Tokyo nichinichi shinbun "Owaka of the Tsurumoto house of entertainment in Sumicho in [New] Yoshiwara, became the wife of Ashina Yasujiro, of Uemakicho, who had been a paying regular customer at the time of the pleasure girl emancipation edict, and they lived as husband and wife together with his old mother. Yasujiro was 33 and the old mother was 87, and the family ran a fishshop . . . " (WW) Complete translation forthcoming. |
Commentary
Probihition of human bondage
On 2 November 1872 [Meiji 5-10-2] the Dajokan promugated the Human Buying and Selling Probibition / Entertainer Term Service Abolition Edict [Jinshin baibai kinshi / Shogi nenki hoko haishi rei (人身売買禁止・娼妓年季奉公廃止令)]. The edict forbade slavery, both in the form of trafficking in human beings, and in the form of apprenticeships based on bondage.
The edict was made in response to the outcome of a court case involving an incident in which Japan impounded a Peruvian ship that was found to be carrying Chinese slaves.
To be continued.