Ejima

Japanese: 絵島 - えじま

Year of death: 1741
Year of birth: Tenwa 1 (1681)
In the mid-Edo period, she was a senior councilor attached to Gekko-in, the birth mother of the 7th shogun, Tokugawa Ietsugu. She was also known as Ejima. On her way back from a visit to Zojo-ji Temple in January 1714, she entertained herself at the Kobiki-cho Yamamura-za Theatre along with Miyaji, who was also a visitor to Kan'ei-ji Temple, and was late in returning to the castle. As a result, she was sentenced to exile, instead of the death penalty, for her bad behavior, and was placed under the care of the Naito family of Takato Domain (Nagano Prefecture), where she spent 27 years in confinement in a private mansion in Takato, where she died. Nine maids were dismissed, 68 servants were banished, and 10 people, including theater owner Yamamura Chotayu and actors related to Ikushima Shingoro, as well as a housewife and a kimono merchant, were exiled and two were sentenced to death, leading to the demise of the Yamamura-za Theatre. This is known as the Ejima-Ikushima Incident. The previous Shogun Tsunayoshi had been in power for four years, and Ejima was only six years old at the time. She had no strong backing from the Ooku, and her outspoken personality, which was said to have been a gift from the Genroku period, created an opportunity to correct public morals. The background to this was the conflict between the Fudai class of the clans and those who sought to continue the "Shotoku government" that had sought to reform the politics of the Tsunayoshi era, including Gekkoin and Mabee Akifusa.

(Hisako Katakura)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：寛保1(1741)
生年：天和1(1681)
江戸中期,7代将軍徳川家継の生母月光院付の御年寄。江島とも。正徳4(1714)年1月増上寺代参の帰途,寛永寺代参の同役宮路と共に,女中衆をひきつれて木挽町山村座で遊興,帰城に遅れた。このため,日頃の行い正しからず死罪に処すべきところ遠島,との判決を受け,高遠藩(長野県)内藤家預けとなり,高遠の囲屋敷で27年間の幽閉生活を送り,没した。女中衆9名罷免,その召仕68名追放,座元の山村長太夫,役者生島新五郎の芝居関係者をはじめ奥医師,呉服商ら遠島10名,死罪2名などを出し,山村座は断絶。いわゆる絵島生島事件である。前将軍綱吉在位4年,当代わずかに6歳,大奥の強力な後ろだてはなく,元禄の世に育った絵島の闊達であったといわれる性格が,風俗匡正の好機を招いたといえる。背景には,綱吉時代の政治刷新をはかった「正徳の治」を継承しようとする月光院や間部詮房らと,門閥譜代層との対立があった。

(片倉比佐子)

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