Daughter of the Samurai

Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto (1874–1950) lived a long life. Before her eyes, the old feudal Japan faded into the past. The Meiji Restoration (also known as the Meiji Revolution), which began in the late 1860s, transformed Japanese society from the ground up: the country embarked on a path of modernization and openness to the world; class privileges were abolished, and the ancient aristocracy found itself on the sidelines of life. In place of the spirit of the samurai came the spirit of universal commerce. Yet, paradoxically, the surrounding world changes faster than human consciousness: having spent half her life in the USA and half in the new Japan of the 20th century, Etsu remained, above all, a daughter of the samurai.