The Shimazu family loved to party, and Yoko Shimazu was often taken to visit her grandmother, Senbaiko, who stayed at the estate to receive visitors. One of Yoko Shimazu's most interesting childhood memories is related to the estate of one of her uncles. The uncle's wife had a pack of hunting dogs, and she could never bear to be separated from them. As a result, the whole house is full of small animals running around. The uncle loved to prune shrubs, and the large lawn in front of the house was arranged to resemble an obstacle course, and each obstacle was carefully designed in the shape of various trees. To Shimazu's delight, as soon as her uncle whistled, many hounds jumped out of the house and took part in a crazy obstacle course on the lawn.

Like most children, Yoko Shimazu likes to go to the "women's room" to play. It was a special territory, with housekeepers, ladies and maids, and seamstresses who came from the nearest town to mend the seams. This is the nerve center of the villa, from which local gossip is constantly spreading. Every nook and cranny of it was filled with familiar household belongings that fascinated her: whimsical storybooks and romance novels, plates of fragrant flower petals, and bottles of jam. Of course, none of this can be left to chance, but Yoko Shimazu understands that if the housekeeper is in a good mood, she may eventually allow her to pick something delicious from the drawer. These drawers are stocked with sweetened plums, gaudy pictures, and sugar cubes.

But what really attracts Yoko Shimazu is the countryside. Under the dim sky, riding a horse across the boundless gloomy plains, Yoko Shimazu equated herself with Japan. Historically, Japan has suffered from internal and external troubles, so Yoko Shimazu's young mind also has the characteristics of Japanese fantasy and melancholy. As one English writer put it, "Except for a little melancholy and sorrow." There is also a bit of poetry in the Japanese character. "Yoko Shimazu has the burnout and apathy of the Japanese. The kind and lively bloodline inherited from her mother Ning Ji has made her personality rich and varied. Outcome. Since childhood, she has shown these two different traits and character flaws, which will be evident as she grows up.

Yoko Shimazu rebelled against any form of restraint. Once she decides to do something, neither her mother's admonition, nor her nanny's threats of punishment, nor her father's flattery and coaxing can stop her from pursuing her goals with perseverance. Yoko Shimazu is kind-hearted and sympathetic to the oppressed. But he is capricious with his friends. Many of Yoko Shimazu's friends adore her and even imitate her outrageous behavior. This annoyed her friends' mothers, who felt that as a little girl, Yoko Shimazu had been given too much freedom.

Yoko Shimazu's pranks made her father Tadayoshi Shimazu very happy, but made her mother Ninji very angry. Yoko Shimazu never told anyone about her plans, often breaking through the care of her servants and sneaking away on her own, going to the fields and farms to find friends. Most of the servants were very fond of this brave little girl.

Yoko Shimazu has always had a close relationship with nature. Since she was a baby, she has been fascinated by green trees and flowers. For her. These living ornaments in nature are far more interesting than those man-made ornaments. She likes to stare at the flowers and sigh rather than picking them by hand.

In childhood. Yoko Shimazu felt that living in a spacious house with servants standing inside and outside the door was a matter of course. She loved the hustle and bustle of her father's journey to participate in an annual or biennial hunting competition. Hunting tournaments were held at the estates of Japanese nobles, and these special occasions were either related to the hunting season or to the carnival. At that time, the towns around these powerful estates held gatherings. The hunting tournament begins early in the morning and ends with lunch. The luncheon was held at a nearby farmhouse, and participants ate an all-you-can-eat amount of sake while swallowing a simple farmhouse meal.

It was from her father that Yoko Shimazu inherited a deep sense of ethnic pride and a strong love for Japan. His father, Tadayoshi Shimazu, was not a man of deep knowledge, and he tended to read light books with a very limited scope. But he knew the history of Japan and taught it to his daughter. Japanese history is like a fairy tale, where facts and legends are intertwined.

Under her father's tutelage, Yoko Shimazu became a skilled female rider. At that time, the stables became her spiritual home. There is nothing happier for her than to sit in the harness room and listen to the chatter and groom. Yoko Shimazu has an instinctive love for BMW in her bones.

Someone still remembers the first equestrian competition between nobles in which Yoko Shimazu participated. She was in her early teens, and she was as light as a feather. She weighed so little that the owner of the winning horse wondered how the little girl was going to hold on to the horse at the finish line. Seeing Yoko Shimazu leading the race, the owner suddenly had an idea, and he ordered someone to bring Yoko Shimazu's partner on the horse to the race. As Yoko Shimazu rode her horse to the finish line, the racehorse saw her partner. As the owner had expected, the horse immediately stopped.

