A Modern Marriage?: The Story of Jo and Yae Niijima

Yamamoto Yaeko, also known as Yae Neesima or Yae Niijima, is one of the most fascinating, unconventional figures of the Meiji period. Niijima was born in the Aizu domain in 1845 into the family of a prominent gunnery expert. According to legends, Yae Niijima dressed in her brother’s clothing and fought as a samurai in the battle to defend Aizu castle against the imperial troops. Her role as a female, gun-wielding samurai has become popular history, including most recently a series on Japanese TV. While she is best remembered in modern day Japan for her groundbreaking role as a female samurai, I would argue that her unconventional marriage and stance of female education is equally significant. After the Meiji Restoration, Yae Niijima went to live with her brother in Kyoto, where she learned English and converted to Christianity. She was extremely well-educated and secured a teaching position at a secondary school for girls. Through her brother, she met and then married Protestant missionary, Joseph Hardy Neesima, or Jo Niijima, with whom she shared a happy and extremely modern, Western relationship. Yae Niijima went on to be an advocate of education for women and supported her husband in the founding on Doshisha University. (K. Fujisawa, Nagoya Women's Studies Research Group, Japan: 2010)