Born a daughter of the Yamakawa, chief retainers of the Aizu domain.
In the Aizu War she held out inside the castle with her family.
She went to America with the Iwakura Mission; her mother is said to have renamed her Sutematsu at this time.
She graduated from Vassar College, the first Japanese woman to earn a degree, also trained in nursing, and returned home.
She married the army leader Ōyama Iwao and shone at the Rokumeikan, called its "flower".
She held Japan's first charity bazaar, raising funds for a nursing school.
She supported the Joshi Eigaku Juku founded by her friend Tsuda Umeko.
She died of the Spanish flu then raging.
Ōyama IwaoTsuda UmekoTakaki Kanehiro
Ueki EmoriMikimoto KōkichiTsubouchi ShōyōKanō JigorōUchimura KanzōTanabe SakurōMori ŌgaiNitobe Inazō
People of the Meiji period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.