Sakiyo Gender Roles

Register to read the introduction… In fact, the inequality is immediately echoed in Saikaku’s opening line: a woman is “an ax that cuts down a man’s life” (605). Throughout the entire novel the audience is continually reminded about these gender discrepancies, and of the expectations placed upon individuals to conform to the status quo of their gender roles. Women in particular, receive the brunt of this discrimination, which in nearly every case, has to do with physical characteristics. One such case describes that a beautiful woman is expected to have symmetric facial features, ears that are prominent, but “not fleshy,” feet about “seven inches long,” and that she should “not have a single mole on her body” (609-610). Saikaku, of course, satirizes this list composed of ridiculous demands to illicit laughter from the audience; this helps him both reveal and mock the expectations that the Ukiyo lifestyle inherently demands of only women in society. Furthermore, he exposes that Ukiyo has conditioned individuals to accept these gender biases by allowing expectations about women and their behaviour become the norm. A prime example of this is of the episode concerning the domain lord’s wife and his mistress; the wife accepts that she is powerless to do anything but lament on the fact that her husband is away engaging in sexual activities with his mistress, while the mistress is expected to fit the husband’s bill of …show more content…
He is able to do this in two ways: first he shows how Ukiyo expectations create hypocritical double standards for individuals, and secondly he shows how the indulgence in Ukiyo can lead to hypocritical figures that are supposed to epitomize morality but are in fact corrupt. Hypocrisy, through unfair double standards, is evident from the very beginning. In one breath women are labeled as being “very basic creatures” (611) that are only useful for the pleasures of a man, while in the next moment they are declared to be “fearsome creatures” (618), blamed for the wearing down of a lord. Saikaku strengthens this with the juxtaposition of contradictory water imagery. The line: “All the women were as fresh as budding cherry blossoms, ready to burst into full bloom if wet by the slightest rain” (608) is contrasted with the line: “the pure water of my mind turned the colour of sensuous love… I just followed my desires- and ruined myself. The water will never be clear again” (608). The symbolism behind water is incongruent between both passages. One suggests that upon experiencing Ukiyo, a woman will reach her full “bloom,” while the other implies that the sensual lifestyle will deteriorate her purity. Through these passages Saikaku demonstrates the hypocritical double standard placed upon women; individuals cannot both protect their purity and engage in