Masako Nakata

Masako Nakata (中田 正子, Nakata Masako), nee Masako Tanaka (田中正子) (December 1, 1910[1] – October 15, 2002) was one of Japan's first women lawyers.[2]

Masako Nakata
Around 1954
Born
Masako Tanaka (田中正子)

December 1, 1910
Tokyo
DiedOctober 15, 2002
Tottori
NationalityJapanese
OccupationLawyer
Spouse(s)Yoshio Nakata

Biography


Masako Tanaka was born and raised in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo [3] on December 1, 1910.[4] Her father Kunijiro was a major at Military Police who loved reading William Shakespeare in English,[5] and encouraged his daughter to study which was rather a rare attitude among parents in 1920s’ Japan.

Early life and education

Tanaka finished the elementary education at the affiliated school to the Tokyo Women's Higher Normal School and graduated from a municipal girls’ higher school. As she studied at Nitobe Inazo‘s new school for girls to major in economics, [6][5] Tanaka was motivated to keep learning law[1] as she met Nitobe, and took classes offered by Sakuzo Yoshino and Sakae Wagatsuma who was the authority in the field of civil law. As a transferred student, Tanaka started studying at Nihon University law department (1931–1934) [7][8] to transfer again to Meiji University as a sophomore in the Women’s Class of 1935,[8][9] then was accepted into the Law Department at Meiji (1935–).[8]

At the time the definition of someone who could enter the modern legal profession in Japan was "a male Japanese national" who must be at least twenty years old. This wasn't amended until 1933. At the Women's College, Meiji University, they pioneered to accept women students to study law in 1929, and it was in 1936 when women, too, were allowed to enter the bar. Tanaka tried out the bar exam in 1937 as a Meiji student and while passing the writing exam as the first woman entrant, she failed at the interview sessions.[10]

Nakata was one of the first three women, including Yoshiko Mibuchi and Ai Kume, to pass the bar exam in 1938 at her second challenge.[3][11][12] All three of them were Meiji alumnae finishing its Women’s College, who would become fully qualified lawyers after an eighteen-month internship in 1940.[3] [10]

Behind the bar

Nakata married to Kozo Tanaka, a future diet member[2] in 1939[3]. As a licensed lawyer,[8] Tanaka started off at the age of thirty[3] joining a Tokyo law firm[13] and started a column on women’s magazine to give legal advice to house wives as well as at her alma mater to female law students.[14]

When Yoshio returned to his home in Tottori to rehabilitate, Nakata joined him in 1945 to evacuate from the air raides in Tokyo.[3][12][15] Joining the Tottori branch of the Bar Association in 1948[16], Nakata opened an office in Tottori City in 1950[3][12] and continued her practice as a lawyer in Tottori Prefecture to become the first woman president of the Tottori Bar Association in 1969, and finished as the director of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.[17][18][19][20]. As her service to the Tottori Family Court, Nakata was appointed as the Head Conciliator, and in the field of gender equality, Nakata accepted the Ministry of Labor’s offer to sit on the Tottori committee for equal opportunity[21].

Nakata died in Tottori on October 15, 2002[19][22] at the age of 91.[2]

Honors and merits

Citations
  • Abe, Hiroki (30 May 2011). "Tenranksi kiroku" [Exhibition record] (PDF). Meiji daigakusi shiryo senta hokoku (明治大学史資料センター報告). Meiji University. 33: 167–201. ISSN 1349-8843. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 November 2018.
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References
  1. "Nohon hatsu no josei bengoshi : Nakata Masako" [Masako Tanaka, the pioneer lawyer among women]. Mail Magazine Tottori Zatsugaku hompo | "Kyo no Tottori-ken". Tottori prefecture. 14 April 2006. Archived from the original on 7 May 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  2. "Nakata Masako-san ga shikyo nihon-hatsu no josei bengoshi" [Masako Tanaka, the pioneer woman lawyer has died]. 47NEWS. Kyodo News. 2002-10-15. Archived from the original on 30 April 2013. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  3. Yamaizumi, Susumu (2010). "Nihon-hatsu no josei bengoshi Nakata Masako" [Japan’s first woman behind the bar]. The Office of the President (in Japanese). Meiji University. Archived from the original on 23 April 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  4. "Nakata Masako". Digital Nihon Jimmei Dai-jiten+Plus (in Japanese). Kodansha. May 2015. Archived from the original on 19 November 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  5. Haruna, Kengo (2002-11-24). "Tsuito-sho nihon-hatsu no josei bengoshi Nakata Masako-san（10-gatsu15-nichi, shinfuzen de shikyo, 91-sai）". Yomiuri shimbun (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 23 April 2013. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  6. Abe 2011, pp. 187, 189.
  7. Abe 2011, p. 189.
  8. Meiji University Library (2010). "Kankei nempyo (timeline)". Dai-38-kai Meiji daigaku chuo toshokan kikaku tenji : Nakata Masako ten — Meiji daigaku ga unda nihon-hatsu no josei bengoshi [The 38th Special Exhibition at the Meiji University Central Library : Masako Nakata Exhibition-The first female lawyer in Japan, an almnae of Meiji University-] (in Japanese). Meiji University Library.
  9. Abe 2011, p. 191.
  10. Abe 2011, p. 193.
  11. Abe 2011, pp. 187, 193.
  12. "Nihon-hatsu no josei bengoshi Nakata Masako" [Masako Nakata, The pioneer among women lawyers in Japan]. The Internet Museum (in Japanese). Tanseisha. 2006. Archived from the original on 2018-11-19. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  13. Abe 2011, p. 194.
  14. Abe 2011, pp. 194, 199.
  15. Abe 2011, pp. 194, 195.
  16. Abe 2011, p. 195.
  17. Hayashi, Yoko (1992). "Women in the Legal Profession in Japan". U.S.-Japan Women's Journal. English Supplement (2): 16–27. ISSN 1059-9770.
  18. Noli, Luciana Eugenia. "A Country at a Time" (PDF).
  19. "Masako Nakata_ Japan's 1st female lawyer_ dies at 91". article.wn.com.
  20. Buchanan, Kelly (6 March 2015). "Women in History: Lawyers and Judges | In Custodia Legis: Law Librarians of Congress". blogs.loc.gov.
  21. Abe 2011, pp. 199-200.
  22. "Nihon-hatsu no josei bengoshi Nakata Masako | Tottori-shi rekishi hakubutsukan Yamabikokan" [Masako Nakara, the pioneer woman lawyer | Yamabikokan, the Tottori City History Museum]. Internet Museum (in Japanese). 19 November 2018.
  23. Abe 2011, p. 187.
  24. Abe 2011, p. 197.


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