Wikipedia
Ōoku (大奥) was a Japanese drama produced by FujiTV. The story is set in the Edo period and is fiction set against a background of historical fact. The Ōoku was the part the ladies lived in Edo Castle.
The popularity of the show has produced five series (1968, 1983, 2003, and 2005) as well as a 2006 film, Oh! Oku.
This article is about a series that focuses on the last two shoguns. An earlier series of the same title was a saga of loosely related episodes progressing from the earliest Tokugawa shoguns to the end.
The refers to the harem of Edo Castle, the section where the women connected to the reigning Shogun resided. Similar areas in the castles of powerful Daimyo were also referred to by this term.
This included the shōgun's mother, wife, and concubines. Rumored to house several thousand women, including maids and servants at one point, the Ōoku was, as much as any other part of Edo Castle, a focal point of political intrigue for the Tokugawa shogunate.
There were no male adults admitted onto the floor of the Ōoku without the Shōgun. The corridor through which the Shōgun entered was called "passage of the bells", derived from the ringing of the bells to announce the entrance of the Shōgun. This corridor was the only route which connected the Ōoku to rest of Edo Castle, and it was usually locked.
Later, a second corridor was built as the escape route against disasters such as fires or earthquakes.
A lady in the rank of an or held the reins of power in the Ōoku, and she attained the influence equivalent to a Rōjū in Edo Castle.
The Ōoku was built inside the Edo Castle in 1607 by Tokugawa Hidetada. He passed a special law for the Ōoku to completely separate it from the outside world. Therefore, noblewomen living in the Ōoku couldn't leave the castle without permission. This system lasted for nearly 200 years.
Ōoku is a section of Edo Castle, Japan.
Ōoku may also refer to:
- O-oku (2010 film), a 2010 film based on the manga series.
- Ōoku (TV series), a Japanese TV series
- Oh! Oku, a 2006 film based on the TV series
- Ooku (album), a 2008 album by Masami Okui
- Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, a 2005 manga series by Fumi Yoshinaga
is the latest greatest hits album by Masami Okui, released on 6 February 2008. Ooku includes seven singles that she produced under her own record label company evolution along with three self-cover version of older songs.