#inner chambers

The intrigues of the Ōoku, the shōgun’s famed “inner chambers” located inside the walls of Edo Castle, have long captivated the public imagination. Containing the living quarters of women serving Tokugawa rulers, it played a vital role in ensuring stability through a system fulfilling the political need for successors.

In later interviews, servants who worked in the Ōoku described what went into a shōgun choosing to spend the night with a concubine—a rite known figuratively as “entering the bedroom.” Far from passionate affairs, these rendezvous called for careful preparations on the part of the concubine and attendants.

Step 1: Request by the shogun

The shōgun would first inform an elderly female attendant called an otogibōzu that he wished to visit the Ōoku. He would presumably also mention which of his concubines he desired to meet.

Step 2: The concubine prepares

The chosen concubine would change into a white kimono and dress her hair, holding it in place with a kushi (comb) rather than the customary hairpin, which like all potentially dangerous items were prohibited in the shogunal bedchamber.

Step 3: Entering the tsugi no ma

Dressed, a concubine would then move to the tsugi no ma, an antechamber adjacent to the bedroom, accompanied by a personal attendant of the shōgun called an ochūrō, who would search her for forbidden items. These examinations were quite thorough, including probing the hair, which the concubine would then have to reset.

Step 4: Entering the bedchamber

The shōgun would be waiting when his concubine entered the onjōdan, a narrow, raised area of his personal apartment that served as the bedchamber. Personal attendants, the otogibōzu, and otoshiyori (the elder who ran the Ōoku) remained on guard nearby even after the couple settled down to their conjugal duties. This was to head off any attempt by the concubine to secure favors of the shōgun in the heat of the moment, such as a promise to make a male offspring the heir apparent.

Step 5: Reporting to the highest authority of the Ōoku

In the morning, the elder would make her customary report of the previous evening’s activities to the head of the Ōoku. If a pregnancy resulted from the encounter, this too would be closely monitored.

Conocida también como “Ooku, The Inner Chamber” (Ooku, los aposentos privados) henos tenido la suerte de que a Netflix se le ocurriera la genial idea de apoyar este proyecto y nos presentará una primera temporada de 10 episodios. Y decimos primera temporada porque cuando hablamos de Ooku hablamos de una adaptación del manga de Fumi Yoshinaga que entre el 2004 y 2020 logró completar la nada…

Ooku: The Inner Chambers

Ooku truly the shit. Where do I begin? A plague reduces the male population to dire numbers. So much so that the roles flip.Women are the heads of home and government. Ooku refers to the shogun's harem. What was once filled with beautiful women is now filled with beautiful men.

This manga has a bit of everything. Historical, love, suspense, drama, death, violence, humor. I cannot wait until the next volume is released. Ooku is probably one of the few mangas I would actually purchase. Side note I learned a lot about kimonos?

Trigger Warnings for this manga: Rape, gore,death