Bold Breaks: Japanese Women and Literary Narratives of Divorce

The various words for “divorce” in Japanese—rien, enkiri, fūfu wakare, rikon—reflect how the socially constructed institutions of marriage and family, along with their dissolutions, have been understood in Japanese history and jurisprudence. Employing a broad definition of divorce as the end of a romantic union sanctioned by law, social custom, or mutual agreement, Bold Breaks: Japanese Women and Literary Narratives of Divorce explores the shifting attitudes toward divorce in literature by women from the Heian (794–1185) to Heisei (1989–2019) periods.

The collection features writing by renowned authors Tamura Toshiko (1884–1945), Uno Chiyo (1897–1996), and Tsushima Yūko (1947–2016), who used divorce as a literary device to enable their female protagonists to take bold steps toward new lives. A coda explores more contemporary views on marriage, divorce, and romantic love in the work of novelists Itoyama Akiko (1966–) and Kawakami Mieko (1976–) and poet Saihate Tahi (1986–). A wide-ranging introduction provides an overview of the historical, legal, and literary significance of divorce in Japan. The translated texts, appearing in English for the first time, are accompanied by essays introducing the authors and offering brief analyses.

Bold Breaks will appeal to students and scholars of Japanese literature and culture, particularly those interested in gender issues and family social practices, and will enrich the growing conversation on marriage and divorce across cultures and eras.

• Anne Sokolsky, Editor

  Anne Sokolsky is visiting associate professor of Japanese, East Asian studies, and women and gender studies at Denison University.

Contributors

• Sohyun Chun
• Rebecca L. Copeland
• Charo D'Etcheverry
• Eleanor Hogan
• Anne Sokolsky
• Kaoru Tamura
• Laurel Taylor

• Bold Breaks is a novel contribution to works on divorce in Japan and provides a great service to the field by including translations of writing by iconic and lesser-known Japanese women writers previously unavailable in English; all of the pieces are well-chosen to represent a variety of time periods, perspectives, and backgrounds. The book will make a great addition to syllabi for courses on Japanese or comparative literature, Japanese culture, and gender studies.
  —Julia Bullock, Emory University
• Anne Sokolsky has compiled an important collection that examines women’s writing from a highly original point of view. The translations are wonderful. Scholars and general readers alike will welcome this publication.
  —Barbara Hartley, The University of Queensland
• With its equal emphasis on translation and analysis, the format of Bold Breaks is remarkable. This anthology points toward a model that deserves to be more widely adopted, especially as there are relatively few books that pair substantial works of translated fiction with critical analysis that remains accessible without sacrificing depth. This balance makes the volume especially well-suited for undergraduate classrooms, even as it serves as a rich resource for scholars working on gender in Japan. The generous endnotes and translator introductions not only contextualize the stories but also illuminate the craft of translation itself, underscoring how interpretation and analysis are inseparable. It is also worth noting that the collection is a pleasure to read, as the stories carry an emotional immediacy that complements their scholarly framing. Bold Breaks demonstrates the productive synchronicity between translation and criticism, and I hope to see more scholarly work on Japanese literature follow the path so gracefully navigated by its contributors.
  —Kathryn Hemmann, University of Pennsylvania, Studies on Asia 11:1