Sano Ichiro Series by Laura Joh Rowland

Anyonewho doesn't know the Sano Ichiro series by the author above is really missing a good set of detective books. For you mystery junkies out there you should read this. The main character Sano Ichiro is a very intelligent man who cannot rest till he fights for justice. A commendable trait in a man living in feudal Japan. His wife lady Reiko possess the same knack for solving problems and eventually join forces with her husband to help him investigate. A very unconventional woman for that era: she is brave, loyal, intelligent and extremely radical. A trait that makes her likable to many.
Here I'd like to write about my favourite character. It's none of those main characters often featured in most of the series it's actually a minor character. She is none other than Lady Yanagisawa, wife of the arch enemy of Sano Ichiro, Chamberlain Yanagisawa.
It's pretty odd to like such an insignificant character isnt it? Allow me the privilege of explaining.
Lady Yanagisawa, an  unattractive women who is said to have a dour face and melancholic dispositiom. She is described as having little talent for personal communication, had a sad childhood and eventually a sad marriage. The world seems to be against this woman doesnt it? That is precisely why I like her: she is the mirror image of myself. A woman who doesn't often show her good qualities because she isn't given a chance to do so.
Call her a sick woman or a villaness, she is just a woman who had very little love her entire life. She had no love from her family due to her 'plain' features, very little suitors for the same reason and lead her to being an insecure and withdrawn person. You could say she's just a victim of bad misfortune. Had her situation been reversed she would have been a very different woman since she is the daughter of a very influential family in ancient Japan.
Her one meager and short lived happiness came from her marriage with her beautiful husband, the Chamberlain Yanagisawa. She craves for his attention and love but alas, Chamberlain Yanagisawa swing the other way, much to her despair. Dismayed that he would never come to love her, her sadness deepened.
When she found herself with child she thought there was a way at last to make him acknowledge her existence. Woe becomes her when she found out she had given birth to a retarded girl. Seems like life sucks for her, hmn? Her husband ignored her completely by then. Despite having a family, she was alone. That is the most cruel fate to befall a lonely woman.
She suffers from severe depression and this can be seen by her unhealthy habits like spying on the ceiling of his office, eavesdropping on his lovemaking to his many male paramours, arranging her feeble minded daughter to kill Reiko's son Masahiro in a guise of innocent play acting that would lead to his death to inflict suffering towards Reiko and trying to thwart Sano's investigation by hiring 'backstage people'.
She did out of anger that Reiko have what she does not: a faithful husband, a happy marriage and a 'normal' child, plentiful life and of course beauty.
I feel sorry for her. She deserves happiness too and perhaps karma from her past life is paying it's toll.

And many may not have noted that Lady Yanagisawa inherited her husband's surname and had been addressed as such since then? I have always wondered...what's her given name? Reiko is Lady Sano, Midori is Lady Hirata , then what's her name? Keiko? Sakura? Akiko?  Anyone knows?
I can feel myself in this woman's shoes for my fate is no different than hers: unloved, deemed insignificant by those around her, not blessed with beauty she feels the throes and mockery of being plain. She's torn between her envy and respect for Reiko. I would admit this though, however commendable Reiko's character is, she comes across as annoying to me.
She has this vanity in her that that she led a good life and suffered little hardships. Brought with love by her single father, married a very good man and had an intelligent child. She seems oblivious of other people's pain. She's one of those women who has too much in her life and it is only natural for other women to feel bitter at her good fortune.
What woman doesn't want what she has?