(Voice actor) Ms.Carolyn Miller

In the 1860s, the influence of the Tokugawa shogun family, who had ruled Japan, gradually started to wane, and the Imperial family’s influence started to grow. However, the Imperial family had not had a track record of ruling the whole of Japan for a while now. Thus came about the idea of having the Tokugawa clan and the Imperial family cooperate and manage politics together. This is called koubu-gattai (shogunate marital union with the Imperial family). It was the chief minister, which was like the prime minister of the time, Naosuke Ii, who pushed this koubu-gattai. Naosuke Ii wanted to have a lady from the Imperial family to become the 12-year-old shogun Iemochi Tokugawa’s wife. Kazunomiya, the sister of then-Emperor Koumei, was chosen as Iemochi’s wife. However, there was one problem. Kazunomiya was already engaged to another member of the Imperial family, Taruhito. But to stabilize Japan’s politics, Kazunomiya broke off the engagement with the prince and married Iemochi, who was in Edo (now Tokyo), far away from Kyoto where she had been living. She was only 14 years old. At the time, members of the Imperial family living in Kyoto had almost no interaction with samurais. They also almost never left Kyoto. To go to Edo where she didn’t know anyone was very lonesome. But what was fortunate for Kazunomiya was that Iemochi was the sort of person that knew all about her situation and welcomed her warmly. He stayed close by to support her. Eventually, a mutually affectionate relationship grew between them. When Iemochi would go to Kyoto, Kazunomiya went to a shrine to pray that nothing would happen to him on his way. Also when he went to Kyoto, he would bring home kimonos and makeup sets that he thought Kazunomiya would like. Iemochi and Kazunomiya’s marriage was arranged to strengthen the political ties between the Tokugawa shogun family and the Imperial family. However, Iemochi and Kazunomiya became a real couple who cared for each other. But Iemochi Tokugawa was not an ordinary samurai. He was a shogun who ruled Japan. And the times were changing. When someone did not obey the Tokugawa clan’s orders, Iemochi had to lead the samurais and fight. Iemochi knew the senselessness of wars, but as a shogun, he could not run away from such wars. Iemochi Tokugawa went to war. Kazunomiya prayed for his safety from Edo. But the times swallowed their happiness like a raging wave.