Kakusan-ni

In 1285, a Buddhist nun named Kakusan-ni opened the Shōkozan Tōkei-Ji temple as a refuge for battered wives. Women were considered divorced after living there for 2 years. Temple records show that, during the Tokugawa period alone, an estimated 2,000 women sought shelter there. The temple lost its right to concede divorce in 1873 when a new law was approved and the Court of Justice started to handle the cases.