1683: Yaoya Oshichi, fire horse

ExecutedToday.com ^ | April 25, 2014 | Headsman

[CheshireTheCat]

On this date in 1683,* Yaoya Oshichi gave her life for her red-hot love … and the want of a little white lie. The greengrocer’s daughter Oshichi (English Wikipedia page | Japanese) legendarily fell in love with a priest of the nearby temple while taking refuge there during one of Edo’s many fires (Japanese link), and in a truly adolescent outburst proceeded to start another fire in the hopes of meeting him again. (Alternate version: it was Oshichi’s gesture that actually started the linked conflagration.)

As a 16-year-old, Oshichi was just barely eligible to suffer the full weight of the law for a capital crime.

In an age of scanty documentation, however, the pitying magistrate (Japanese link) hearing her case is supposed to have asked her in a hinting sort of way, “you’re 15, right?”...

[CheshireTheCat]

She was born in 1666--as best they can tell.

Interesting things here about Japanese superstitions about people who are born in certain years.

[Raycpa]

I dont think Chinese keep track of birthdates as detailed as we do.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Another Japanese tradition says people born on Jan 1, 2 or 3 are “favored” by good luck.

[toothfairy86]

I’m actually a 1966 Fire Horse. The qualities of being a Fire Horse are beneficial if you are a boy, but negative if you are a girl...assertiveness, opinionated, etc. Lots of 1966 Fire Horse female babies were aborted, due to the advent of ultrasound technology. In 1906 and previous Fire Horse years, women either hid the true year of their birth, or were shunned, and no one wanted to marry them.