Meshimorionna - Meshimorionna

The term refers to women who served at inns, but many of them prostituted themselves to guests. Most of them were wives or daughters of poor families, and were made to work as indentured servants. They appeared because the Edo Shogunate banned the placement of prostitutes in inns, and they appeared early on the Tokaido road, and later on the Nakasendo road during the Genroku period (1688-1704). Inns that employed prostitutes were called meimori hatagoya, and in 1718 (the 3rd year of the Kyoho era), the Shogunate permitted up to two per inn. In official Shogunate documents, they were almost always referred to as meimori onna. As the presence of meimori onna attracted travelers, the establishment of meimori hatagoya was sometimes approved as a measure to support inns. However, they gradually began to target farmers in and around the inns, especially in the sukego villages, and this became a source of conflict between the inns and the sukego. In 1872 (Meiji 5), human trafficking and indentured servitude were banned, and so they were technically liberated.

[Kazutoshi Watanabe]

"Igarashi Tomio, 'Meal-serving Women: Edo's Post-Station Prostitutes' (1983, Shinjinbutsu Oraisha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

旅籠(はたご)屋での接客をする女性のことをいうが、多くは宿泊客相手に売色を行った。彼女たちの多くは貧困な家の妻か娘で、年季奉公の形式で働かされた。江戸幕府が宿場に遊女を置くことを禁じたために出現したもので、東海道に早く、中山道(なかせんどう)は遅れて元禄(げんろく)年間（1688～1704）である。飯盛女を抱える旅籠屋を飯盛旅籠屋といい、幕府は1718年（享保3）に1軒につき2人までを許可している。なお、幕府の公式文書ではほとんど飯売女と表現されている。飯盛女の存在が旅行者をひきつけることから、宿駅助成策として飯盛旅籠屋の設置が認められることがあった。しかし、しだいに宿内や近在、とくに助郷(すけごう)村々の農民を対象とするようになり、宿・助郷間の紛争の種となった。1872年（明治5）に人身売買、年季奉公が禁止されたことにより、形式的には解放された。

［渡辺和敏］

『五十嵐富夫著『飯盛女――江戸の宿場女郎たち』（1983・新人物往来社）』

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