The Tokugawa period of Japanese history was a time of rigid class
             stratification. The Weak Body of a Useless Woman: Matsuo Taseko and the
             Meiji Restoration by Anne Walthall deals with the transformation from the
             age of the samurai to the modern; from the Shogunate to Empirical rule and
             the beginning transition from an agrarian to technological society. This
             book is about change, specifically, social and political change, but. also,
             about changes that occurred within the life of an individual, a woman and a
             Matsuo Taseko was born into the peasant class. Her family were
             farmers living and working in the Ina Valley in what is now the Nagano
             Province. The samurai system was based on a feudal and agrarian society
             where the workers paid homage' or taxes to the local ruling samurai.
             Taseko was the daughter of the local headman, which brought responsibility
             as well as greater contact with others, including political leaders. It
             also made her part of the rural elite', a part of the local political
             structure. Her family were involved in an extensive system of rural
             entrepenurism, or self-employment, that bridged the agricultural and
             merchant classes. They were involved in making and selling sake and were
             known to be the local moneylenders. She learned to read and write, an
             honor generally denied the peasant. She wrote poetry that reflected both
             her education and her political inclinations. She was trained in classical
             poetic form, allowing her a place among the intellectuals of the time. She
             was a devout subject of the Emperor. Taseko remained within the rural
             elite by marrying a headman of another village. She birthed ten children,
             although three died in infancy. She joined the ranks of entrepreneurs by
             cultivating silkworms, becoming wealthy according to the limits of class
             and opportunity. Her marriage was typical of social expectations and she
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