Excerpt from the book:
Sumire was born into a family of impoverished aristocrats, near the city of Edo, as the fourth daughter in the family. The only eldest son was supposed to inherit all the modest family property, and the parents tried to marry their daughters as profitably as possible. Thus, the two older sisters of Sumire married wealthy men of respectable age and had already managed to become a widow.
Soon, Sumire herself entered the age of maturity. Her parents also quickly found a bridegroom for her. Like the husbands of her older sisters, he was a widower of advanced age.
"I don't want to marry him!" the girl immediately got angry. "He's as old as our grandfather!"
"Think of family!" her mother scolded her severely. "Your advantageous marriage can improve our situation! And you, too, will live in abundance!"
"He is old! I don't want to be his wife!" the girl did not give up.
"He is a great option for marriage! Think for yourself how beneficial it is for you! Your children will be his heirs!" mother objected again. "Besides, you yourself said he was old! Think about the fact that a few years after the wedding you will be widowed and become a free woman! You will become a wealthy free woman! But for this you need to give birth to him a child!"
Sumire realized that arguing with her mother was useless. She pretended to obey. But in fact, she planned to run away from home.
The girl realized her plan on a moonless night a few days later. She got men's clothes. She took some jewelry with her and quietly left the house.
Fortunately for her, the deities were merciful to her — nothing bad happened to the girl. But in the end, she nevertheless realized that she acted very unreasonably and frivolously. After all, robbers could have attacked her on the very first night after escaping! But fortunately, everything ended well.
...After running away from home, Sumire was thinking: what should she do next? She probably should have thought about it before running away! But now it was too late to regret.
The most reasonable thing seemed to her to go to another city, sell jewelry and buy herself a small house. And then marry some nice young guy.
But Sumire has always been a 'rebel'! And obeying a vague impulse, she decided to try to create an acting troupe, because the girl always liked the performances of actors and actresses, music and dancing.
***
No sooner had Himiko left the shrine than shouts were heard from everywhere:
"Sun! Sun! Amaterasu takes the sun!" shouted the townspeople seized with all-consuming horror and fell to their knees.
"We will all die!" yelled the priest and ran away.
Himiko watched the faint-hearted priest with an angry gaze, then raised her eyes to the heavens and saw a black disk slowly rolling on the sun. Twilight was gradually gathering over the city...
The picture that presented itself to the girl's gaze involuntarily made her freeze in amazement and fear. For a few moments, Himiko stood in a daze, unable to utter a word. Suddenly she remembered the lessons of her old teacher and one of the ancient astrological treatises she had once read. It told about the mysterious celestial phenomena that occur from time to time in this world.
It was said in that treatise about the so-called 'solar eclipse', when the moon and the sun became in one line. And the moon completely hid the daylight. According to an ancient Han scroll, this predicted some troubles or important changes.
Immediately, Himiko realized that this circumstance could be used to advantage. And the young ruler was visited by a daring thought...