The Tenpo Famines

The Tenpo famines of 1833-1836 led to four consecutive years of bad harvests in the Tohoku region along the Japan Sea coast. By 1839, Sunanō had been divorced three times and was 35 years old by the Western Counting. She'd never get married again and remain a part of her elder brother's household,. Or if you didn't want her around, then she would be sent off to the home of some such retiree or another.