INTRODUCTION

ŌE (NÉE MIYAKAWA) Sumi was a pioneer in the field of modern domestic science in Japan. After studying in Britain, she returned to Japan and became a professor at Tokyo Joshi Kōtō Shihan Gakkō (Tokyo Women's Teachers’ Training College). She laid the foundation of domestic science, further developed it, and finally established it as a significant aspect of education. She also published several textbooks, widely used in domestic-science classes in schools throughout Japan. In 1925 she founded her own private educational institution Tokyo Kasei Gakuin (Tokyo Home Economics Academy). In 1940 she was awarded the Indigo Ribbon (Ranju Hoōshō) medal for her great service promoting women's education. In the same year the Ministry of Education recognized her long service in the field of education and awarded her a prize. Although she died in 1948, her name continues to be well remembered in Japan. However, she is not well known outside Japan despite having spent nearly four years in Britain as well as travelling to other European countries and the United States.

EARLY LIFE IN JAPAN

Miyakawa Sumi, subsequently known by her married name Ōe Sumi, was born on 7 September 1875 in Nagasaki, as the third child of Miyakawa Moritarō and his wife Kane. Although the Miyakawa family had been peasants for many generations, Moritarō gave up farming in his youth and worked for the trading company Glover and Company founded by the Scottish merchant Thomas Blake Glover.

Through his work Moritarō became acquainted with a wide range of people who later became important government officials, including Ōkuma Shigenobu. During the Civil War (1868–1869), Glover and Company supplied arms to anti-Tokugawa samurai in Satsuma and Chōshū, who planned to overthrow the Shōgunate and restore the Emperor as sovereign. Glover and Company made a huge profit during this conflict. However, they went bankrupt in 1870 when they could no longer sell weapons as peace had been restored. Moritarō then went to Tokyo to work first for the Department of the Navy, but having been recommended by Ōkuma Shigenobu he soon moved to the Imperial Household Agency, where he worked as a lower-ranking official.

His wife and children moved to Tokyo to join him in 1880.