Yoko Shimazu quickly spent her childhood in happiness. She was carefree and went her own way, which made her mother Ning Ji worried. The mother found it difficult to convince her husband, Tadayoshi Shimazu, that their daughter was growing up, that she needed to be disciplined and to be kept company by girls of her class, not with the men in the stables and the country boys.

Ning Ji thinks that Shimazu Yoko has reached the age of studying, since her husband likes Western studies, she plans to send her to study in the aristocratic school run by the government in imitation of the British, Shimazu Tadashi can't tolerate being separated from his beloved daughter, but with the support of family and friends, Ning Ji won in the end. Yoko Shimazu was sent to the newly established Imperial Noble Academy's aristocratic elementary school.

Yoko Shimazu was very unhappy to be sent away from home, but she did not choose to rebel and ignore all rules and regulations as before, she hoped that this period of study would pass quickly, and she would be able to stay at home forever after becoming a lady, and have her father as her main partner to live that comfortable and free life again. But she was very sad and embarrassed to find out. After graduating, she was not only sent to a more strict aristocratic college. And. Due to the severe damage to the family fortune, her parents were forced to sell the manor house she knew in the countryside and move to live in Tokyo.

Yoko Shimazu later learns that her father's embarrassing financial predicament was not due to poor management, but was the result of government reforms. The reformers in the Japanese government, led by Okubo Toshitsu and Okuma Shigenobu, believed that in order to eliminate the hidden danger of separatism and division in Japan and to get rid of the oppression of foreign powers, it was necessary to build an absolutist centralized system that was completely different from the shogunate period. In order to completely eliminate the basis for the "petty power", the government suppressed the feudal lords who still had strong financial resources after the "return of the copyrights" to prevent their economic base from becoming too strong and threatening the "great power" of the central government.

Under such circumstances, and due to the spread of inflation, the former feudal lords were hit by economic blows of varying degrees, and many families were in a state of collapse.

Yoko Shimazu knows very little about the predicament her parents are in. But the fact of being forced to leave their homeland in the countryside has become a painful and unforgettable memory, because for so many years. The home has always sheltered her from the wind and rain, providing her with shelter. This time, the young roots and seedlings were violently pulled out. Since then, a soul has begun an alternative growth career.

After her family moved to the Tokyo metropolitan area, Yoko Shimazu tried her best to adjust herself to life at the new school. According to former school reports, the teachers here may have a bad impression of her, and in order not to cause problems for the family, Yoko Shimazu wants to correct this. It wasn't long before Yoko Shimazu became the best student in her class. She studied English, French, and German, and learned to write in elegant and ornate handwriting, a hallmark of a well-educated, aristocratic school-trained student. Even though the strict discipline bothered her, she buried the feelings deep in her heart. Eventually, she became familiar with the process. Yoko Shimazu is lively, happy, energetic, kind-hearted, and very popular, and does not attract the jealousy of her classmates.

Because of her outstanding appearance, gentleness and generosity, she was praised by her classmates as "Japan's number one beauty". But in fact, this is just another legend born of her. The real story is that Yoko Shimazu was indeed chosen as the number one beauty in the academy, but this was just a recommendation from friends at a charity event. And Yoko Shimazu's photo did appear in the newspapers. It may be that this appearance aroused the suspicion of the old Japanese class, making them think that the young young lady of the Shimazu family was "too showy". At first, Yoko Shimazu blames this on the loss of power and wealth of the Shimazu family, as she soon realizes that it was the wealth of the Shimazu family that sheltered her childhood and enriched her childhood. It was only later that Yoko Shimazu learned that because her father was the lord of the Satsuma Domain, one of the "Four Great Clans of the Fallen Shogunate", people might have some kind of hostility towards her. Realizing this was an unexpected blow to her.

Yoko Shimazu prefers to be with boys rather than with girls, perhaps because she prefers the outdoors to tea parties and listen to women's chats. She is a skilled rider and enjoys mountaineering and swimming. Most importantly, she walked tirelessly, a hobby that helped her successfully save her life in the future.

By the time she graduated from the aristocratic academy, it was clear that her family's financial situation was unstable. Father Shimazu Tadayoshi is in a bad mood, and he loses his temper with his mother Ning Ji and the two side chambers Shoumiko and Ryoko at every turn, and often scolds his daughter.

Yoko Shimazu doesn't understand why her father, who used to be handsome and gentle, has become like this. In order to please her father, she began accepting invitations in an attempt to convince him that his precious daughter was popular among the young aristocrats of Tokyo. Although Yoko Shimazu had always disliked purely social situations, she was in the prime of her life, and the young aristocratic men and women clearly found her very attractive and admired her, which made her father feel extremely useful, and her attitude towards her and her mother gradually improved.

