Kajin no Kigu (Encounters with Beautiful Women) (佳人之奇遇)
Kajin no Kigu is a political fiction written by Sanshi TOKAI (Shiro SHIBA). With the first book being published in 1885, the three subsequent books were printed by 1888. The fifth book was published in 1891 after the inauguration of the Imperial Diet, and the sixth through eighth book which concluded Kajin no Kigu were subsequently published after the Sino-Japanese War in 1897. Kajin no Kigu consists of 16 volumes.
The story begins when a survived retainer of Aizu Clan, Sanshi TOKAI visited the USA, and encountered with an Irish beauty Guren and a Spanish noble lady Yuran. The story develops around the friendship among those three, who were grieving over their circumstances of being on exile, and trying to restore their rights.
With patriots and beautiful women being the main characters, the storyline develops along with the worldwide political contexts. The story line is colored by the explanately notes regarding the management and administration of Eastern Asian countries, world topography, world history and other various information.
In the latter half of Kajin no Kigu, the storyline began to reflect author's own experience of visitting Europe as a delegation member of Tateki TANI; gradually the focal point of the story shifted to the discussions on Korean Peninsula reflecting the friendship of the author with Kim Ok-gyun, or the arguments concerning the Triple Intervention after the Sino-Japanese War; in the end, the subjects of the story moved away from the reminiscencea of those beautiful female characters.