Everyday Life in Traditional Japan. Charles Dunn

      (24) The Shogun attended by ladies-in-waiting (wax models). Behind the tasseled doors in this private apartment in the Nijo Castle an armed guard was always on duty.

      (25) The Shogun’s ladies exercising with the halberd.

      Kaempfer was a trained observer and one can accept his description as accurate. It is possible that the mats were removed in the area of floor in which the Dutchmen appeared because they wore shoes. The Japanese always left their outdoor footwear at the entrance, and from then on went either barefoot or wearing tabi, the divided socks—unless they were on urgent official business, such as making an arrest, in which case they would go straight in, thus increasing, incidentally, the psychological shock of the irruption.

      It sounds as if Kaempfer in this unofficial audience penetrated as far as the semi-private domestic quarters, one of the three main divisions of the Edo Castle: the “front,” where business was conducted, the “middle interior,” referred to above, and the “great interior,” which was the women’s quarters (24). The organization of the latter is believed to have been modeled on that of the Chinese court. In the Edo “great interior” only very few men were allowed in—the Shogun himself, some senior counselors, doctors, and priests. The women had ranks reminiscent of those of the government, with a jealously preserved hierarchy, and they were even prepared to fight if necessary, being trained in the use of the halberd (25). They were recruited from the daughters of direct retainers, and started their apprenticeship at about the age of 12. It was, of course, a great honor to serve in this establishment, and usually it was a job for life, although occasionally a Shogun would release a concubine of whom he had grown tired, giving her in marriage to one of his retainers, just as he might take in some beauty at a later age than was usual. He had a consort (Kaempfer’s Empress), whom he would have married for political reasons, but nobody would have expected him not to have other women—Ienari, the eleventh Shogun (1787-1838), is reported to have had 15 concubines and 24 less regularly chosen companions. The formula used by the Shogun, indicating his choice for the night, was for him to ask one of the senior women: “What is that girl’s name?” which would set the machinery of preparation in motion.

      A great deal of the time of these women was spent in dressing and making-up (26), since their costume and appearance at their various duties in attendance on their master was governed by the strictest etiquette. Then all the polite attainments—flower arrangement, tea ceremony, incense-discrimination—had to be practiced, and there was a certain amount of leisure for things like playing poem-cards, or cherry-blossom viewing in the Castle grounds. Perhaps the ever-present occupation was the pursuit of intrigue, backbiting, and jealousy inescapable from the circumstances they lived in. Occasionally there were intrigues of another sort, and one in particular is worth recording for the light it throws on the less conventional activities of the Tokugawa ladies. One of the inmates of the harem, as it might justifiably be called, by name Ejima, had acquired a fairly elevated position, and it was one of her duties to deal with the trades people who were appointed to furnish goods to the Shogun’s household. Either directly, or through the intermediary of a doctor in the Castle, she was approached by certain merchants who wished to join the favored circle, and as part of the inducement she was taken to the Nakamura theatre, and introduced to one of its actors, Ikushima. Accounts of the incident vary in detail—she may even have smuggled him into her room at the Castle—but they had an affair, Ikushima’s part in which may have been due to a substantial bribe from the merchants involved rather than from his true sentiments. They were observed, reports sent to the authorities, and in 1714 Ejima was sent into exile (her punishment might have been worse had she not been protected by the Shogun’s favorite), as were Ikushima and other members of the theatre. Ejima’s brother, however, was condemned to death, not necessarily because he had anything to do with the scandal, but because a family was responsible for its members. The four theatres that existed in Edo at the time were closed; three of them were allowed later to reopen, but the Nakamura went out of business forever. There were several elements in the incident that were particularly repugnant to the government, among them being the intrusion of another man into the Shogun’s sexual domain, and the involvement of members of the samurai class with merchants and the power of their money.

      (26) The Shogun’s ladies at their toilet.

      The disparity of status between men and women among the samurai was far greater than in the lower classes. The official wife was always chosen for reasons of policy, never of affection, and in fact it is clearly stated in the various samurai codes that such an important thing as marriage should not be undertaken lightly, but only after serious consideration of all the factors involved. The humbler the samurai the better the treatment he gave his wife, while those of the daimyō, who had to spend their whole time in Edo, were particularly unfortunate, though they were not lacking in material comfort. The moral standards required of each side were vastly different: the samurai demanded the strictest fidelity from their womenfolk, but, of course, were completely free from such restrictions themselves. A mistress or concubine could not, by edict, become an official spouse, although the frequency with which such edicts were published suggests that perhaps some samurai became sentimentally attached to the extent of wishing to marry a mistress.