Governing the Samurai Family in the Late Edo Period

This chapter explores samurai family values through analysis of a legal case of the 1820’s in Tosa domain. The wife of the household murdered a former servant with whom she allegedly had an affair. Through analysis of an account of the initial coverup of the affair and the nature of the punishments subsequent to the murder incident, the chapter explores the internal dynamics of the household, finding them to be less paternalistic than encouraged by the samurai domain government. The government discursively and legally erased many of the responsibilities of samurai household women so as to contain them within the authority of the male family head. However, strategies of household self-preservation led samurai to give women greater agency and authority in their households.