碧川 かた　女史
Ms. Kata Midorikawa
1869 - 1962　
鳥取県鳥取市　生誕
Born in Tottori-city, Tottori-ken

「鐘は既に鳴れり猶ほ目覚めざるか」
"The bell has already rung and I have to wake up."

碧川かた女史は訪問看護ならびに婦人運動家の先駆けです。訪問看護のかたわら「女権拡張会」を興し機関誌『女権』を発行。男女共同参画や女性の参政権運動など社会運動家として精力的に活動しました。
Ms. Midorikawa Kata was a trailblazer in the fields of home nursing and women's activism. While engaged in home nursing, she also founded the "Women's Rights Expansion Society" and published the magazine "Women's Rights." As a social activist, she energetically worked on issues like gender equality, women's suffrage, and promoting the active participation of women in society.

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かたは鳥取藩士（城代家老）和田邦之助の娘として生まれます。父は因幡二十士事件への関与嫌疑を受け蟄居中で、子どものいない和田家重臣の堀正・千代夫婦の養女となります。廃藩後、堀正は高知監獄の天獄（刑務所長）の職を得て堀家は高知県土佐に移住、かたは高知の小学校に入学。勉強は良くでき、飛び級で学年を進学。その後、父・堀正は播磨龍野町に転勤。15歳で龍野の名家三家の当主・制に気に入られ、父・堀正の長崎転勤の際に、かたは龍野の円覚寺の住職の睾采教順・阿い夫妻の養女なって嫁入り修行をします。19歳で三木家次男の節次郎と結婚、２児をもうけるも、夫は家に帰らない放蕩の日々が続きます。かたが義父・制に相談すると、長男を跡取りに残して次男とともに自由に生きる道を促されます。26歳で次男勉を連れて郷里の実父母のもとに戻ります。さらに当時の職業婦人、看護婦をめざして乳飲み子の勉とともに上京。東京専門学校（現早稲田大学）に進学し夏休みに帰省していた碧川企救男も同行します。かたは上京後、養父母がいる小石川町の鳥取県出身者の学生寮・久松学舎を訪ねて子供を預け、文京区の東京帝国大学病院付属看護婦養成所に入所。昼は病院患者の付き添い、夜は授業、合間に小石川に授乳に走ります。勉学と育児の両立は難しく、次男も三木家に引き取ってもらいます。直後にキリスト教の洗礼を受けます。かたは2年の修業を終え東大医学部付属病院看護婦として7年務め、三浦謹之教授（後の明治天皇の侍医）直属の看護婦として富裕層家庭への訪問看護も行います。ドイツ留学を勧められますが、33歳で社会部記者として活躍する碧川企救男と再婚。北海道・東京・京都と夫に伴い訪問介護により生活を支えながら一男四女を育てます。訪問介護先で、料亭「富貴楼」、三菱の「岩崎邸」、足尾銅山の「古河邸」、「細川侯爵邸」など富裕層夫人の知遇を得ます。「日本基督教婦人矯風会」ならびに「婦人参政権同盟」に参加するようになります。この頃、中央新聞の記者として訪欧中の夫・企救男から、女性の政治参加ならびに女権拡張運動で活躍する英国婦人について手紙を読んでかたはさらに奮起します。50歳で西川文子、高木ふよと「婦人社会問題研究会」を結成、電力会社に４０回通って 街灯を設置させます。ならびに竹早教会を基盤に「東京婦人禁酒会」を設立、夜の大学寄宿舎をまわって未成年者の禁酒説得からはじめて国会議員食堂での禁酒を実現します。58歳のときに鷲見よし子らと「女権拡張会」を興し、機関誌『女権』を発行。婦人参政権・公民権の獲得・男女不平等法制改革及び家庭平和向上を呼び掛けます。三木家に預けた次男・勉は結核で夭折するも、長男・操は詩人・三木露風として活躍、『女権』創刊号に歌を寄せて母を応援します。「あたたかき心をもてる　たらちねの母にはまことちからありけれ」「かぐわしき花にも似たる　をみなにも　ただしきちからあらまほしけれ」戦後のかたは日米安保に反対運動を粘り強く続けながら、遺言「アンポヘ行ったか」を残して９０歳で逝去します。　　　　　　

