Daughters of Nijo: A Romance of Japan

"Daughters of Nijo: A Romance of Japan" by Onoto Watanna, presents the interconnected destinies of characters amidst a Japan undergoing transformation, probably in the early 1900s. At the forefront is Ohano, a common farmer’s daughter thrown into a life of nobility after being kidnapped, and Princess Sado-ko, whose sheltered life contrasts sharply with the schemes around her. Initially, the story introduces Yamada Kwacho, a modest farmer celebrated for saving a lord’s life, along with his young wife, Ohano; but when Kwacho is away on duty, Ohano makes the mistake of witnessing a royal parade and unfortunately gets kidnapped by a prince. This event kicks starts a chain reaction, linking her fate to the Prince of Nijo and establishing the framework for Sado-ko’s life within the royal court. The narrative starts to emphasize love, ambition, and the clash of rural existence with aristocratic complexities.

Winnifred Eaton was a Canadian author and screenwriter of Chinese-British ancestry. Publishing prolifically under a number of names, most predominantly, the pseudonym Onoto Watanna, she was one of the first North American writers of Asian descent to publish fiction in English.