At this time, I was asked to teach sewing to the daughters in my neighborhood. In those days, with Anjo being a thoroughly pastoral community, it was more common for daughters of the middle or higher class to leave for Nagoya or Okazaki to get an education. Many of the girls who came for private lessons at my house were there just for a supplementary course in sewing. I had always thought about establishing a girls’ finishing school in Anjo in the future and basing it on housework and sewing with additional training in culture and refinement.

One day, around that time, Mr. Hayashi, an Aichi prefectural school inspector, visited me. Mr. Hayashi, who was my senior as well as my teacher when I was in elementary school, had always guided me throughout my life. Mr. Hayashi suggested, “Why don’t we work together to found a girls’ sewing school? You know, my father works at Prefectural Middle School No. 2(present Prefectural Okazaki High School) and will soon be reaching retirement age. So, if my father can take over other subjects, you can take charge of housework and sewing and you won’t have to worry about the recruitment of the teachers.” I was delighted by the offer, and expressed my approval with the proverb, “Like coming upon a boat at a crossing”.

Shortly after I decided to start planning the details of the school’s founding by sounding out the opinions of the people around town. It seemed that many people felt it would be difficult or impossible to recruit fifty female students in Anjo Town, each with the means to pay the fifty sen tuition. “Well,” Mr. Hayashi thought, “Since he’s still working, I guess we don’t have to rush my father into retirement.”