[3] Unable to continue her education, Shimizu made use of her father’s library which contained western literary classics as well as works by Japanese intellectuals.

[5] She was one of the activists who presented a petition in 1888 hoping to reform the penal code, which among other things made adultery by women a punishable crime.

[14] Shimizu became pregnant during the course of the relationship and took a leave of absence, returning home to Kyoto, where her father was gravely ill. She cared for him and gave birth to her son.

[17] Returning that same year to Jogaku zasshi, her brother introduced her to Kozai Yoshinao, a faculty member at the Tokyo School of Agriculture and the couple began a correspondence.

[18] In spite of the era's low opinion of divorced women and single mothers,[19] and Shimizu's confession of her past,[20] the relationship flourished.

[22] She also wrote for Taiyō, a general interest magazine, in a column entitled Hanazono Zuihitsu (Scribblings from a Flower Garden) and she used her real name, Kozai Toyoko.

However her son Yoshishige recalled an exchange between Shimizu and her husband where she had talked about taking up writing again and he said to her "But the tensai (genius) is now a gusai (stupid wife)".

[25] She raised six children and cared for her elderly father and brother after she stopped writing, maintaining a home and the social responsibilities of a university president.