(Voice actor) Ms.Carolyn Miller

Until the fall of the Tokugawa regime, the Buddhist monks were forbidden to date or marry women. It was called nyobon for a monk to have sexual relations with a woman and it was a sin according to their commandments. However, this was a difficult commandment to follow, and according to some records there were monks who got banished to an island for committing this sin. Ascetic practices are hard to follow after all. There were workers at temples who were not monks, but it also was impossible for residential workers to date women outside. So as long as one lived in a temple, his lifestyle would have to be similar to the monks. It went vice versa too. A woman’s love for a monk or temple worker would never be fulfilled. Those were a tragic love as well. But obstacles in a relationship creates greater longing. The typical example is “Romeo and Juliet”. Yaoya Oshichi, who fell in love with a temple worker in the Edo period was also the heroine of a tragic love story. There was a large fire in Hongo, Edo (current Tokyo metropolitan area) on December 28th in the year 1682. The whole Hongo area burned down, and Oshichi the daughter of a vegetable merchant who lived in Hongo was burned out of her home too. Oshichi evacuated to Kichijoji temple in Komagome with other victims. There she met a young tera-kosho (*temple servant), called Kichisaburo. A tera-kosho is a young samurai who waits on the monks. In return for getting education at the temple, they took care of the monks as residential servants. Therefore, they could not see women at all. Oshichi and Kichisaburo fell in love. They were attracted to each other while spending time together at the temple. But they could only see each other while Oshichi was at the temple. When her house was rebuilt, she and her family had to leave the Kichijoji temple and move back to their new house. Oshichi reluctantly left the Kichijoji temple and went back to her previous life. But all she could think of was about Kichisaburo. She speculated about seeing him again. Then she came up with an immature but evil idea. If her house burned down again in a fire, she could take refuge in Kichijoji temple and see Kichisaburo again. In March of 1683, Oshichi set her own house on fire. Fortunately it was extinguished at an incipient stage, but it resulted in serious consequences. At the time, arson was a felony punishable by death. And the punishment was a cruel one; burned at the stake. It was the Southern Machi-bugyo office who investigated Oshichi. Knowing Oshichi’s motive, the head of the office wanted to spare her life in consideration of her single-minded love and since there was little damage. What do you think was his scheme to save Oshichi’s life?