The "great interior" (大奥) was historically the women's quarters of Edo Castle, the section where the women connected to the reigning resided. Similar areas in the castles of powerful, such as the Satsuma Domain, were also referred to by this term. During the reign of the second shogun, Tokugawa Hidetada, Ōoku was established in Edo Castle as a women's room where his official wife (御台所), Oeyo, resided. During the reign of the third shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, the Ōoku was expanded at the suggestion of his nanny, Lady Kasuga, to ensure the birth of a male heir to the shogun's lineage, and became a vast shogun's harem with nearly 1,000 women working as maidservants. The Ōoku was inhabited by the official wife and concubines of the shogun. The women of Ōoku were highly hierarchical, with the official wife of the shogun, who was of aristocratic lineage, ruling at the top, and the older women who had served her for a long time actually controlling Ōoku. The women who worked as maidservants in Ōoku were daughters of the Hatamoto (旗本), a high-ranking class of samurai, and they had servants from the townspeople (町人) and peasants who worked for them. Even low-ranking servants were treated as concubines of the shogun if they bore his children. One such example was Otama, the daughter of a grocer, who gave birth to the fifth shogun, Tokugawa Ietsuna. Adult men were generally forbidden to enter Ōoku; only the shogun, his male descendants and prepubescent boys who came to visit the maidservants were allowed. The highest official in the shogunate, the Elder (老中), could enter only when summoned on official business by the shogun's official wife, or a high-ranking woman in the Ōoku. However, men such as doctors, carpenters, and painters were also allowed to enter Ōoku as needed, and over time the number of men performing security, clerical, and other duties at Ōoku increased, albeit on a limited basis. The Ōoku was also used to ensure the Tokugawa shogun's rule over the country by arranging political marriages between the shogun's children and the children of daimyo in various regions. The Ōoku continued until 1868, when the Tokugawa shogunate was dissolved.

Structure

No male adults were admitted onto the floor of the without the permission of the. The corridor through which the entered was called great bell corridor (御鈴廊下), derived from the custom of ringing of the bells to announce the entrance of the. This corridor was the only route which connected the to rest of Edo Castle, and it was usually locked. The consisted of the the central section (本丸) where the, the 's official wife, and her children resided (though only Oeyo, wife of Tokugawa Hidetada resided there with her children). Male heirs residing in the were required to move to the after coming of age. The Ninomaru (ニの丸) was where the 's concubines and their children resided, and the Sannomaru (三の丸) housed the (the past 's official widow) and the former 's widowed concubines without children in the shogunate family. was where the senior chamberlain and servants resided, as well as the residence of male heirs from the time they came of age until their appointment as shogun. The Nakanomaru (中之丸) was a performance area for Noh plays, although during the reign of the third it was also the residence of his wife Takatsukasa Takako, who moved there after her third miscarriage. After a fire destroyed the and the Meiji Restoration brought about the end of the shogunate, the also ceased to exist.

Organisation

The women's quarters included the shōgun's mother, the official wife (seishitsu), and concubines. Rumored to house several thousand women, including maids and servants at one point, the Ōoku was, as much as any other part of Edo Castle, a focal point of political intrigue for the Tokugawa shogunate. A lady in the rank of an Otoshiyori (御年寄) or Jōrō Otoshiyori (上臈御年寄) or the senior ladyship held the reins of power in the Ōoku, while attaining the influence equivalent to a Rōjū in Edo Castle.

Notable persons

In popular culture

No painting exists of the interior. Ukiyo-e artists such as Hashimoto Chikanobu and Toyohara Chikanobu created a number of prints that depict life as imagined inside the women's quarters. However, there are many modern popular portrayals of the Ōoku: