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Sutematsu Oyama
(1860-1919)
Japan's First College-Educated Woman
1 It’s a little unclear to me as to whether the wet quilts were left to older women, or to all women – I know for sure that Sakiko/Sutematsu was running ammunition back and forth.2 Initially I’d wanted to make the quilt design one of the Japanese military flags, with the rays coming out from the red sun, since it was covering a bomb – but it was ahistorical and likely confusing.
3 Her sister-in-law’s name was Tose.
4 Her mother really didn’t want her to go, but after the death of Sakiko’s father, her brother Hiroshi was in charge – not just of their family, but much of the defeated citizens of Aizu. He led by example, eating poorly and starving his own family when the rest of his people didn’t have enough to eat.5 In the end, at least two other of Sakiko’s family would go abroad – her brother Kenjiro was already taking classes at Yale before she got to the US, and her other sister Misao would end up going to St. Petersburg and studying French. For many years, Sakiko/Sutematsu and Misao would have no common language.
6 The first character, “sute,” is the base of the verb “suteru,” to discard. The second character, “matsu,” means “pine tree,” and was the first character of the family name of the defeated lord of Aizu – Katamori Matsudaira.7 Not verified in time for the initial publication of this story is an additional bit of tragedy about the name “Sutematsu.” “Matsu,” besides being the first part of the Matsudaira’s name, is a homonym for the verb “to wait” (待つ ). Her mother was telling her she was waiting for her to return.
8 The older two girls were named Ryo and Tei – Ryo had been partially blinded from staring at the snow in Utah for too long (apparently that’s a thing), so both of them went back. They had relatively normal lives afterwards, and only saw the other three girls once or twice again.
9 That was an actual question on a high school exam she took. It’s unknown how she answered.10 That’s a direct quote from her valedictorian speech, in which she laid out a forceful argument about the unequal trade relationship between the UK and Japan. She was a smart cookie.[2. Shige went to Vassar too, but did not get a bachelor’s degree, just a certificate in music. Shige ended up marrying a Japanese naval officer who’d also been sent abroad. They started a family and lived a pretty normal life after her time in the US.]
11 Sutematsu had worked hard to keep up her Japanese and connection to Japan during her time in America. She’d force Shige to practice Japanese with her regularly, and would correspond with her family and her brother – who was studying at Yale for the first several years she was there – to keep up her Japanese-ness. 
12 From left to right, here are Shige, Sutematsu, and Ume. Sutematsu was the one to start the idea, but after getting married, Ume really took it and ran with it. Ume, the youngest of the group and the most isolated by far, didn’t speak any Japanese when she came back. She was treated as an exotic invalid who couldn’t do anything properly, and it really upset her. She’d eventually go back and get a full degree at Bryn Mawr – she had been so young that she only graduated high school by the time she came back.
13 Iwao is an interesting character. He’d also spent time abroad – in France – and was recently widowed. He wanted a wife who would be a good companion for him on the international stage, and Sutematsu was the most eligible woman in Japan. He was by all accounts a good man, who’d become Minister of War and lead forces in the Russo-Japanese War.
14 The novel referenced here is Hototogisu, a hallmark of Japanese literature.
15 I brush over it here, but Sutematsu spent a lot of time on official functions. She threw a lot of balls, and organized charity drives – something that had never been done before in Japan. She felt very despondent that she had just become a housewife, despite her accomplishments. 
16 The school is still open. It is now called the Tsuda College, for Ume’s surname. Sutematsu’s involvement is little-known.17 Ume herself had a wild life, which I can’t get into here. She ended up meeting Helen Keller and Florence Nightingale, refusing to marry, running the school virtually by herself for years – she was in many ways even more isolated from Japanese society than Sutematsu. She even took her name off her family register and changed it to Umeko – which was a huge deal. Hers is a story for another time.
Footnotes
| ↑1 | It’s a little unclear to me as to whether the wet quilts were left to older women, or to all women – I know for sure that Sakiko/Sutematsu was running ammunition back and forth. |
| ↑2 | Initially I’d wanted to make the quilt design one of the Japanese military flags, with the rays coming out from the red sun, since it was covering a bomb – but it was ahistorical and likely confusing. |
| ↑3 | Her sister-in-law’s name was Tose. |
| ↑4 | Her mother really didn’t want her to go, but after the death of Sakiko’s father, her brother Hiroshi was in charge – not just of their family, but much of the defeated citizens of Aizu. He led by example, eating poorly and starving his own family when the rest of his people didn’t have enough to eat. |
| ↑5 | In the end, at least two other of Sakiko’s family would go abroad – her brother Kenjiro was already taking classes at Yale before she got to the US, and her other sister Misao would end up going to St. Petersburg and studying French. For many years, Sakiko/Sutematsu and Misao would have no common language. |
| ↑6 | The first character, “sute,” is the base of the verb “suteru,” to discard. The second character, “matsu,” means “pine tree,” and was the first character of the family name of the defeated lord of Aizu – Katamori Matsudaira. |
| ↑7 | Not verified in time for the initial publication of this story is an additional bit of tragedy about the name “Sutematsu.” “Matsu,” besides being the first part of the Matsudaira’s name, is a homonym for the verb “to wait” (待つ ). Her mother was telling her she was waiting for her to return. |
| ↑8 | The older two girls were named Ryo and Tei – Ryo had been partially blinded from staring at the snow in Utah for too long (apparently that’s a thing), so both of them went back. They had relatively normal lives afterwards, and only saw the other three girls once or twice again. |
| ↑9 | That was an actual question on a high school exam she took. It’s unknown how she answered. |
| ↑10 | That’s a direct quote from her valedictorian speech, in which she laid out a forceful argument about the unequal trade relationship between the UK and Japan. She was a smart cookie. |
