Kawashima, Yoshiko (1906–1947)
Kawashima, Yoshiko (1906–1947)
Chinese-born Japanese spy. Name variations: Eastern Jewel. Born Aisingoro Xianwangyu (Manchu name) in 1906; executed in China in Oct 22, 1947; dau. of Prince Su of Mongolia and his 2nd wife, a concubine; given at birth to Naniwa Kawashima, Prince Su's Japanese military advisor, who named her Yoshiko Kawashima and raised her as his own daughter; educated in Tokyo; m. Kanjurjab (son of a Mongol prince), in 1927 (separated within 4 months).
Took to wearing men's clothing, particularly uniforms with riding breeches and shiny black boots; among a string of lovers, had a liaison with Major Ryukichi Tanaka, head of the Japanese Intelligence Service in Shanghai; when Tanaka was ordered to create disturbances in Shanghai to divert attention from the Japanese takeover of Manchuria (1931), was instructed to hire dozens of Chinese thugs to break into homes and businesses and create general mayhem; was also dispatched to Tientsin, where she successfully "persuaded" the deposed boy emperor Henry Puyi to move to Mukden, where he served as a puppet ruler of the Japanese militarists; was brought before a Chinese tribunal and condemned to death as a traitor (1947).
See also Women in World History.