In the eighteenth century, Edo, much later to become Tokyo, was the largest and most glamorous city in the world. Right in the centre was Edo Castle, home to the shogun and his government. Deep inside that was the ‘inner palace’ or harem, where three thousand women lived and only one man could enter – the shogun. The women had wealth, servants, gorgeous kimonos, just so long as they followed the rules – never leave the palace or take a lover other than the shogun, on pain of banishment or death. In 1714, however, one woman decided to take the risk …
Read her story in the first instalment of A Gilded Cage, coming soon …!