Wife Revenge - Eye-opening

Japanese: 妻敵討 - めがたきうち

The act of a husband killing an adulterer who has committed adultery. In the Middle Ages, this was commonly known as revenge or wife revenge. The punishment for adulterers, such as the Secret Love Law (Article 34) in the Goseibai Shikimoku, stipulates punishment such as confiscation of land. However, in general society, based on the idea of self-help, there was a strong social belief that the husband should kill the adulterer, and wife revenge was established as a custom in which the husband would restrain the adulterer who came to visit his wife in his own home and kill him. However, killing an adulterer that did not follow this custom was treated as a murder crime, which often caused confusion.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

姦通をした姦夫を本夫が殺害すること。中世においては敵討，妻敵討と併称されて盛んに行われた。《御成敗式目》の密懐（びつかい）法(34条)などの姦夫の刑罰では所領没収刑などが規定されているが，一般社会においては，自力救済観念に基づき，本夫が姦夫を討つべしとする社会通念が強く存在し，本夫が妻のもとに通ってくる姦夫を自宅内で現状をおさえ殺害する妻敵討が慣習として定着していた。しかし，この作法に基づかない姦夫殺害は殺害罪として扱われたため，しばしば混乱を引き起こした。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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