Chinese woman Okichi

A woman from the end of the Edo period and the Meiji Restoration. Kichi was the widowed daughter of Ichibei, a shipwright from Sakashita-cho, Shimoda, Izu Province (Shizuoka Prefecture). She later went by the nickname "O-Kichi the Chinese". She supported herself and her child by doing laundry for boatmen who came to and from Shimoda Port. In 1857 (Ansei 4), when the American Consul General Harris, who was staying at Gyokusen-ji Temple in Shimoda, asked for a nurse, the Shimoda magistrate, not wanting to face the difficulties in the negotiations for the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan at the time, offered Kichi to Harris and Fuku to Heusken, the interpreter, as a nurse. Kichi first met Harris on May 22nd of the same year, but she was sent home after three days (or several days) because she had developed a swelling. Although she fully recovered, she never entered Gyokusen-ji Temple again because Harris was now ill. Kichi was given a preparation allowance of 25 ryo and a monthly salary of 10 ryo. After she left Harris (with a sabbatical allowance of 18 ryo), she was shunned by the boatmen and began to have difficulty making a living. In 1868 (Meiji 1), she cohabited with a carpenter named Tsurumatsu in Yokohama, and in 1871 she returned to Shimoda and began working as a hairdresser. She eventually moved to Mishima, and in 1882 she opened a small restaurant called Anchoro in Shimoda again, but after a drunken stupor she went bankrupt and became destitute, and on March 23, 1890, she drowned herself (at the age of 50). The place later became known as "Okichi's Abyss." Many works, including Juichiya Gisaburo's novel "Chinese Okichi," are based on this story. She is buried at Hofukuji Temple in Shimoda City.

[Yoshimoto Shinji]

"Tang Dynasty O-Kichi by Yoshida Tsuneyoshi (Chuko Shinsho)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

幕末・維新期の婦人。伊豆国（静岡県）下田(しもだ)坂下町の船大工市兵衛(いちべえ)の後家きわの娘きち。唐人お吉はのちのあだ名。下田港に出入りする船頭の洗濯などで母子の暮らしをたてていた。1857年（安政4）、下田玉泉寺(ぎょくせんじ)に滞在していたアメリカ総領事ハリスから看護人を要求された下田奉行(ぶぎょう)は、おりからの日米修好通商条約の折衝の難航を嫌って、ハリスには「きち」を、通訳官のヒュースケンには「ふく」を看病人の名目で差し出した。きちがハリスにお目見えしたのは同年5月22日であるが、彼女は腫(は)れ物ができていたため3日（数日ともいう）で帰され、全快しても、こんどはハリスが病気ということで、ふたたび玉泉寺に入ることはなかった。きちには、支度金25両、給金月10両が与えられている。ハリスのもとを退いた（暇(いとま)手当金18両）のち、きちは船頭たちからも疎んぜられ、暮らしにも困るようになったという。68年（明治1）横浜で大工の鶴松(つるまつ)と同棲、71年下田に戻って髪結いを始めたが、やがて三島に移り、82年また下田で小料理屋安直楼を開いたが、乱酔の果てに破産・落魄(らくはく)し、90年3月23日入水(じゅすい)して果てた（50歳という）。のちにそこを「お吉が淵(ふち)」という。なお、これに基づいて十一谷義三郎(じゅういちやぎさぶろう)の小説『唐人お吉』など数多くの作品がつくられている。墓は下田市宝福寺。

［進士慶幹］

『吉田常吉著『唐人お吉』（中公新書）』

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