Kozaisho is the Fifth Daughter of a poor farming family in 12thC Japan. Often reduced to starvation level, Kozaisho is, nevertheless, a loved child so when her father sells her to a local Lord when she is just 9 years old, she is shocked and desperate. Her owner has her taught the skills of a refined servant so that she can be an adornment to her master's house. She is taught how to dance, handle fans, dress well and entertain guests. She is also subjected to the harsh judgement of the overseer. When she offend her master yet again, he sells her on to the owner of a Village of Outcasts and she is trained to be a Woman-for-Play, or prostitute.
She learns her trade well and uses it to her own advantage until she is visited by a customer who is a member of the Court of the Taira Clan, which is struggling against rivals for supremacy in the country's leadership. She becomes the mistress, and then powerful wife, of the Lord Michimori.
Throughout her journey, Kozaisho learns about the loyalties of friendship, different kinds of love and how even women can become fighting Samurai (the soldier class). She witnesses, at first hand, an epic struggle for power and how ambition can be thwarted by opposing might.
I really enjoyed this story and learned much about this period in Japan's history. I did feel, however, that Kozaisho's story could have been told in tighter fashion without losing any of the detail or poetry. 538 pages is just a tad too long.
The Pillow Book of the Flower Samurai is published by Headline, ISBN 978-0-7553-8928-5
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