A MANCHU Princess whom Chinese patriots called “Mata Hari of the Far East” is now awaiting trial, accused of betraying her country as Japan’s Number One secret agent, in a prison cell in Peiping, the city where her ancestors once ruled in royal splendour. She is 39-year-old Yoshiko Kawashima, woman of many disguises who bent men to her will, sometimes … appearing in the silken gown of a Manchu nobleman or the resplendent uniform of a General.

After a career of thrilling vicissitudes she was captured through the efforts of a Chungking agent who, disguised as a servant, penetrated the fortress-like Peiping mansion where she held her revels guarded by cunningly designed traps and snares as well as by police dogs and two specially trained white geese… .

After her father…committed suicide, the ten-year-old Princess…was sent to school in Japan… . From High School where she learned “ju-jitsu” she went to the Tokyo Military Academy where she graduated at the age of 19 already well-versed in the theory of war and espionage. The turning point in her life came when she attracted the attention of the Black Dragon Society — powerful Japanese secret organisation with aims of world-wide conquest… .

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2021