A Housewife's Blues
A look back at social expectations of women
Welcome to new subscribers and regular readers! Thank you for joining me for today’s song, “Shufu Blues” by Nakagawa Gotaro. If you’d like to hear the song before you read about it, I’ve included a YouTube video below the article.
✳️ Note: The level of this article is for students with a TOEIC of 550+, Eiken Pre-1, CEFR B2. For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below.
For native speakers, the video has the lyrics in Japanese and a translation in English. It is this translation that I am using in the lyrics below. For Japanese learners, I have highlighted some words and phrases in English that might be useful for you. These might be slightly different from the Japanese used in the video.
(813 words)
Today’s song, Housewife’s Blues”, was written by Nakagawa Goro and released in November 1969 as part of the album “Owari Hajimaru”. The song reflects several social themes that were current at the time.
The song reflects Japanese society during the 1940s through the 1970s. Women were expected to marry and raise children. The song tells the woman’s story from her perspective after tolerating society’s expectations throughout her life.
Oh, life is full of worries
Nothing fun about it at all
Without having loved, I’ve grown old and turned gray
All unfulfilled dreams and fleeting pleasures
Not a single thing going the way I had planned
The woman had someone she is interested in, but because her parents have someone else chosen for her, she felt she had to agree.
When I was at the peak of my beauty
I had an arranged marriage with a man who “made sense”
Back then, there was another I was fond of
But my parents pressured me, and I married their choice
The newlywed life should have been such fun
But it came right smack in the middle of war
The war smashed my dreams
The “drab” (colorless) work pants were called monpe.
Dressing in drab work pants left me so sad
During the war, the government approved practical styles of clothing for men and women. Monpe were a kind of baggy work pants that farming women wore. There was not enough fabric available to buy, and, along with poverty, many women had to make these out of worn-out dresses or kimonos.
Children grow quickly. The woman tried to do her best in raising her sons, but her mother-in-law complained.
At long last, our eldest son was born
I dedicated myself entirely to his care
But his grandmother kept butting in
The usual battle between mother-in-law and wife
From the lyrics, we learn that the woman was quite aware of not keeping up with the other mothers in terms of fashion. When she tried to tell her husband, he turned the tables on her, meaning he started complaining to her about his troubles.
Parent observation day at my son’s school
The mothers around me all looking so chic
When I got home, I cried to my husband
He turned the tables and started crying to me
Students in Japan go through something called “examination hell”. It’s a time, usually in the last year of high school, when students have to study for entrance exams to get into university. The name value of the university is extremely important and can influence your success in getting a job later on. A mother’s job is to prepare all meals and keep the house quiet so that the student can study.
The time for college entrance exams arrived
I pestered and nagged, giving all sorts of advice
And even made him midnight snacks
Parents want to give their children a good start in their education. It begins with kindergarten. This woman chose a school with a good reputation to enroll her child in so that he could get in, and she had to wait all night in line.
First son in college, second son starts kindergarten
So, hoping to sign him up for a good one
I spent all night in line
It gave me poor circulation, now I can’t stand the cold
In the 1960s, students in Japan protested several things. Among them were the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty (ANPO), the rising costs of school fees, and the Vietnam War.
Protesting students clash with the riot police
And it’s all shown right there on the TV news
Nightfall, but still my son hasn’t come home
Worried sick, I get not a lick of (no) sleep
My son argues politics with me
Accusing me: “Silence is complicity!”
But for me, it’s the home that matters most of all
I’m so sick and tired of trying so hard in life
My darling child has now fallen in love
And he introduces me to his girlfriend
Having never loved freely, I burn madly with envy
Before long, it’s my son’s wedding
And me with my hair already mixed with gray
I stare as the two looking so happy together
Then can’t help but glare at my own husband
Perhaps the woman had never been happy with her husband.
I’m now on the verge of becoming a grandmother
And my only simple pleasures are
“Ashita koso” in the a.m. and “Kokinji” over lunch
The television, it turns out, is my true partner in life
There haven’t been any overwhelming miseries
And I’ve peacefully slipped into my old age
But I question myself sometimes:
“Has this been enough?”
Ah, life’s full of worries, nothing fun about it at all
Without having loved, I’ve grown old and turned gray
Is being a housewife a woman’s reason to go on living?
Have I really lived at all?
Leaving a comment is a good way to practice your writing skills.
Vocabulary
tolerate 我慢する
unfulfilled 満たされない
fleeting 束の間の
at the peak of 絶頂期
newlywed life 新婚生活
right smack in the middle of まさに真っ只中
butt in 邪魔をする
turn the tables on (someone) 形勢逆転する
pester / nag しつこく言う/口うるさい
reputation 評判
poor circulation 血行不良
protest 抗議する
clash 激突する
riot police 機動隊
not a lick of 全くない
accuse 責める
complicity 共犯
envy 嫉妬
stare 見つめる
glare 睨みつける
on the verge of もうすぐ
overwhelming 圧倒的な
misery 不幸
Source
Molony, B. Theiss, J. & Choi, H. (2016). Gender in Modern East Asia: An Integrated History. Westview Press. Chapter 8: Gender and World War II, pp. 314-333.
#TOEIC550 #EikenPre-1 #CEFR B2
I wonder how Gen X in Japan relates to this. A deeper understanding of their great-grandmothere’s or grandmother’s lives? A first step in honoring someone’s life and also in continuing the unfinished feminist revolution.
That song is beyond the blues, it's got it's own Japanese sadness that sticks a dagger into the culture. As one YouTube comment said "Terrifyingly reflective song." What a lasting memory.