Toshiko Kishida

In an early biography by Sōma Kokkō, it is noted that business travels kept her father from home, strengthening the bond between mother and daughter, and thus instilling Kishida's passion to improve women's status and promote their financial and social independence from their husbands.

With the reforms that took place in Japan, Japanese women were given greater opportunities to gain new rights and freedoms.

[2] After demonstrating her calligraphic talents for Imperial Prince Arisugawanomiya Taruhito in 1877, Kashida was identified as a suitable candidate for service in the Meiji Empress' court.

She left the court in 1882 to embark on a national lecture tour, sponsored by the Jiyūtō (Liberal Party).

[4] Kishida's arrest in Ōtsu, in part ended her career focus as a public speaker, however she continued to work for the Freedom and People's Rights Movements.

Delivered on 12 October 1883,[5] The "Daughters in Boxes" speech criticized the family system in Japan and the problems it raised for young Japanese girls.

Because it valued "the teaching of the wise and holy men of the past", Kishida felt that its inclusion and focus on education empowered women.

Kishida's box "[allowed] its occupants to tread wherever their feet might lead, and stretch their arms as wide as they wished".

The absence of women's rights in Japan sparked the feminist and reformist movement of which Kishida Toshiko was a major part.

On a business related trip to Italy with her husband, she contracted tuberculosis, after which Nobuyuki resigned from his post and the couple returned to Japan.

An existing body of diaries covers periods of her life as well as published works of fiction, essays, and poetry in journals.

She is distinguished as a popular female figure in literature and activism, pushing against male privileges in education, literary and press circles.