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Minakata Matsue (1878-1955)
Apr. 18th, 2025 07:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nnozomiMinakata Matsue was born in 1878 in Wakayama, where her father was a Shinto priest; her maiden name was Tamura. She remained unmarried longer than was usual for the time, having been devoted to supporting her destitute family through sewing and flower arrangement. At twenty-eight she married the biologist Minakata Kumagusu, who was then forty. He had spent the previous decade as a researcher in the West and was then settled near Matsue’s hometown, near his own birthplace, to study slime molds.
Minakata said that his motive for marriage was “the inconvenience of single life,” but he was apparently fond of his wife, in particular her encyclopedic knowledge of local customs and folktales, naturally acquired from her background at the family shrine. Their marriage was celebrated by the gift of a diamond ring from Frederick Dickins, Minakata’s former supervisor at London University. Unfortunately, this romantic beginning was ruined by Matsue’s discovery of lice in the marital bed, which she had to clean out thoroughly before venturing on any activities there.
The Minakatas’ son Kumaya was born in 1907 and their daughter Fumie four years later. Minakata, absorbed in scientific research, copying religious texts, political-religious activism, and drinking, was inclined to leave the management of his household and his children to Matsue, complaining fiercely when she made any attempt to tidy up his belongings: he was busy using them to grow molds for observation. Matsue put up with her oddball husband and assisted in later years with his research, responsible along with Fumie for the publication of his later collected works. She died in 1955, fourteen years after her husband.
Sources
Nakae
Minakata said that his motive for marriage was “the inconvenience of single life,” but he was apparently fond of his wife, in particular her encyclopedic knowledge of local customs and folktales, naturally acquired from her background at the family shrine. Their marriage was celebrated by the gift of a diamond ring from Frederick Dickins, Minakata’s former supervisor at London University. Unfortunately, this romantic beginning was ruined by Matsue’s discovery of lice in the marital bed, which she had to clean out thoroughly before venturing on any activities there.
The Minakatas’ son Kumaya was born in 1907 and their daughter Fumie four years later. Minakata, absorbed in scientific research, copying religious texts, political-religious activism, and drinking, was inclined to leave the management of his household and his children to Matsue, complaining fiercely when she made any attempt to tidy up his belongings: he was busy using them to grow molds for observation. Matsue put up with her oddball husband and assisted in later years with his research, responsible along with Fumie for the publication of his later collected works. She died in 1955, fourteen years after her husband.
Sources
Nakae
