PROFILBARU.COM

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; Toyama Prefecture
Died	January 17, 1993 (aged 96)
Resting place	Tama Cemetery
Other names	Tomiko Kōra
Occupations	Councillor; Academic psychologist;
Known for	Peace and women's rights activism, second Japanese woman to attain a PhD in psychology
Children	Rumiko Kōra
Academic background
Education	Columbia University (PhD 1922); Barnard College (M 1920); Japan Women's University (B 1917);
Thesis	An Experimental Study of Hunger in its Relation to Activity (1922)
Doctoral advisor	Edward Thorndike
Other advisors	John B. Watson; Curt Richter;
Influences	Tsuruko Haraguchi; Rabindranath Tagore;
Academic work
Discipline	Psychology
Institutions	Japan Women's University (Professor); Kyushu University (Researcher);
Councillor in the Japanese House of Councillors
	In office; 1947–1959
Parliamentary group	Democratic Party (1947–1949); *Ryokufūkai (1949–1959)

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

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

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

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

^ 和田とみ, Wada Tomi
^ 高良武久, Kōra Takehisa
^ 高良留美子, Kōra Rumiko

References

^ "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.