Tsuzaki Noriko (津崎矩子)
Noriko TSUZAKI (1786 - August 23, 1873) was a senior lady-in-waiting in the Konoe family and person loyal to the emperor who lived towards the end of the Edo bakufu period. As a house maid, she called herself Tazu initially, then Sugano and later, Muraoka no Tsubone. Her father was Sakyo TSUZAKI, a retainer of Daikakuji monseki (head priest of Daikaku-ji Temple), and her elder brother was Motonori TSUZAKI, Shodaibu (aristocracy lower than Kugyo) of Daikakuji monseki.
She served the Konoe family from 1798, became a senior lady-in-waiting after assuming a middle grade lady-in-waiting and called herself Muraoka no Tsubone. She earned Tadahiro KONOE's trust through her service to him. In addition, being also enthusiastic about activities for supporting Emperor, she had intimate relationships with persons royal to Emperor, such as Tatewaki AJIMA, Karo (chief retainer) of the Mito Domain, Takamori SAIGO, a retainer of the Satsuma Domain, Gessho, a priest royal to Emperor and Unpin UMEDA. In Ansei no Taigoku (suppression of extremists by the Shogunate) in 1858, she was harshly interrogated at a town magistrate's office in Kyoto, then was sent to Kanto, and was confined for 30 days. As Sonno Joi Movement (the Movement advocating reverence for Emperor and the expulsion of foreigners) was increasingly more intensified, her involvement in the movement was suspected and she was captured by the bakufu. After Meiji Restoration, she was awarded 3.6 cubic meters of crop yields as Shotenroku (premium), and lived her remaining life at Jikishi-an Temple in Kita-saga that was her hometown. She died there on August 23, 1873. When she died, she was 88 years old.
It is said that she was not on good terms with Tadahiro's legal wife, Ikuhime (who was a daughter of Narinobu SHIMAZU and an adopted daughter of Narioki SHIMAZU) and with Ikushima, Ikuhime's attendant and joro (high rank woman servant in the Imperial Court).