married writer – and a disciple of novelist Natsume Soseki, in the mountains of Nasushiobara, Tochigi. The pair were found alive on the mountain, but the attempted suicide by such a highly educated pair aroused widespread public criticism.
Upon graduation from university, Hiratsuka entered the Narumi Women's English School where, in 1911, she founded Japan's first all-women literary magazine, ''Seitō'' ({{lang|ja|青鞜}}, literally [[BlueStockings Journal|Bluestocking]]). She began the first issue with the words, "In the beginning, woman was the sun" ({{lang|ja|「元始、女性は太陽であった」}}) – a reference to the [[Shinto]] sun goddess [[Amaterasu]], legendary ancestress of the [[Imperial House of Japan]], and to the spiritual independence which women had lost. Adopting the pen name ''Raichō'' ("Thunderbird"), she began to call for a women's spiritual revolution, and within its first few years the journal's focus shifted from literature to women's issues, including candid discussion of [[female sexuality]], [[chastity]] and [[abortion]]. Contributors included renowned poet and women's rights proponent [[Yosano Akiko]], among others.
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