Wives for the Wounded: Marriage Mediation for Japanese Disabled Veterans during World War II

Japans armed invasion of China in July 1937 catalyzed the creation of new welfare services for the rapidly escalating number of Japanese disabled veterans. Among those reforms was the emergence of public and private marriage mediation services that aimed to introduce potential brides to disabled veterans and create independent households for men with severe war injuries. Acting through the Greater Japan Disabled Veterans Association and Patriotic Women's Association, the Japanese state established formal procedures for arranging such marriages. Concurrently, private matchmakers created marriage mediation services expressly for disabled veterans. Public and private marriage mediation efforts sought the multifaceted rehabilitation of disabled veterans and contributed to total war mobilization on the Japanese home front. In the process, wartime marriage mediation for disabled veterans reinforced contemporary social customs and gender norms by positioning women within married households to support their husbands. However, women possessed an extraordinary degree of personal agency because their consent was needed to produce marriages intended to benefit wounded servicemen and the war effort. This essay examines the origins of marriage mediation services for Japanese disabled veterans as well as popular wartime depictions of such endeavors and their female participants.