Fourteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

The ubume (産女) is a ghost of Japanese folklore, once a living woman, who died during either pregnancy or childbirth. The characters used to write ubume allude to her appearance and the way in which she died (birth-giving 産 and woman 女). As recently as the 1950s, there were steps taken to avoid a woman becoming an ubume. Considering the fact that before modern medicine pregnancy could just as easily result in death as it could life, regardless of class, it is not surprising that practices, both religious and medical, developed to help individuals, and communities, cope with this reality. Figures of folklore solidified these anxieties and ideas in narrative form, spreading them from rural to urban spaces, from the elite class to the commoners, beginning with didactic literature and later the visual arts. This paper explores how the religious and secular developments of the ubume create a dichotomy of ideologies that both condemn and liberate women in their roles as mothers. Examples of literary and visual narratives of the ubume as well as the religious practices that were employed for maternity-related concerns (significantly those related to the Ketsubonkyō, or Blood Bowl Sutra) are explored within their historical contexts. The cultural significance of the ubume created a metanarrative that contributes to our understanding of the historical experience of women. With the ideology of motherhood still persistent in Japan, it is imperative to examine the female historical experience by viewing it through a folkloric lens.