This story about a Japanese mare starts with a silkworm disease in Europe. Bear with me. The mare is Azuma, born in 1870. Her mother's story offers a glimpse into the early relationship between Japan and France. Apparently, some French and Japanese users are arguing on X right now, which makes it an ironic moment to come across her again. The Shimosa Imperial Farm is a familiar name in the history of broodmares imported into Japan. I honestly don't know much about where Azuma fits into the history of Thoroughbred breeding, though. It's her cultural connections that interest me. I'd come across her name from time to time without ever paying much attention to her individually. Two hundred years ago, political power in Japan lay with the Tokugawa shoguns, who held authority over the country's regional samurai lords. Meanwhile, in the 1850s and 1860s, a silkworm disease called pébrine spread through Europe and devastated French silk farming. In 1865, the Tokugawa shogunate donated sheets bearing silkworm eggs to France. The diplomatic exchanges surrounding that gift led to arrangements for France to send the Arabian horses the shogunate had been hoping to receive. Azuma's mother, Takasago, is believed to have been one of those horses, sent by Napoleon III. I can imagine how striking they must have looked to people in Japan seeing Arabian horses for the first time. The horses were intended as a return gift to Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi, but they reached Japan in 1867. Iemochi had died the previous year. That distinction matters. Some accounts give 1863 as the arrival year, but identifying Iemochi as the intended recipient doesn't establish when the horses actually arrived. A surviving record states that they were to be received inside Edo Castle's Otemon Gate on 27 July 1867. That supports the usual arrival date of 1867. There's another story that doesn't quite add up: some writers say Azuma was already in her mother's womb when Takasago arrived in Japan. If Takasago came with the gift horses in 1867, however, Azuma's birth in 1870 rules that out. She was born roughly three years after her mother's arrival. Her sire remains unknown, and there are still plenty of gaps in her story. What is clear is her route through Japan: she was born at Kijibashi in Tokyo, kept in Shinjuku, and later moved to a farm in Chiba. It's a curious route to picture for a horse today, although it wasn't unusual at the time. She also appears in literature. In Sanrizuka no Sakura, Omachi Keigetsu describes visiting Sanrizuka to see the cherry blossoms and finding a wooden marker beside an old cherry tree. It marked “the grave of the mare Azuma.” He writes that he was told she had produced many fine horses. It sounds as though Azuma was a horse whose story visitors to the farm would hear. Her grave monument was later relocated in connection with the construction of Narita Airport. It now stands at Shibayama Nioson, also known as Kannonkyoji Temple, in Shibayama, Chiba Prefecture.