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Japan Society Combined Lecture with Asia House

" The Last Concubine:
Secrets of the Women's Palace",
given by Lesley Downer.

Wednesday 19th March, 6.45pm
Asia House, 63 New Cavendish Street, London W1G 7LP
Asia House members and Japan Society members £5, Non-members £8

The Last Concubine: Secrets of the Women's Palace

In 1861 Princess Kazu, half-sister of the emperor, set out from Kyoto to marry the shogun. They were both fifteen. She travelled in a magnificent procession of 10,000 ladies-in-waiting, guards and attendants - so many that it took four days to wind its way through any one village. Three weeks later she arrived in Edo (now Tokyo), passed through the great gates of Edo Castle and disappeared into the Women's Palace.

Home to 3000 women and only one man - the shogun - the Women's Palace, the ooku, was akin to a middle eastern harem. There the women spent their days beautifying themselves, practising the halberd (to defend the shogun if required; there were no male guards), performing plays, playing the shell matching game and the incense game and engaging in personal and political intrigue. None of them could ever have imagined that their world would come to an end.

When Edo Castle was handed over to the emperor in 1868, the women were dispersed. Sworn to silence, most never spoke of how their lives had been. Until very recently, almost nothing has been known about this mysterious world. Lesley Downer's new novel, The Last Concubine, is set there. She will talk about the customs and stories of the women's palace, the sad story of Princess Kazu, and a little about how and why it all came to an end.

To illustrate the talk there are woodblock prints, photographs and even a video!

Lesley Downer first went to Japan nearly thirty years ago and her life has revolved around Japan ever since. She is the author of many books on Japan. The most recent are Geisha: The Secret History of a Vanishing World and Madame Sadayakko: The Geisha who Seduced the West. Her new book and first novel, The Last Concubine, is published on February 21st.

Please contact Asia House to book a place: Tel: 020 7307 5454 Email: enquires@asiahouse.co.uk



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