Emperor's Armed Forces in the Warring States

Epilogue (Part 3)

This will be the epilogue of Part 3.

Additionally, there are some descriptions that may raise questions. The Imperial forces come from before the end of World War II and ends up in this Warring States period (?). In pre-WW2 Japan, foreign women who married Japanese men automatically naturalized as Japanese citizens due to the principle of spousal nationality unity. The depictions in the work are based on this premise.

- Yamaga

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1

In the spring of 1557, Kazuko Kamisato embarked on a steamship bound for North America to join her husband, Yoshinobu Takeda. Originally, there were no regular ships heading to where her husband was in Oregon, as it was still a developing region, and there was little need for regular ship service. Thus, Kazuko had no choice but to board an irregularly arranged ship, most likely arranged by her father, Shoichi Kamisato, or her brother-in-law, Nobunaga Oda, to reach her husband.

During the journey on the ship, Kazuko couldn't help but be lost in thought. Were her biological mother, Pricha, and her father, Shoichi, involved in a sham marriage?

It seemed that the Takeda clan had promoted her marriage with Yoshinobu. She had been considered the legitimate wife's child, not a concubine's child. Nevertheless, both her mothers, (Pricha and Aiko), were unaware of these facts, and Kazuko had no intention of revealing them. A few days before departing for North America, Kazuko remembered a conversation she had with her father.

"Father, what does this mean?"

"Was the reason for wanting to meet me outside about this?"

"Don't just end the conversation with this."

With great determination, Kazuko confronted her father about it.

After her marriage certificate was accepted, Kazuko obtained a copy of her family register as a commemoration. In it, she discovered unexpected records. Her biological mother's name was not Pricha but Kenko. Furthermore, she was listed as the adopted child of her father Shoichi and her stepmother Aiko. While Aiko had indeed become her stepmother, Shoichi was simply her biological father and had not adopted her. What did all this mean?

Clever Kazuko traced back her old family register and finally grasped the truth.

Her biological mother, Pricha (Eikenni), had been married to Shoichi for just one day before they divorced. This was before he married Aiko. Therefore, it wasn't a case of bigamy, and legally, there was no problem with the situation. However, the implications of this discovery were significant.

Firstly, due to this marriage, Pricha had become a Japanese national even after the divorce and was listed as Kenko Kamisato. Under the law of the time, the nationality law, a foreign woman who married a Japanese man became Japanese and remained as such even after divorce (although she had entered a Buddhist order and identified herself as Eikenni, never using the name Kenko Kamisato).

Additionally, Kazuko and her siblings Masamichi and Tomoko became legitimate children due to the legal effect of this marriage. When Shoichi acknowledged them, they were considered bastards and non-legitimate children. However, the marriage between Pricha and Shoichi brought them the status of legitimate children.

Kazuko couldn't help but feel uneasy when thinking about Aiko's feelings.

The heir to Shoichi, her father, would not be Kiyoshi, Aiko's biological son, but Kazuko's brother, Masamichi. It was evident that Aiko would be furious about this.