Miss Soyokaze("Zephyr")

STORY/DESCRIPTIONS

Serialized on Shojo (1955/09-1956/01)　(Kobunsha)

Deep in the green mountains lies the village of Minamoto, where a young girl named Chiyoko, affectionately known as Soyokaze-san ("Miss Gentle Breeze"), lives. She becomes friends with Santa, a boy from the neighboring village of Taira, despite the two villages having been bitter rivals for over eight hundred years. However, the people around them are determined to keep them apart.

The heroine, Soyokaze-san, never confronts her enemies with force, no matter how much she is envied or hated. Instead, she remains steadfast in her principles of nonviolence and quiet defiance, ultimately inspiring even the most hardened villains to repent. There is no weapon more powerful than kindness. In that sense, her strength is truly invincible. Yet the antagonists in this story are never simply evil. Their lives are tinged with sorrow, reflecting the harsh realities of the difficult years immediately following the end of the war, when hardship drove many people down the wrong path. When Soyokaze-san says, "They're really good people at heart," she may simply be recognizing the truth within them.

Soyokaze-san is the story of a kind-hearted and pure young girl who perseveres through adversity with courage and compassion. It is a work that is sure to leave every reader with a gentler heart.

A sequel to the story, Himawari-san ("Miss Sunflower"), was later created.