Wanting to increase her family's income and improve her family's financial situation, Yoko Shimazu began to spend a lot of time researching how to make money, often traveling far away (because of the government's control over the feudal lords living in Tokyo, there were many restrictions on the travel of aristocratic men, but not women), sightseeing in various ports and scenic spots. Of course, her hikes weren't always so simple, as she liked to rack her brains against the sentries and customs officers who were guarding the coast. In order to "seek excitement" and make money, she smuggled cigarettes inside and outside Japan. In this way, she not only brought unexpected money to the family. I have also accumulated some valuable experience. This later led her to break through the Tokyo military police. When it came to boarding a ship bound for England, this experience was invaluable.

Yoko Shimazu has traveled all over Japan, and she has been as far as Hokkaido, which of course has something to do with her love of nature. At that time, the natural beauty of the Ainu village had not been spoiled, and it was a frequent meeting place for many adventurous young Japanese. Yoko Shimazu is very fond of those villages, with the streets lined with old Ainu thatched huts. Yoko Shimazu has always been able to communicate well with the local mountain residents. When it comes to getting along with these simple-hearted residents, Yoko Shimazu is always in the best mood. Because they trust each other very much.

Yoko Shimazu, a young aristocratic lady, was very popular among the Ainu. The Ainu people live in the mountains, and they still retain their traditional clothing. Men's clothing usually consisted of a leather garment with trousers made of fur with black trim at the seams; Their jackets are usually red with showy embroidery; They generally wear round felt hats with wide brims and low tops on their heads. Women generally wear white loose dresses, long checkered skirts with petticoats trimmed with various frils.

Their hut was very rudimentary, with only two rooms, one black and the other white. The former got its name from a fireplace in the corner of the room. Smoke coming out of it blackened the room. The bed belonging to the hostess occupies a prominent place in the room, and a cradle hangs from the bed. The hostess can shake the baby lying in the cradle without moving her body. Farm implements are placed in the hall facing the white room. Because the mountain people have passed down the custom of hospitality for generations, this white room is always reserved for guests, and the whole family is crammed into the black room. In this way, guests can enjoy the large and comfortable beds, as well as the many vanilla pillows set in beautifully sewn cloth covers.

Living outdoors has toned Yoko Shimazu's weaker body. A British friend of Yoko Shimazu, who remembers her when she was eighteen or nineteen, praised her: "She was very elegant, beautiful and lovely." Everything about her, her white teeth, her skin, and her smooth, black hair shone brightly. She has many friends and a reputation as an expert in love. When she found out that she was interested in the young man, she threw himself down under her pomegranate skirt with all her body and soul. But for those who are too possessive or too clingy, she quickly loses interest. Then, she retreated, quietly retreating to a territory where there were no men, a place where no one else could reach. ”

Yoko Shimazu deeply knows how important beauty is to a woman, and she knows how to use it. But she also understands that beauty alone is not enough, women also need wisdom.

Like this time, her success in escaping the control of the military and police is the most typical proof of her use of beauty and intelligence.

Yoko Shimazu grew wise and far-sighted through her studies, and she anticipated the possible disaster for her family early on, and gave her father and grandfather Shimazu Hisamitsu a tactful warning, but unfortunately, neither father nor grandfather listened.

When her family moved from the countryside outside Tokyo to the city of Tokyo, Yoko Shimazu had a premonition that the government was deeply suspicious of the Shimazu family, and she initially thought that someone had framed her, but when she learned about what had happened in Kagoshima, she understood why.

Later events confirmed Shimazu's suspicion that after the "Saga Rebellion" and the "Ogi Rebellion", the government strengthened its control over the feudal lords, and in order to avoid trouble, she persuaded her father Shimazu Tadayoshi to donate part of his wealth to the government or pay for the purchase of public bonds to show his loyalty to the government, and advised her grandfather Shimazu Hisamitsu, who had always refused to "shave his hair and take off his knife", to change his traditional hairstyle and clothes, to be consistent with the government, and to avoid suspicion, but neither her grandfather nor father listened to her advice.

Yoko Shimazu has never forgotten her responsibility to the family, she always gently persuaded and advised her father and grandfather: either stand with the government to fight against the rebel party, or quickly express loyalty to the government and break with the rebel party, but my father and grandfather because they participated in the downfall of the curtain and made great contributions, and after the downfall, they were stripped of their territory and moved to Tokyo for residential surveillance. Not only did he refuse the request of the Satsuma envoy to use his influence to incite the local priests to crusade against Okubo Ritsu, but he also refused to help the government, and simply rejected Shimazu Yoko's proposal.

Maybe it's because Yoko Shimazu said too much, her father and grandfather scolded her when they heard her say this, and over time, she deeply felt the pathetic status of her "Cassandra".

From then on, Yoko Shimazu had a premonition of the possible catastrophe that the Shimazu family would face, and began to prepare for a future escape. (To be continued......)

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