Kata was born as the daughter of Wada Kuninosuke, a samurai (castle steward) in the Tottori Domain. Her father was under suspicion of involvement in the Inaba Twenty-Four Nobles Incident and was placed under house arrest. With no children of their own, Kata was adopted by the prominent retainers of the Wada family, Hori Masashi and his wife Chiyoko. After the abolition of the domain system, Hori Masashi secured the position of prison warden at Kochi Prison, and the Hori family relocated to Kochi Prefecture. Kata attended a primary school in Kochi, excelling in her studies and skipping grades. Later, her father, Hori Masashi, was transferred to Tatsuno Town in Harima. At the age of 15, she caught the eye of Hase Susamu, the head of the three prominent families in Tatsuno. When her father Hori Masashi was transferred to Nagasaki, Kata became the adopted daughter of Gyokusai Kyojun and his wife Ai, who were the abbots of the Enkakuji Temple in Tatsuno. She underwent training as a bride there. At the age of 19, she married Sesshiro, the second son of the Miki family. They had two children, but her husband led a dissolute life and rarely returned home. When Kata consulted her father-in-law Susamu, he encouraged her to live freely with her second son while leaving the eldest as the heir. At the age of 26, she returned to her hometown with her second son, Ben, and aspired to become a professional woman and a nurse. She moved to Tokyo, attending Midorikawa Kukuo who is a student of Tokyo Specialized School (now Waseda University) visiting their hometown during summer vacation. After arriving in Tokyo, Kata entrusted her child to a student dormitory for people from Tottori Prefecture in Koishikawa, and she entered the Tokyo Imperial University Hospital Training School for Nurses. During the day, she cared for hospital patients, attended classes at night, and made trips to Koishikawa for breastfeeding. Balancing her studies and childcare was challenging, and her second son was eventually taken in by the Miki family. Shortly afterward, she received baptism in Christianity. Kata completed her two-year training and worked as a nurse at the Tokyo Imperial University Hospital for seven years. She also provided nursing care to affluent families as a nurse directly under Professor Kinno Miura (later the personal physician to Emperor Meiji). She was encouraged to study in Germany but at the age of 33, she remarried Aokawa Kikuo, who was a journalist working in the social department. They traveled to various places due to her husband's job, including Hokkaido, Tokyo, and Kyoto. While supporting her husband and raising one son and four daughters, she also provided home care to her husband's clients. Through her work in home care, she gained the favor of affluent women, including those at the "Fukirou" restaurant, Mitsubishi's "Iwasaki Residence," the Ashio Copper Mine's "Furukawa Residence," and the "Hosokawa Marquis Residence." She joined the "Japan Christian Women's Temperance Union" and the "Women's Suffrage Alliance."  During this time, Kata received letters from her husband, Kusuo, who was working as a journalist for the Chuo Newspaper while traveling in Europe. These letters discussed the active involvement of British women in politics and the women's rights expansion movement. Reading these letters further inspired Kata to become more dedicated to her own efforts in women's political participation and women's rights expansion. At the age of 50, along with Nishikawa Fumiko and Takagi Fuyo, she established the "Women's Social Problems Research Society" and pushed for the installation of streetlights by visiting the power company 40 times. She also founded the "Tokyo Women's Temperance Society" based on the Takebayashi Church, initiating campaigns to persuade minors to abstain from alcohol, which eventually led to the realization of alcohol abstinence in the parliamentary cafeteria. At the age of 58, she founded the "Women's Rights Expansion Society" with Washimi Yoshiko, publishing the magazine "Women's Rights." They advocated for women's suffrage, civil rights, gender inequality legislation reform, and improvement of family peace. Although her second son, Ben, entrusted to the Miki family, passed away from tuberculosis, her eldest son, Miso, flourished as a poet under the name "Miki Roget." In the inaugural issue of "Women's Rights" magazine, he contributed poems to support his mother. His verses included lines like "With a warm heart, your true strength lies, O mother of perseverance, Tarachine" and "Resembling lovely flowers, may your noble strength bless everyone." After the war, Kata continued to persistently engage in anti-Japan-US Security Treaty movements. She left a testament that asked, "Have you been to Ampo?" She passed away at the age of 90.

-鳥取市文化財団　Tottori Culture Foundation

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