Divorce temple - Enkiridera

In the Edo period, a wife could run to a temple and stay there for a certain period of time to obtain a divorce. It is also called a "temple for refuge." In those days, among common people, divorce was generally performed by the husband giving his wife a divorce letter, and there was no way for the wife to divorce her husband. The way to divorce a wife in such a pitiful situation was to run to a temple for escaping renkiri. This system is thought to be a remnant of the system of asylums (places where criminals and others could take refuge and receive protection from harsh abuse) during the Sengoku period. It is likely that in the first half of the Edo period, nunneries (amadera) functioned as renkiri temples, but in the second half of the Edo period, renkiri temples in the shogunate's territories were limited to Tokei-ji Temple in Kamakura, Sagami Province (Kanagawa Prefecture), which had a special connection with the Tokugawa clan, and Mantoku-ji Temple in Nitta-gun, Kozuke Province (Gunma Prefecture).

Tokeiji Temple, in particular, is said to have been granted this temple law by the Emperor since its founding in 1285, and was known as the "Matsugaoka Imperial Palace" and was highly prestigious. When Toyotomi Hideyori's daughter Tenshuuni entered the temple, Tokugawa Ieyasu granted this privilege once again. Until the end of the Edo period, it saved many unfortunate women, and was so famous that it was even sung about in senryu poems such as "Matsugaoka, the place that saves all unrelated beings." Most of the women who sought refuge there were from the Kanto region, but there were many from Musashi Province, especially Edo. It is said that over the 150 years leading up to the end of the Edo period, more than 2,000 women sought refuge at Tokeiji Temple. When women sought refuge at Tokeiji Temple, there were two types of divorce: divorce according to temple law and divorce by private arrangement. The temple law divorce was a divorce that was based on the temple law of Tokeiji Temple, while the internal divorce (internal divorce means reconciliation) was a divorce that was finalized when the husband was surprised that his wife had run away to his wife and handed her a regular divorce letter. In the past, only temple law divorces were used, but later internal divorces encouraged by temples appeared and their number increased, and by the end of the Edo period, most divorces were internal divorces. In the case of temple law divorces, a divorce letter was not required in the past, but after the Genroku period (1688-1704), it became necessary for the woman to obtain a temple law divorce letter (different from a regular divorce letter) from the man. Tokeiji Temple would persuade the husband to submit a divorce letter by sending an official messenger, and if the husband refused to submit it, Tokeiji Temple would appeal to the Magistrate of Temples and Shrines, who would then threaten the husband with temporary imprisonment to force him to submit the divorce letter. In the case of a divorce under the temple law, even if the husband issued a divorce document, the woman had to remain in the temple for at least three years (24 months).

[Ryosuke Ishii]

"Divorce in Edo - Sankohan and Enkiri-ji Temples" by Ryosuke Ishii (included in "History of Japanese Marriage Law"; 1977, Sobunsha) " "History of Tokei-ji Temple, a refuge temple, by Zenjo Inoue (1980, Shunjusha)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸時代に妻が駆け込んで、一定期間在寺すれば離婚の効果が生じた寺。駆込寺(かけこみでら)ともいう。当時、庶民の間では、離婚は原則として夫が妻に離縁状を渡すことによって行われ、妻から夫を離婚する道は開かれていなかった。この哀れな境遇の妻に与えられた離婚の方法が縁切寺への駆け込みであった。この制度は、戦国時代におけるアジール（犯罪人などが過酷な侵害から逃れるために、逃げ込んで保護を受ける場所）の制の残存と考えられる。おそらく、江戸時代前半期、尼寺(あまでら)には縁切寺としての機能があったものと思われるが、後半期になると、幕府領では縁切寺としては、徳川氏に特別の縁故の深い相模(さがみ)国（神奈川県）鎌倉の東慶寺(とうけいじ)と、上野(こうずけ)国（群馬県）新田郡(にったごおり)の満徳寺(まんとくじ)だけに限られることになった。

　ことに東慶寺は、開山（1285）以来この寺法が勅許されたといわれ、「松ヶ岡御所」と称されて格式高く、豊臣秀頼(とよとみひでより)の息女天秀尼(てんしゅうに)の入寺に際して、徳川家康から改めてこの特権を許された。江戸末期まで多くの不幸な女を救い、川柳(せんりゅう)にも「縁なき衆生(しゅじょう)を済度(さいど)する松ヶ岡」などと歌われたほど有名であった。駆け込んだ女は関東地方の者が大部分であったが、そのなかでも武蔵(むさし)国、ことに江戸の者が多かった。江戸末期の150年間に東慶寺に駆け込んだ女は2000人を超えたであろうといわれる。女が東慶寺に駆け込んだ場合の離縁の形式には、寺法離縁と内済(ないさい)離縁とがあった。寺法離縁は、東慶寺の寺法を表にたてた離縁であり、内済離縁（内済とは和解の意）は、夫が妻の駆け込んだことに驚き、改めて女に普通の離縁状を渡すことによって成立する離縁である。古くは寺法離縁だけであったが、のちに寺の勧奨による内済離縁が現れてその数を増し、幕末には大部分が内済離縁であった。寺法離縁の場合、古くは離縁状は不要であったが、元禄(げんろく)（1688～1704）以後、女は男から寺法離縁状（普通の離縁状と異なる）を得ることが必要となった。東慶寺は、夫に正式の使者を派遣するなどして離縁状を出すように説得し、夫がどうしても出さないときは、東慶寺から寺社奉行(ぶぎょう)に訴え、寺社奉行所では夫を仮牢(かりろう)入りで脅して離縁状を出させた。寺法離縁の場合には、夫が寺法離縁状を出しても、女は足掛け3年（24か月）在寺することを要した。近時、満徳寺に関する研究も漸次現れている。

［石井良助］

『石井良助著「江戸の離婚――三行半と縁切寺」（『日本婚姻法史』所収・1977・創文社）』▽『井上禅定著『駆込寺東慶寺史』（1980・春秋社）』

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