| ↑11 | Sutematsu had worked hard to keep up her Japanese and connection to Japan during her time in America. She’d force Shige to practice Japanese with her regularly, and would correspond with her family and her brother – who was studying at Yale for the first several years she was there – to keep up her Japanese-ness. |
| ↑12 | From left to right, here are Shige, Sutematsu, and Ume. Sutematsu was the one to start the idea, but after getting married, Ume really took it and ran with it. Ume, the youngest of the group and the most isolated by far, didn’t speak any Japanese when she came back. She was treated as an exotic invalid who couldn’t do anything properly, and it really upset her. She’d eventually go back and get a full degree at Bryn Mawr – she had been so young that she only graduated high school by the time she came back. |
| ↑13 | Iwao is an interesting character. He’d also spent time abroad – in France – and was recently widowed. He wanted a wife who would be a good companion for him on the international stage, and Sutematsu was the most eligible woman in Japan. He was by all accounts a good man, who’d become Minister of War and lead forces in the Russo-Japanese War. |
| ↑14 | The novel referenced here is Hototogisu, a hallmark of Japanese literature. |
| ↑15 | I brush over it here, but Sutematsu spent a lot of time on official functions. She threw a lot of balls, and organized charity drives – something that had never been done before in Japan. She felt very despondent that she had just become a housewife, despite her accomplishments. |
| ↑16 | The school is still open. It is now called the Tsuda College, for Ume’s surname. Sutematsu’s involvement is little-known. |
| ↑17 | Ume herself had a wild life, which I can’t get into here. She ended up meeting Helen Keller and Florence Nightingale, refusing to marry, running the school virtually by herself for years – she was in many ways even more isolated from Japanese society than Sutematsu. She even took her name off her family register and changed it to Umeko – which was a huge deal. Hers is a story for another time. |
Art Notes
- Here we have Sakiko/Sutematsu feeling the scar on her neck at three different time periods (and names), reflected in a three-part mirror.
- The design of her clothing slowly covers up the pinks of her childhood with muted grays over time.
- The flags behind her are the flag of Aizu (left), the US flag (center), and the Japanese flag (right). The US flag is a centennial version with only 37 stars – which is how many states were in the union at the time!
- The jewelry box on the left is a type of lacquered Japanese box with a little design on the inside lid. I figured she might have had one to remind her of home.
- Her diploma is sitting in the middle of the desk.
- The portrait on the right is of her brother Hiroshi.
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Next Time on Rejected Princesses
Cam I early, cam I late, I found this woman at the gate.
I like the third-to-last photo of Sutematsu in her formal crested kimono.
No idea if you did this intentionally, but the colors for Vassar when she went there were pink & gray, exactly as you show her in her valedictorian robes. (the colors were changed in the 60’s when they officially started admitting men, and apparently they didn’t want to parade in pink)
Oh no way! Actually just a happy accident. Thanks for letting me know!
If the main image is her reflected in three mirrors, shouldn’t the scar be on the other side?
Just FYI, the way the Vassar comment is worded makes it sound like admitting women was a change from a previous state of not-admitting-women, when they were founded as a women’s college and had just started existing.
Fascinating post!
Fixed – it was worded that way in my source, and I figured it knew something I didn’t. :)
D’oh! Yeah, should be. Argh.
You’ll never read a word of this from Tardnita Skankeesian.
The source was probably worded like that because technically, Vassar was founded a few years before it began admitting students (because of the Civil War) If I remember correctly, it was founded in 1861 and first admitted students (all women) in 1865..
“Tradition, not change, was the order of the day” is a strange way to describe Japan in 1882. The country was just entering the “Rokumeikan era” (1883-1887), named after a newly government-built hall that hosted Western balls and parties (and where Sutematsu’s wedding was held). Western culture was still all the rage in the 1880s; the conservative backlash came later.
That was the argument made by my source, which cited a rise in interests such as tea ceremony, and scorn heaped upon the building of the Rokumeikan itself. I don’t really have a horse in the race, that’s just the information I had to go off of.
It happens. Great work all the same. I love all the detail you put into each image. I bought your book for my daughter (she’s 4 months so it will be a long while before she gets out) and I was just wondering the other day if/when you make vol 2 whether you would include the comic style entries or just the main image. Of course that would take much longer but it would be well worth the wait :-)
It’ll be something more akin to this entry. I’m handling layout on this book so I’m able to add in art and mess with the look of it more easily. The look I’m going for is “self-aware illuminated manuscript.” Although I’m just plowing through the research and art for right now. Have to do an entry every 3.5 days, without taking a day off, to hit my deadline. Plus try to keep posting online. :)
Fee-fees.
KYS.
School Colors Changed at Request of New Male Students
The rumor that in the early seventies, around the time that men were
first admitted to the college, Vassar changed its school colors from
“the rose light of the dawn of women’s education breaking through the
grey of former years” to a darker maroon and grey isn’t true. The story
was that a group of male athletes, feeling too effeminate wearing pink
athletic gear, circulated a petition to change the color, and the
administration caved. Colton Johnson, Dean of Studies at the time of the
switch, maintains that the colors were not changed but that athletic
uiniforms became maroon and gray for budgetary reasons; ordering
custom-made pink uniforms was much more costly than the
readily-available maroon, and so the school made the uniform switch.
https://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/vassar-myths-legends
This may not be good for a little kid movie, but this could still work as a live action film.
I have never read such a cognitive article. if you look past you can see how Japan’s education developed and benefited all physicians.