index
Part 2: Modern era
Chapter 12: The wife of that famous person
ITO Umeko, 1848–1924
Umeko was the wife of Ito Hirobumi. Born in Shimonoseki and formerly a geisha. She married Hirobumi in 1866 and bore two daughters. Her eldest daughter died young, while the younger daughter, Ikuko, later became the wife of politician Suematsu Kencho. Umeko also raised several adopted children in the Ito household, including Ito Hirokuni (who would later become Hirobumi's heir) and Asako (a daughter Hirobumi had with another woman and who later married diplomat Nishi Genshiro). She was widely praised as the paragon of a virtuous wife and wise mother.
165 Ito Umeko shokan , December 4, 1908 [ITO Hirobumi Papers (No. 2, Papers 2)]
A letter addressed to her husband Ito Hirobumi upon his return to Korea, where he was serving as Resident General. Umeko gives detailed updates on the family following Hirobumi's departure from their home in Oiso on November 14. She also mentions the Crown Prince of the Korean Empire, who was studying at Gakushuin, and touches on the illness of Hirobumi's comrade Inoue Kaoru. Although the letter is written in hiragana as was typical of women at that time, the writing features a greater use of kanji and firmer, more masculine strokes when compared with the letters that Umeko wrote to Shinagawa Yajiro's wife, Shizuko (Material 166). The variation in the vigor and style of her handwriting according to the specific recipient gives us a glimpse of Umeko's intelligence.
伊藤梅子書簡（伊藤博文宛）
伊藤梅子書簡（伊藤博文宛）
166 Ito Umeko shokan, July 10 (Year Unknown) [SHINAGAWA Yajiro Papers (No. 1): 199-1]
A letter addressed to Shinagawa Shizuko. Shizuko was a niece of Yamagata Aritomo and the wife of Shinagawa Yajiro—a native of the Choshu Domain who served as Minister of Home Affairs in the first Matsukata Cabinet. The letter is written in a feminine style, with a frequent use of hiragana. The difference in tone conveyed by the visual style of writing between this letter and those to her husband Hirobumi (Material 165) was likely reflects the fact that she was writing to another woman. Umeko expresses her gratitude to Shizuko for sending gifts to her daughter Ikuko during her absence.
伊藤梅子書簡（品川静子宛）
伊藤梅子書簡（品川静子宛）
KIDO Matsuko, 1843–1886
Matsuko was the wife of Kido Takayoshi (also known as Katsura Kogoro), who was one of the "three great leaders of the Meiji Restoration." The daughter of a retainer of the Obama Domain, she worked as a geisha under the name Ikumatsu in Kyoto's Gion district during the end of the Edo period. There, she met the Choshu patriot Katsura Kogoro and devotedly supported his efforts to topple the shogunate. After the Meiji Restoration, she married him and took the name Matsuko.
167 Kido Matsuko shokan, June (Year Unknown) [Modern Japanese Political History Materials Room Collection: 117-3]
A letter sent to a woman named "Omine." Matsuko thanks her for her kindness when they recently met for the first time after a long while and asks her to pass along the gift attached to the letter (the details of its contents are unknown) to another person. Omine is thought to be someone who once served in the Kido household.
木戸松子書簡
（封筒）