Nyohitsu: the construction of femininities through writing

在近代早期日本出版业的繁荣时期，印刷手册被制作出来，用于教授女性写作技巧。但不仅仅是书法，女合还包括视觉和语言实践，这些实践共同产生了一种被认为是女性化的写作方式。作为一项类似于茶、诗歌或音乐的女性成就，女交是那些有文化素养和资源的人可以用来积累文化资本的。首先，我建议研究一些材料，这些材料被统称为“女和”，以阐明其中包含的关于女性气质的话语。然而，我也建议将新写作为一个更广泛的现象来考虑：它的物质性包括书法、文字和页面结构，而其特定的词汇和句法使其成为一种不同于其他类型的书写和言语的语言。通过将新合重新定义为一种“模式”，本研究将采用多学科方法来研究新合是如何创造意义的，以及性别身份是如何通过写作构建的。至关重要的是，女性气质显然是由男人们所提出的，这使它变得复杂：这提醒人们，在现代早期，关于性别的许多问题仍不清楚。

During the publishing boom of early modern Japan, printed manuals were produced for teaching women nyohitsu, the skill of feminine writing. But more than just calligraphy, nyohitsu encompassed visual and linguistic practices that together produced a manner of writing that was understood to be feminine. As a female accomplishment similar to tea, poetry or music, nyohitsu was available for those with the literacy and resources to devote to the accrual of cultural capital. In the first instance, I propose to examine a selection of the materials that come under the umbrella term nyohitsu to illuminate the discourses on femininity contained therein. However, I also propose the consideration of nyohitsu as a broader phenomenon: its materiality encompasses calligraphy, script and page architecture, while its specific vocabulary and syntax position it as a language apart from other kinds of writing, as well as from speech. By reconceptualising nyohitsu as a 'mode', this study will undertake a multidisciplinary approach to examining how nyohitsu operated to create meaning, and how gendered identities were constructed through writing. Crucially, the femininity apparently proposed by nyohitsu is complicated by its use by men: this serves as a reminder that much remains unclear concerning gender during the early modern period.