These 3 women are definitely Kou Shuurei's role model in her life. I love that all of them are still feminine women but has a cool masculine side underneath them who don't give a damn how misogynist their society are.
Kou Shoukun - Shuurei's mother. Her mom don't excel in household chores, on the contrary she's comfortable in physical labor like climbing trees to fetch fruits but she's the one who taught Shuurei's good manners and ladylike demeanor. She's the reason why Shuurei is very polite and good at act of service. She also learned playing er-hu from her since she originally came from the Hyou clan. She's short-lived but Shuurei's personality really shows her mom's influence to her.
Kochou - Kochou is the most beautiful and popular courtesan in Saiunkoku Kiyou's red light district. Behind that job, she also has intelligence network and in control of Kiyou's underworld like a mafia boss. She's one of the leader of Kiyou's syndicate. She's like Shuurei's mentor figure since her mom died early so she seek to learn not only women things from from her but life as well. She gave Shuurei plenty of life and work experience(accounting, budgeting money) as she grow up. This experience helped Shuurei in her communication skills to deal with different types of people. She know she can't rely to her father and retainer for this. She's also the one who taught Shuurei that makeup is a woman's armor and Shuurei should still be a proud woman even if she entered a profession usually for men. She's definitely the source of Shuurei's confidence.
Sai Rin - The leader of merchant guild. According to her, she and her brother decided to become a merchant to avoid suppression of Sa clan since being merchants are more flexible than staying being a noble. It also has open doors to women like her. