Yuki Ikeda (1912-1973), also known as Sachiko Ikeda,[1] was a Japanese dissident and wife ofKaji Wataru.[2]
While still in college, Yuki was active inToyohiko Kagawa's Christian reform movements. She was imprisoned several times for heranti-Emperor activities. Reduced to an invalid after each imprisonment. Once her inquisitors broke all the fingers of both her hands.[3]
She continued her underground organization of Japanese women workers until she fled to China.[4] Earning a meager living working as a ballroom dancer in Shanghai amidst poor health.[5] While in the city, she met and married her husband. A fellow Japanese dissident namedKaji Wataru.[6]
Following theoutbreak of war in 1937, Yuki and her husband fled to the French Concession. Closely monitored by the Japanese authorities. Trapped in occupied Shanghai, the two had planned to commit suicide if it wasn't for the intervention ofRewi Alley, who provided them with the proper papers to enterHong Kong.[7] They were given shelter by the Chinese artist Huang Xinbo while living there.[8]
Yuki and her husband would stay in Hong Kong for four months before being smuggled intoWuhan in 1938.[9] Where she was appointed as a design consultant for the Political Department of the Nationalist Government. After the "Japanese People's Anti-war Alliance" was established by her husband, Kaji, in 1938, Yuki travelled toGuilin to participate in the League's work. Conducting anti-war propaganda among Japanese prisoners of war.[10] The League would be disbanded following the breakdown of theUnited Front.[11]
After the war, her and her husband were warmly received byMao Zedong andZhou Enlai in Chongqing and received high praise. It was reported that Mao Zedong thanked them for their "special contribution to the Chinese people's sacred war of resistance".[12][13]
She later returned to Japan, becoming a founding member of the Japan-China Friendship Association and promoting Sino-Japanese trade as a representative of the Wushan Trading Company. During this time, she amassed a considerable collection of Chinese calligraphy and paintings. Which were repatriated to China and put up for auction in 2019.[14]