Background
Iwako Uryu was born on February 15, 1829 in Iwashiro, Wakayama, Japan. She lost her parents at age 9, and was looked after by grandparents.
岩子 瓜生
Iwako Uryu was born on February 15, 1829 in Iwashiro, Wakayama, Japan. She lost her parents at age 9, and was looked after by grandparents.
She studied social welfare work at Fukagawa Relief Institution at Edo and returned home to Wakamatsu to practice it among her people.
During the Boshin Affair (strife before the Meiji Restoration) in 1868 Iwako Uryu worked hard rendering social welfare to soldiers. After graduation, returned home to Wakamatsu to practice it among her people.
In 1891 she was appointed head nurse at a children's workhouse (predecessor of Tokyo Municipal Work House) and then founded a nursery for children in Fukushima and the Saisei (Welfare) Hospital at Wakamatsu in 1893.
During the Sino-Japanese War in 1894-1895 Iwako Uryu manufactured sweet potato jelly and donated the profits for the relief of wounded soldiers in 1894,and manufactured Kinen-ori (Souvenir Cloths) out of waste cotton cloth as gifts for the widows of fallen soldiers. The same year with the support of the wife of Motohisa Hijikata, Minister of Imperial Household Department, founded Uryu Association to extend "the scope of her social work".
At the age of 16 Iwako Uryu married Shigeru Sase, a hardware merchant, of Wakamatsu, to whom she bore three daughters and a son.