Acknowledgements
Note on Japanese Names

1. The Forgotten History of Japanese Divorce
When Japan Led the World in Divorce
Competing Interpretations of Traditional High Divorce Rates
A New History of Japanese Divorce
Changing Definitions of Marriage and Divorce
Sources

2. For the Sake of the House: Edo-Period Patterns, Perceptions, and Precedents
Divorce Across Status and Domain Boundaries
“No-Fault” Divorce in Popular Plays
Magistrates in Support of Household Authority
Merciful Buddhist Temples: An Alternative Venue for Divorce Negotiations
Household Status Versus Sex

3. Testing a Spouse: The Trial Marriage System
Meiji Marriage Ambiguities
The Frequency of Divorce in the Meiji Era
Multiple Remarriage Opportunities
The Trial Marriage System and Household Survival

4. Unsuitable to the Family Tradition? Popular Divorce Customs in the 1870s
Obtaining a Customary Consent Divorce
The Terms of Customary Consent Divorce
Life After Divorce
Evidence of Female Divorce Initiatives
Early Modern Divorce Revisited

5. Between French Law and Japanese Customs: Codifying Divorce in Meiji Japan
Intellectual Interpretations of Divorce in the 1870s and 1880s
The Napoleonic Code and the Early Codification Process
The Backlash Against “French” Divorce, 1887-1892
Reaffirming the Dual Divorce System, 1892-1898
The Civil Code of 1898: Divorce, Family, and Gender

6. When Marriage Was on the Rise: Declining Divorce Rates, 1898-1940
Legislation and the Precipitous Drop in Divorce, 1897-1899
The Gradual Decline, 1900-1940

7. Forward to the Past: A Historical Perspective on Japanese Divorce After World War II
Legislative Reform During the American Occupation
The 1960s Revolution in Japanese Divorce Behavior
The Return of the Divorcing Society in the 1990s

Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index