Wednesday 7th December, 2016 at 6:00 – 9:00 pm
October Gallery Theatre
24 Old Gloucester Street
London
WC1N 3AL
Illustrated talk: The Shogun’s ‘Harem’: Life in the Women’s Palace in Nineteenth Century Japan
Acclaimed author Lesley Downer will tell stories of the life and luxury and intrigue of the Women’s Palace. She will weave her talk around the story of Princess Atsu, the Satsuma girl sent at the age of twenty to be the shogun’s bride. Atsu had a secret mission to accomplish which set her against the shogun’s formidable mother, the most powerful woman in the palace. She is the heroine of Lesley’s new novel, The Shogun’s Queen.
To illustrate there are photographs and woodblock prints of the women and their gorgeous kimonos, furnishings and tea and incense ceremony implements.