Individual Agency In Meiji Japan

The Meiji Japan that is depicted in Sanshiro is undergoing rapid industrialization and followed by idealistic changes, which is ultimately fueled by Japan’s attempt to pursuit modernity. Following the pursuit of modernity, the extent of constraints of individual agency seems to be completely discarded by the government. To explain, throughout the story of Sanshiro, as much as Sanshiro thinks a person’s idea or action is bizarre or untraditional, not once was there an involvement with the law enforcement. Some events that Sanshiro deemed unconservative are the vulgar request by the “train woman”, Sanshiro and Mineko’s walk in the public, Hirota’s public prediction of Japan’s demise, and many other revolutionary events that would be otherwise …show more content…
Underneath the modern, industrialized, and pro-freedom Japan, one can see the conservative, skeptical, Japanese society struggling to accept having no constraints in individual agency. This schism of ideas between the Japanese government and the Japanese society is caused by the uncertainty and skepticism during a transitional period from the un-modern to the modern. Thus the Meiji Japan depicted in Sanshiro is presented with two standards of measurement. Having established that the government of this time appears to allow almost anything, only the societal measurement should be payed attention to. As a result of this, I believe that women have certain constrainments to their individual agency or else the society will purposely hold them …show more content…
A perfect example of this is Mineko’s attempt to break free from the social stigma of women. According to Yojiro, women tend to marry older men because the women are usually married to someone who is more successful than themselves. Thus, men who are the same age as the woman are usually not far superior than the woman for the two to be married. This is noteworthy because Mineko is especially calm, confident, and independent for the average women’s standard. She even lended Sanshiro 20 yen without asking for permission from her brother, which is an act of breaking free from the social stigmas of women and the constraints of women in general (Soseki 146). Unfortunately, even for an especially independent woman like Mineko, it seems impossible for her to escape the social constraints of women’s agency because while she flirted with both Sanshiro and Nonomiya constantly, she still end up marrying someone who is older than her as well as a complete stranger. It is important to bring up that Mineko seems to be aware of the invisible constraints that bounded her as a woman. Mineko is aware of her actions when she flirted with both Sanshiro and Nonomiya, “You’re not the one I was toying with” is the statement Mineko said to Sanshiro (Soseki 158). Furthermore, Mineko’s habit of looking at tall things such as trees and