Nikaidô, Kikuko

Nikaidô, Kikuko; Accepted Application
Topic Started: Aug 29 2008, 01:34 PM (75 Views)
Nikaido Kikuko	Aug 29 2008, 01:34 PM Post #1
Posts: 8 Group: Pupils Member #9 Joined: Aug 29, 2008	Nikaidô Kikuko Student Age: 16 Height: 5'0 (barely) Weight: 88lb Build and Carriage: petite Hair Color and Style: darkbrown/black; her hair is straight and she usually carries it either in pigtails (sometimes even French braid) or, usually only at important events, in a very traditional style typical for Japan (Nihongami, but she usually sticks to the Shimada style, despite the trend of following Western fashion) Eye Color: brown Race/Ethnicity: Japanese Complexion: Fair-skinned and smooth Indepth Description: Kikuko is small, just like any random young woman from Japan. Most of her looks are rather typical for Japanese women. She has a small nose and a small mouth. The most striking feature on her are certainly her protruding ears. It's something that runs in her mother's side of the family and seems to go back for several generations. When it comes down to clothing, Kikuko avoids the Western style. It's not that her aunt discouraged it or that it isn't popular. She just prefers the traditional style of her homeland. The only exception are the uniforms of her school. Country of Origin: Japan Date of Birth: June 5th 1888 Parents: Father: His Excellency the Ambassador of the Empire of Japan to the United Kingdom Viscount Nikaidô Hironobu (56) Mother: Haru-no-miya Yasuko naishinnô, The Princess Haru (deceased) Siblings and other relatives: His Imperial Majesty The Emperor Meiji - first cousin once removed, The Princess Haru's grandfather was Emperor Ninkô (grandfather of the Meiji Tennô); her grandmother, Princess Yuri, was the favorite concubine of Ninkô Tenno, they had a daughter, Princess Hiroko, who married a cousin, Prince Hidehito, which lead to Princess Haru's birth His Imperial Highness Prince Hidehito, Ake-no-miya Hidehito shinnô (81) - grandfather Her Imperial Highness Princess Hiroko, Toshi-no-miya Hiroko naishinnô denka (79) - grandmother General Marquis Manabe Yoshihiro (58), IJA - uncle Marquise Manabe Kazuko (53) - aunt Lieutenant Manabe Yoshinobu (29), IJN - cousin Captain Manabe Masahiro (27), IJA - cousin Manabe Akiko (16) - cousin Manabe Hisako (19) - cousin Viscount Nikaidô Takeyasu (52) - uncle Viscountess Nikaidô Kyoko (49) - aunt 1st Lieutenant Nikaidô Takenobu (26), IJA - cousin 2nd Lieutenant Nikaidô Takeru (24), IJA - cousin 2nd Lieutenant Nikaidô Takeshi (24), IJA, cousin Nikaidô Kojiro (17) - cousin Nikaidô Haruko (13) - cousin Close Friends: Manabe Akiko, Matsudaira Ryoko and Hasegawa Naoko (classmates at Gakushûin) Nikaidô Haruko Nikaidô Kojiro Nikaidô Takenobu Character History: Originally the Nikaidô family were samurai and low ranking daimyo. They ruled Kanô domain in Mino province, today's Gifu in Gifu prefecture, which was worth some 32,000 koku (one koku is the amount of rice needed to feed one person for one year). It was nothing compared to the great daimyo families like the Matsudaira -who controlled much of Japan's wealth due to their relation with the Tokugawa family- or the Manabe -who ruled Mikawa province worth some 500,000 koku-, yet the Nikaidô never tried to achieve more than that. The one thing they had in common with those two great families was the simple fact that the Nikaidô, just like the Manabe and the Matsudaira were fudai, hereditary vassals of the Tokugawa. As such they also had to deal with the Shogunate's bureaucracy -even though their involvement there was really insignificant. When the reign of the Tokugawa finally came to an end and the Imperial reign was restored in the late 1860s the Nikaidô, just like all the other daimyo, were removed from their positions and their income was massively reduced. However, the daimyo families were soon elevated to new glories. The kuge and daimyo families were merged into a new aristocracy. Now the Nikaidô were part of an exclusive club of 427 families all across Japan. But it took until 1884 and the Peerage Act for them to become Viscounts. 1884 was also the year when Nikaidô Hironobu, by then already thirty-six years old, accidentally met The Princess Haru, who was only sixteen years old. By rights he could have been her father, but that usually didn't post a big problem for such marriages. The one thing that cast a shadow over Hironobu's plan of having her was the simple fact that she was a relative of the Emperor, albeit rather distant. The Emperor's grandfather was also Haru's grandfather, not to mention that her father was a member of the Imperial Family. That, however, didn't stop Hironobu from following his desire. It was no surprise, Haru was young, beautiful and intelligent, she seemed to be perfect. It took her parents almost a year to accept Hironobu's advances, after all they had hoped for someone of higher status than just a viscount, preferably a marquis or even a duke. But Hironobu was in diplomatic service with a promising career ahead and thus Princess Haru's parents agreed. Hironobu and Haru married in 1886. It took two years until their first, and only, child was born. Kikuko, it was the Meiji Emperor who chose the name for the girl, was