Wicked Woman, or Savior? The Reality of the Wealth Tomiko Amassed

From the midst of the Ōnin War through its aftermath, in Kyoto. Hino Tomiko was known as a figure of power who, though a woman, moved enormous wealth.

She set barriers to take tolls, gained profit on the rice market, and lent money at high interest even to the daimyō of both the Eastern and Western armies at war.

From this hoarding, Tomiko was harshly denounced in later ages as a 'miser' and a 'wicked woman.

' But if one traces where that wealth flowed, a figure different from the simple image of the wicked woman comes into view.

Tomiko set barriers at the seven mouths of Kyoto and collected tolls. Seeing the signs of famine, she is transmitted to have bought up rice and sold it for profit when the market rose.

Further, she lent money to the daimyō at war in the Ōnin War, without distinction of friend or foe.

It was a shrewd hoarding that used her position as consort of the shogunal house.

These means gave rise, in later ages, to the reputation of 'greed.

But at the time, the shogunate's finances had completely collapsed in the Ōnin War.

The shōgun's authority had fallen to the ground, and income from the directly held lands had ceased.

The court and nobles were likewise destitute, to the point that even the ceremonies of an emperor's enthronement could not be paid for.

Unless someone provided money, neither shogunate nor court could carry on. The wealth Tomiko amassed was one of the few sources of revenue that filled this void.

From that wealth, Tomiko is transmitted to have aided the repair costs of the palace of Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado and the ceremonial costs of the court.

She underpinned the order of a devastated Kyoto with the power of money. It is also said that she mediated among the daimyō with money toward ending the war.

While men burned Kyoto, Tomiko kept the shogunate and the court alive with a realistic sense of finance.

Into the appraisal of 'wicked woman' the later ages' prejudice against a woman who wielded power is heavily mixed.

Recent scholarship is unearthing the aspect of a savior that lay behind that disgrace.