Oyura no kata

The grave of Oyura no kata at the Shimazu clan cemetery in Kagoshima

• Death: 1866
• Japanese: お由羅の方 (O yura no kata)

Yura, or Oyura no kata, was a concubine of Shimazu Narioki, lord of Satsuma han.

She is perhaps most famous for the succession dispute which erupted between factions supporting her son, Shimazu Hisamitsu, and those supporting Narioki's eldest son by another woman, Shimazu Nariakira, to succeed Narioki as lord of Satsuma. This so-called "Oyura sôdô" ended with Nariakira winning the succession; however, he was in turn succeeded by Hisamitsu's son Shimazu Tadayoshi, during whose time Hisamitsu exercised considerable power as regent.

Yura is buried alongside Narioki in the Shimazu clan cemetery at Fukushô-ji in Kagoshima.

References

• "Oyura no kata," Nihon jinmei daijiten, Kodansha, 2009.