born into a time when Japan was appearing as a world power. It was a time of change, even though the famed Meiji Restoration was long over. It was a time of war. Just six years after Kikuko's birth Japan went at war with China for the first time. Nationalism was soaring, even at Kikuko's elementary school, which was part of the Gakushûin, also known as Peers School, a facility designed only to educate the children of aristocracy. She quickly became friends with Manabe Akiko -who was one of her cousins-, Matsudaira Ryoko and Hasegawa Naoko, since they were all in the same year and in the same class. Of course, there was a certain amount of jealousy between Akiko and Kikuko, mainly coming from Akiko, after all, who else could claim to be related to His Majesty? But it didn't take long for Akiko to realize that Kikuko was very interested in the other girl's lineage. The Manabe had brought out several key figures of Japanese history, the three most famous had been Manabe Yoshinobu -Tokugawa Ieyasu's “Old Warhorse”- his wife Osome -sometimes referred to as Someko- and Manabe Kozue -the Old Dragon, who had steered the family through the chaos of the Boshin War and the following Meiji Restoration. The girl's interest in history emerged within the first year in school. Kikuko loved the tales about the heroes of old, especially about Empress Himiko, Hojo Masako and Tomoe Gozen. Strong, independent women who feared neither death nor pain. The almost seven years old girl decided that she wanted to be like them. But of course, there was no room for such things in Japan in the late 19th century. A woman had certain duties to fulfill, going out into the world and fight with a sword or a bow were none of them. Kikuko also learned that being related to the Imperial Family -by rights she wasn't an Imperial princess, her mother had left the Imperial Family by marrying Kikuko's father- wasn't about being a pretty princess. No, being related to them meant only one thing: drill, drill, drill, a little bit of drill in between and more drill. History was only one of the subjects, reading, writing, math, and many other things quickly filled her schedule. It didn't prevent her and her three friends from attending classes with white headbands and a naval ensign on February 12th 1895, the day when the Chinese fleet surrendered to the Japanese in the First Sino-Japanese war. It was her first engagement in activities that were considered to be unsuitable for young ladies. But from that point on things actually worsened, at least... that was how her aunt Kyoko saw it. In May 1885 Kikuko's mother succumbed to tuberculosis, she had been fighting against it for at least four years. Kikuko remembered her mother mainly as a fragile and weak creature, but now she understood why she had been like that. It was at her mother's funeral when Kikuko met the Meiji Emperor for the first time. It seemed that the Princess Haru had been his favorite cousin. The Emperor, that meant a living god walking among mere mortals, but even at that age Kikuko couldn't help but wonder about one thing: if the Emperor, who was her first cousin once removed, was a god, then the rest of his family had to be gods as well, right? Since she was related to him, wasn't she a god as well? The logic of a child. And it proved to be a rather bad logic, for Kikuko soon wanted to find out more. Ultimately she almost broke both of her legs and came to the conclusion that, maybe, this divine status was only for men? It also showed that her mother's sudden death had removed the guiding hand of a woman from the girl's life with one swift strike. With that further problems arose. Her father was ordered to move to the United States in order to take over an important position at the local embassy in 1896. Kikuko was handed over to her uncle and his wife Kyoko. The girl and her aunt were at odds within a second. No, Kikuko didn't like Kyoko at all. She couldn't stand her with her know-it-all attitude. Why couldn't her aunt be more like her mother? Or the mothers of her friends? Why did she have to be so mean? As it was, Kyoko wasn't well liked among the servants and Kikuko's other aunt, Manabe Kazuko, couldn't stand her own sister-in-law either. But all of them were usually safe from her. All except Kikuko, who was now to live with her uncle's family. It would have been a lot worse if not... Well... Kikuko was slowly but steady growing up. She was getting older and then there was her uncle's oldest son, Nikaidô Takenobu. It took her several years to realize that their very close friendship was mainly caused by the crush she had on him. In fact, she didn't realize it until 1902 when she was fourteen years old. Her father remained in the US until the year 1900. He returned to Japan only find out that his daughter had been in constant warfare with her aunt. Kikuko's performance in school was hardly the problem. She was coming after her mother -not only in looks- and usually was among the top scorers at exams and tests. She also obeyed and, to the outside, seemed to turn into a great young lady who'd fit perfectly into Japan's aristocracy. But there were things that Kyoko considered unbecoming for a young lady. What was it with