後妻打ち

Japanese

往古うハなり打ちの図 (​Ōko Uwanari-uchi no Zu) by Utagawa Hiroshige (1852): a group of wives and concubines striking each other

Kanji in this term
後	妻	打
うわなり		う Grade: 3
Grade: 2	Grade: 5
jukujikun		kun’yomi

Etymology

Compound of 後妻(うわなり) (uwanari, “later wife, concubine”) + 打(う)ち (uchi, “striking, hitting”).

Noun

後妻(うわなり)打(う)ち • (uwanari-uchi) ^{←うはなりうち (ufanariuti)?}

1. (historical) an ancient Japanese custom of a first wife to attack any of her husband's later wives and/or concubines, usually for revenge or to protect her own interests [late Heian- to around the Sengoku period]
2. (historical) an arranged striking between wives and concubines held at a (legal) wife's house [around the Muromachi to mid-Edo period]

   Synonyms: 相当打ち (sōtō-uchi), 騒動打ち (sōdō-uchi)

See also

• 前妻(こなみ) (konami, “former wife, ex-wife”)

References

1. “うわなり打ち”, in 日本大百科全書：ニッポニカ (Nippon Dai Hyakka Zensho: Nipponica, “Encyclopedia Nipponica”)‎^[1] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 1984
2. Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
3. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
4. “後妻打ち”, in ブリタニカ国際大百科事典 小項目事典 (Buritanika Kokusai Dai Hyakka Jiten: Shō Kōmoku Jiten, “Encyclopædia Britannica International: Micropædia”)‎^[2] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Britannica Japan Co., Ltd., 2014
5. Chieko Irie Mulhern (2015) Heroic with Grace: Legendary Women of Japan: Legendary Women of Japan, Routledge, →ISBN, pages x, 175-178