Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980, 1922-07-01
JAP PANESE Count
CAPTURES SISTER,;
DELAYS WEDDING

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Toxic, July 1.-Aki-ko Yanagi-
wara, Japan's beautiful poetess
and former Queen of Chikushi,"
has been Kidnapped and imprison
ed in the Toxic home Of her bro
ther, Count Yanagiwara, who de-
nies her the right to marry her
youthful lover, Ryusuke Miyazaki
whose entrance into the life of
the woman kept her from commit
ting suicide and caused her to
leave her husband, Denemon Ito,
Kyushu, coal king and one of
Japan's wealthiest men.
That is the latest episode in
the thrilling love drama which
has held the people of Japan en-
raptured since last October.
Aki-ko, which means Miss
White Lotus, is thirty-four years
old. She was born OF a noble Jap
anese family and educated in a
mission school here. AS a girl she
developed an art in writing Jap
anese poetry, and today she Is
considered the country's leading
poetess.
When she was only sixteen
years old the Yanagiwara family
in accordance with the customs
of Japan decided that Aki-ko was
old enough to be married. Much
against her wishes she was taken
out of school after a union had
been arranged through the Gus
tomary go-between with Viscount
Kita-koji, and soon son was
born to them. The marriage was
failure, however, and after two
years Aki-ko secured the consent
of her family and left him.
Returns to School
She returned to school and de-
voted all Of her time to her poetry
publishing books which rapidly
became very popular and made her
known throughout the empire.
Then she decided to become
singer, but the family had other
plans. A marriage had at last been
arranged with Ito, whose exten-
sive coal holdings in the southern
island made him one of the coun-
try's most wealthy men. They
|
being then sixty-two years old.
He gave his wife $4,000 as
betrothal present and erected
home in his province Of Chikushi
Palace.
Aki-ko, whose beauty made her
even more popular with the people
of her husbands country than
did her poetry, became known as
the Queen of Chlkushi."
Although surrounded with
wealth and luxury, Aki-ko was as
unhappy with her second mar
riage as with the first. Soon after
the wedding Ito is said to have
begun a life of dissipation, the
climax being reached little over
year ago when he is alleged to
have bought from house Of ques-
tionable reputation a geisha for
$4,000 and carried her into his
own home to live.
Then the fairy prince" of
whom she had dreamed came into
the life Of Aki-ko. He was Miyaz-
aki, twenty-four years old, then
student at Toxic Imperial Univer-
slty. His trip to Kyushu was to
confer with Mrs. Ito about plans
for dramatizfng one Of her poems
for production at his school. 1t
was love at first sight, and the
next few months saw the affair
develop rapidly.
Flees From Husband
Then last October the coal king
brought his wife with him on
business trip to the capital. He@
was suddenly called home, but
Mrs. Ito remained here to read
some OF her poems before the To-
kio Women's club. She bid her
husband good-by at the station
and then promptly disappeared.
Several days later she was
found at the home of a friend of
her youthful lover. Meanwhile Ito
had arrived home to find mes
sage from his wife, declaring that
at last she had found the love
she thought did not exist and that
she would never return to him.
1t was accompanied by all the
jewels and choice possessions he
had ever given her. Following
Ito's consent the families aTrang-