Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
It was very easy for a husband to divorce his wife; he did not have to give a reas-
on—although it was often for childlessness—but merely wrote a letter saying he gave her
leave to go, and certified that she was free to form any other connection. This letter was
in more or less a set form, and filled three and a half lines of writing; these “three and a
half lines” ( mikudari-han ) became the popular word for this divorce document. It did not
matter if she were pregnant or not, though in some regions, if she reported the pregnancy
within three months of leaving, her former husband took responsibility for the child. He
was technically obliged to return her dowry and the equipment she had brought with her,
but in many cases she was lucky if she had much to take back, although she could, in any
dispute, expect support from her father or the head of her former family.
It was characteristic of the relative status of men and women in Japan that wives had
no such right of leaving their husbands. Apart from running away and hoping for the best,
there was only one course of action open to her. There were a few temples, of which
the Tōkeiji in Kamakura was the most well known, that afforded sanctuary to unfortunate
wives.Theprocedurewastotakerefugethere,whereuponthetempleauthoritiesstartedne-
gotiations through an intermediary with the husband to persuade him to release her. If they
were unsuccessful, the wife had to stay in the temple for three years, and would then be
free to leave, with her marriage dissolved by the government official in charge of temples
and shrines. If her husband pursued her to the gate of the temple, she had only to throw in
oneofhersandals toqualifyforassistance. Infact,oncethetemple hadtakenupthewife's
case, the husband most often gave up the struggle and released her. The temple records
have nearly all been destroyed, but it seems that in 1866 there were four women living out
the period of sanctuary, and 40 whose husbands gave them a divorce. Only wives in the
regions near to Kamakura, which included Edo, could make use of the temple: generally
speaking, women were powerless to leave their husbands.
Most of the description of life in Edo in this chapter has been of life indoors. Outside
inthestreetandpublicplacesitwasabusyscene.Kaempferwasmuchimpressed whenhe
reached Edo, of which his first impressions were thus recorded:
Just at the entry of the city we passed across the fish-market, where they sold sev-
eral sorts of submarine plants, shells, cockles, sea qualms, and fish, which are all
eaten here. We kept to the great middle street, which runs northward across the
whole city, though somewhat irregularly. We passed over several stately bridges,
laid over small rivers and muddy ditches, which run on our left towards the castle,
as do also several streets, all of which turn off from the great one. Among the
bridges, there is oneof42fathom inlength, famous all overJapan, because fromit,
asfromacommoncenter,aremeasuredtheroadsanddistancesofplacestoallparts
of the Empire. It is called Niponbas, that is, the bridge of Japan....The throng of
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