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slash Japan to claim your offer. This week, I'm going to recommend feminism, a very short

introduction by Margaret Walters. If you've never heard of the Very Short Introduction series by Oxford, they're, well, a series of very short introductions, about 100 pages or so, to complex topics.

They're great primers on any subject you're curious about. I've actually used them before to get up to speed on topics I plan to teach.

And given the subject matter for the next couple weeks, this seemed like a good one to recommend

to start.

Go to audible trial.com slash Japan to claim your copy. Hello, and welcome to the History of Japan podcast, episode 329. In the beginning, Woman Was the Sun, Part 1.

This week we're going to start on one of the more complicated topics we've covered, and one that I think is really important.

We're going to discuss our first twinned biography of two of the most famous figures of early

Japanese feminism as a way of exploring the history and origins of the feminist movement in Japan

more generally.

So, no preamble.

Let's dive right in.

But of course, before we get to our figures, we have to talk about historical context on this podcast.

So, let's talk about it.

First, we have the historical status of Japanese women to discuss.

Now, of course, this is a huge topic in its own right.

But to distill it to its essence, pre-modern Japan was an interesting place in terms

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