Oyama pine tree - Oyama pine tree

She was the youngest daughter of Yamakawa Naoe, a chief retainer of the Aizu clan, and her childhood name was Sakiko. During her childhood, she endured hardships such as the Aizu War and the relocation to Tonami, Mutsu (Shimokita Peninsula), and was temporarily placed in the care of a French family in Hakodate (present-day Hakodate City). In 1871 (Meiji 4), she traveled to the United States with Tsuda Umeko and others as one of the government-sponsored female students sent by the Hokkaido Colonization Commission, and stayed at the home of Reverend Leonard Bacon in New Haven, where she became a Christian while in the United States. After graduating from a local high school, she completed the regular course at Vassar College, and then spent two months training at a nursing school in Connecticut. She returned to Japan in 1882, and the following year married Oyama Iwao, a councilor and minister of the army (later a marshal and adjutant to the army, and a duke). She was one of the stars of Rokumeikan. She is particularly known for leading Japan's first charity bazaar, donating the profits to the volunteer Kyoritsu Tokyo Hospital. In addition to Oyama Iwao's three stepchildren, she was blessed with two sons and one daughter, but she was also misunderstood by the public as the model for the spiteful stepmother in Tokutomi Roka's Hototogisu. She also served as a director of the Japanese Red Cross Society's Volunteer Nurses' Association and the Patriotic Women's Association, and assisted Tsuda Umeko, and worked to improve women's education as a director of the Joshi Eigaku Juku.

[Rui Kohiyama]

"The Lady of Rokumeikan, Oyama Sutematsu" by Akiko Kuno (1988, Chuko Bunko)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

会津藩家老山川尚江(なおえ)の末娘で、幼名を咲子という。幼少時、会津戦争、陸奥斗南(となみ)（下北半島）への移住等の苦難にあい、一時、箱館（現函館市）のフランス人の家庭に預けられた。1871年（明治4）北海道開拓使派遣の官費女子留学生の一人として、津田梅子らと渡米、ニュー・ヘヴンのレナード・ベーコン牧師宅に寄宿し、在米中にクリスチャンとなる。教育は、地元の高校を卒業後、バッサー大学の正規課程を修め、さらに、コネティカットの看護婦養成学校で2ヶ月間研修を受けた。1882年、帰国し、翌年、参議陸軍卿（後に元帥陸軍大将議定官、公爵）大山巌(いわお)と結婚。鹿鳴館の花形の一人として活躍した。特に日本初の慈善バザーを主導し、その収益を有志共立東京病院に寄付したことはよく知られている。大山巌の3人の連れ子に加え、2男1女に恵まれたが、徳富蘆花(ろか)『不如帰(ほととぎす)』に登場する意地の悪い継母のモデルとされて、世間的に誤解を受けたこともある。日本赤十字社篤志看護婦人会理事、愛国婦人会理事等を務めたほか、津田梅子を助け、女子英学塾の理事として女子教育の向上に努めた。

［小檜山ルイ］

『久野明子著『鹿鳴館の貴婦人大山捨松』（1988・中公文庫）』

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