her and those horrible samurai women? Kyoko could understand a certain interest in Empress Himiko, after all she was one of Kikuko's ancestors. But Hojo Masako? Or, worse, Tomoe Gozen? Tomoe, a woman who had been fighting in battles! Outrageous! And Kikuko's annoying habit of asking questions, not to mention that she always skipped out on her needlework and seemed to be more interested in books than in proper conversation. Worse yet, Kikuko's conversation topics were just horrible. In early 1900 Kyoko had once walked in on a discussion between Kikuko and her three close friends from school. They had argued about the War in China and the mistakes the Japanese army had made! Women engaging in politics! Worse! Women arguing about military issues! That Kikuko's three closest friends were all from old samurai families didn't really help either. At this rate Kikuko would never be a proper lady. That was Kyoko's conclusion. And then there was the girl's relation with His Imperial Highness. The Princess Haru had indeed been the Emperor's favorite cousin and now Kikuko seemed to take over that place. She saw the Meiji Emperor at least once per month when she was allowed to visit the Imperial Palace, after all family was family. Kyoko desperately wanted to put a stop to this habit as it certainly didn't help with Kikuko's upbringing (the Meiji Emperor and his most trusted men knew too many stories about samurai and the heroes of old times, which would just turn the girl's head into the wrong direction and away from the important things; and why was he calling her Kiku-no-miya anyway), but moving against the Emperor's will... No, she didn't dare to do that. A year before her father's return the whole thing between Kikuko and her aunt came down like an avalanche when Kikuko said she wanted to learn kendo. Impossible! Kyoko put the foot down, kendo was not suitable for young ladies. Daughters of low ranking samurai could engage in such things, but not proper young ladies. Surprisingly her uncle Takeyasu intervened on Kikuko's behalf. It was a surprise because he would never get involved in issues that dealt with education. He managed to negotiate a compromise, most likely because he was annoyed by the constant fighting between his wife and his niece. Kikuko was allowed to start with kyudo as it was less violent and a lot calmer than kendo. It seemed to be more fitting for a young lady of rank. Still, that incident only lead to a short cease-fire between those two. As life moved on, so did school. Kikuko's brain was filled up with knowledge. She also had to study French -which she disliked at once- and English. Meanwhile her feelings for her cousin Takeru were also growing, but there was no way she would ever tell him about this. For once it was socially unacceptable to do something like this, and secondly... She'd rather have her teeth removed with old and rusty forceps than facing him like this. Upon her father's return Kikuko moved back into their old house. She was happy to be out of her aunt's reach, at least for now. But after a while Kyoko took it upon herself to make sure that Kikuko's education would not be endangered. It was an uneasy peace between Kikuko and her aunt. Finally, the year 1904 came and two important things happened. First of all, her father was appointed as new ambassador to the United Kingdom. And secondly, war broke out. In February 1904 Imperial Russia and the Empire of Japan began hostilities. It was a conflict that grew out of the rival imperialist ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea. For Kikuko that meant that the majority of her male relatives had to go and fight. After all, all, except one -who was still too young-, were members of the Imperial Japanese Army. It also meant that Nikaidô Takenobu would be in this war. It was a tearful farewell and Kikuko did her best to hide her feelings. The news that soon followed from the frontlines were bloody, yet glorious. It seemed that the Russians would not be able to withstand the Japanese army and navy. For Kikuko, though, her days in Japan were coming to an end. Her father had decided to take her with him to Great Britain. He had noticed that the peace between his sister-in-law and his daughter was very fragile. It seemed best to separate them. Thus Kikuko went with him and by July 1904 she set foot on British soil. The girl was then enrolled at Pennington School for Girls, a place that seemed to be suitable. For Kikuko, apart from it being a culture shock, it also meant separation from her friends and the man she loved. But, just like her ancestors, just like the women she adored, she would not give in. She would not fail. Personality: Kikuko may come across as cold, sometimes even arrogant, but that's mainly because she learned to keep her emotions hidden. Showing emotions is something that isn't considered to be proper in Japan's society. Additionally, her different run-ins with her aunt strengthened her stance on emotions. Despite this Kikuko loves her father. The memories of her mother is already somewhat shady, what is left are several photographs. As for the rest of the family, apart from her aunt Kyoko she has no problems with any of them. She's very close with