A portrait is difficult to draw 
because a small difference influences model’s expression.

Therefore, the finished portrait gives me
a strong sense of achievement.

     Neesima was interested in Western culture and Christianity in his youth. He wanted to study abroad but Japan was in national isolation at that time. He left Japan at the age of 21, breaking a national prohibition. He transferred at Shanghai to the Wild Rover, and then arrived at Boston.
     In the United States, A. Hardy, the owner of the Wild Rover, and his wife helped him study at Phillips Academy, Amherst College and Andover Seminary. While he was at Andover Seminary, he was officially admitted as an oversea student by Arinori Mori, the Japanese ambassador. He cooperated with Iwakura Mission and traveled to Europe too.
     After returning to Japan, he established Doshisha Eigakko (Academy), the predecessor of the present Doshisha University, in 1875. At first, the academy had just two teachers and eight students.
     When he was a principal of the academy, a trouble occurred between students and teachers. He said the trouble was his responsibility, and he disciplined himself hitting his arm with a stick. This is famous as "self-reproaching stick" incident. It showed he respected his students before everything else.

     Yae Neesima, née Yamamoto, was Neesima’s wife. She was called "Nue," "a bad wife," and "a handsome woman."
     Nue is a Japanese chimera which has a head of monkey, a body of raccoon dog, legs of tiger and whose tail is a snake. Because she wore kimono with a Western hat and Western shoes, she was deprecated as Nue by Soho Tokutomi, Neesima's student.
     People often said Yae is "a bad wife." It was because she called her husband by first name without any honorific title and she got into the rickshaw before he did, in spite of male-dominated society.
     However, Neesima was proud of her and he loved her. "She is not handsome at all. She is a person who does handsome". He described her like this in the letter for his host family in the United States.
     Her life will be dramatized as Taiga drama in 2013. Taiga drama is historical drama series broadcasted by Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK). The title of drama is “Yae no sakura” and Haruka Ayase will play the role of Yae.