Tomi Kōra
Tomi Kōra | |
---|---|
高良 とみ (Kōra Tomi) | |
Tomi Kōra in 1953 | |
Born | Tomi Wada (和田 とみ, Wada Tomi) July 1, 1896 |
Died | January 17, 1993 | (aged 96)
Resting place | Tama Cemetery[1] |
Other names | Tomiko Kōra |
Occupations | |
Known for | Peace and women's rights activism, second Japanese woman to attain a PhD in psychology |
Children | Rumiko Kōra |
Academic background | |
Education |
|
Thesis | An Experimental Study of Hunger in its Relation to Activity (1922) |
Doctoral advisor | Edward Thorndike |
Other advisors | |
Influences | |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Psychology |
Institutions |
|
Councillor in the Japanese House of Councillors | |
In office 1947–1959 | |
Parliamentary group |
|
Tomi Kōra (Japanese: 高良 とみ, Hepburn: Kōra Tomi, July 1, 1896 – January 17, 1993)[3] was a Japanese psychologist, peace activist, and politician. She published under the name Tomiko Kōra (高良 とみ, Kōra Tomiko).
Early life and education
[edit]Kōra was born Tomi Wada[a] on July 1, 1896, in Toyama Prefecture.[4][5][3] She graduated from the Japan Women's University in 1917.[4][3] While a student, she attended the funeral of Tsuriko Haraguchi, held at the university. Haraguchi was a psychologist and the first Japanese woman to obtain a PhD; Kōra was reportedly inspired by Haraguchi to continue her advanced studies in psychology.[3]
Like Haraguchi, she attended Columbia University, earning her master's degree in 1920 and her PhD in 1922.[4] At Columbia, she collaborated with Curt Richter to conduct her experiments on the effects of hunger.[5][3] Kōra's doctoral dissertation, completed under the supervision of Edward L. Thorndike, was titled An Experimental Study of Hunger in its Relation to Activity.[5][3][6] She was the second Japanese woman to obtain a PhD in psychology, after Haraguchi.[5]
Career
[edit]After returning to Japan, Kōra worked as an assistant in a clinical psychiatry laboratory and taught at Kyushu Imperial University. She was promoted to associate professor, but was met with resistance because she was unmarried at the time.[3] She resigned from the institution in 1927 and took a post at Japan Women's University, where she became a professor.[3]
Kōra was a member of the Japanese Christian Women's Peace Movement, and travelled to China. There, in January 1932, she met the Chinese writers Lu Xun and Xu Guangping at a bookstore owned by the Japanese Kanzō Uchiyama; shortly after, Lu Xun wrote a poem for her.[7]
Kōra was elected as a Councillor in the 1947 Japanese House of Councillors election, as a member of the Democratic Party. She switched to the Ryokufūkai party in 1949, and served in the House of Councillors for 12 years.[6]
In April 1952, Kōra attended the International Economic Conference in Moscow.[6][8] Per a request from the US embassy, the Japanese Foreign Ministry had refused to issue passports to those who wished to travel to the Soviet Union; Kōra got around this restriction by travelling to Moscow through Paris, Copenhagen, and Helsinki. They met with vice-minister of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade Lei Rei-min and were invited to Beijing. At the time, the Japanese government did not recognize the legitimacy of the PRC government.[9] That May, she visited Beijing as a member of the House of Councillors Special Committee for the Repatriation of Overseas Japanese. The visit was a diplomatic breakthrough, resulting in the first PRC–Japan private-sector trade agreement (signed June 1, 1952[9]) and the resumption of the repatriation of Japanese left in China following the end of World War II.[10] Both praise and opposition greeted the trade agreement from Japanese legislators.[9]
Kōra spent four days as a guest at the Women's International Zionist Organization in Israel in April 1960.[11]
Personal life
[edit]In 1929, Kōra married psychiatrist Takehisa Kōra.[b][3][12] They had three daughters, including the poet Rumiko Kōra.[c][12] Kōra was a practising Quaker.[7]
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Tomi Kōra" 高良とみ. 歴史が眠る多磨霊園 [Tama Cemetery, where history sleeps] (in Japanese). Retrieved 13 March 2022.
- ^ a b Takasuna, Miki (21 May 2020). "The First Generation of Japanese Women Psychologists". Genealogy. 4 (2). MDPI: 61. doi:10.3390/genealogy4020061. ISSN 2313-5778.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i McVeigh, Brian J. (12 January 2017). The history of Japanese psychology: global perspectives, 1875-1950. London. ISBN 978-1-4742-8308-3. OCLC 958497577.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b c "Japanese Psychologists: K-L". A Brief Guide to the History of Japanese Psychology. Oklahoma State Psychology Museum & Resource Center. 2004. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
- ^ a b c d Takasuna, Miki (2012). "History of Psychology in Japan". In Rieber, Robert W. (ed.). Encyclopedia of the History of Psychological Theories. New York, NY: Springer. pp. 570–581. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-0463-8_221. ISBN 978-1-4419-0425-6.
- ^ a b c Ōizumi, Hiroshi (2003). Nihon shinri gakusha jiten 日本心理学者事典 [Japanese Psychologists Encyclopaedia] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Kuresu Shuppan. ISBN 4-87733-171-9. OCLC 52857261.
- ^ a b von Kowallis, Jon Eugene (1996). The lyrical Lu Xun: a study of his classical-style verse. Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 0-8248-1511-4. OCLC 32394571.
- ^ "Japanese Woman at Moscow Parley; Diet Member Went Without Permission While 24 Men Meekly Stayed at Home". New York Times. 8 April 1952. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
- ^ a b c Shimizu, Sayuri (2001). Creating people of plenty: the United States and Japan's economic alternatives, 1950-1960. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press. ISBN 0-87338-706-6. OCLC 45375185.
- ^ Itoh, Mayumi (2010). Japanese war orphans in Manchuria: forgotten victims of World War II (1st ed.). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-10636-9. OCLC 688186455.
- ^ Oron, Yitzhak, ed. (1960). Middle East Record Volume 1, 1960. London: George Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
- ^ a b 小村大樹. "歴史が眠る多磨霊園 - 高良とみ" (in Japanese). Retrieved 22 November 2019.
- 1896 births
- 1993 deaths
- Columbia University alumni
- Women members of the House of Councillors (Japan)
- Members of the House of Councillors (Japan)
- Japanese psychologists
- Japanese feminists
- Politicians from Toyama Prefecture
- Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 2nd class
- Japanese women psychologists
- 20th-century Japanese women politicians
- 20th-century Japanese politicians
- 20th-century psychologists
- Japan Women's University alumni