her cousin Akiko. Then here's Nikaidô Takenobu, who is the one true love in her life. But, of course, she can't tell him. It's simply impossible. As for the Emperor... She knows she's not a real imperial princess and frankly she wouldn't want to be one. She also knows that she's not part of the line of succession, after all her mother had left the family when marrying her father. The Meiji Emperor, for her, is like a distant uncle. Yet, there's still a certain bond between them. The girl knows who she is and where her family comes from. She's proud of her heritage and she's also rather patriotic. Strengths: Intelligent, good archer, has her emotions under control, very polite, decent musician Weaknesses: Nikaidô Takenobu, comes across as cold or arrogant, horrible language skills in French, believes she was born into the wrong time Interests: kyudo, history, politics, mythology, kabuki Pet Peeves: her aunt Kyoko, French, rude and emotional people (being emotional is a sign of weakness) Quirks: when nervous or extremely focused she usually touches the tip of her left incisor with her tongue Skills: kyudo, English, ikebana, tea ceremony Sample Post: Quote: The music thundered across the square. It was huge, the surrounding area was crowded with hundreds, maybe even thousands of people. She knew what song the band was playing. She had sung it before. It was Battotai, a march from the 1860s. Kikuko raised her fan to shield her eyes from the sun. The music suddenly ended and the only noise on the square was the one coming from thousands of boots. They were in pace, marching forward to their designated position. It was a whole division that was forming up on the huge parade square in the outskirts of Tokyo. A man on horseback in front of them rose in the saddle and then barked a command, which was repeated by the regimental commanders. The whole formation stopped as if it was one man. Kikuko took a deep breath. She knew the man on the grey horse. It was her uncle Yoshihiro, who was the commanding officer of the division. He would lead his men into battle one more time. It was, most likely, his last war. Her gaze shifted to the side. There her aunt was sitting and watching as well. But for once Kyoko's sharp gaze wasn't focused on Kikuko. No, the older woman was watching the soldiers. It wasn't a surprise for Kikuko, after all the three oldest sons of Kyoko were down there. Altogether there were four of Kikuko's cousins and her uncle in this division. Five family members, who would board a ship and sail towards the enemy, with a sixth on one of the battleships. Maybe... some of them would not return... No, that wasn't an option. They would all return, of course. Kikuko's eyes moved back to the formation. Her uncle on horseback was riding up to the grandstands where Kikuko and the rest of the family were sitting. They belonged to the few privileged people who had a seat. The rest, usually family members of the common soldiers, had to stand. There General Manabe Yoshihiro saluted with his saber. The girl knew that his greeting wasn't directed to them, at least not officially. It was directed at yet another member of the family, albeit distant. His Highness the Emperor was present, of course. He was the supreme commander of Japan's military. He had to be present when his army was sent off to war. That was when she stopped paying attention to the ceremony. Her eyes were looking for somewhat among the ranks in front of her. There he was. Nikaidô Takenobu, First Lieutenant in His Majesty's Imperial Army, her cousin... And possibly the most handsome man she had ever seen. Apart from that, he had a great personality. She liked him a lot and even loved him. Though... what were the chances that they would end up together? Kikuko moved her fan a bit and... was that just the slightest hint of a reply from him? His left hand seemed to have moved. Yes, it had moved as a reply, Kikuko was sure about that. Her attention, though, was suddenly disturbed by a hand touching her own. It was her father's and he had given her a signal. The national anthem would be played within the next few seconds, then the thousands of people would cheer on His Highness. Kikuko, however, was occupied with something else. Yes, there would be a way. She would go to Great Britain with her father, but once she was old enough, she would return home and marry her cousin. Yes, that was what she would do. Edited by Nikaido Kikuko, Aug 30 2008, 03:56 PM.
Posts: 8 Group: Pupils Member #9 Joined: Aug 29, 2008


Headmistress Cavendish	Aug 29 2008, 02:06 PM Post #2
Posts: 15 Group: Global Moderators Member #4 Joined: Aug 20, 2008	Miss Nikaidou, It is of my utmost honor to announce your acceptance into the Pennington Academy for Young Ladies. You are coming into a school with an impeccable and distinguished reputation, and a very competitive curriculum for a Ladies' school. Congratulations on your acceptance. Your assigned residence is in the SOUTH WING. You have your own choice of which bed you wish to take. Again, I welcome you into Pennington, and I do hope that you will enjoy your time here as an esteemed student. Amelia Cavendish Headmistress



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