Conceptions of the Japanese Mother

Abstract

Our problem is—what is meant by the word mother in Japanese culture? What meaning is the mother presumed to have for the self in Japan? We took up a radio program called “Haha o Kataru” to grasp the meaning of the Japanese mother. In this program, many persons who are well-known in the mass conmunication world talk about their own mothers for fifteen minutes. We got one hundred and forty-four broadcasting tapes. From the point of view of our analysis whether the facts they told are true or not is unimportant, though interpretations or meaning they imputed are significant.Three fifths of the subjects who spoke about their mothers are male. Sixty per cent of them are public entertainers, thirty-three per cent are intellectuals or artists, seven per cent have other occupations. A half of their mothers are already dead.By analyzing themes appearing in their talks and their interpretation of them, we think we can construct the following conceptions of the mother.1. The mother is essentially a valuable person.2. The mother sacrifices herself to the child and the husband, and so doing she finds her life worth living.3. The child can take advantage of such a mother (amaeru).4. The mother may provoke guilt feelings within the child, especially after her death.5. The mother is a poychological prop and stay for the child; and his achievement or what he is is looked upon what he owes to her.6. The mother may be the motive for the child's achievements. (The child strives in his life in order to make his mother happy, and the child expects his own achievement to be appraised by her.)7. The mother is sentimentalized or emotionalized as the object of the child's lifelong attachment. The word ‘mother’ (okâsan, ofukuro) itself induces specific sentimental reaction.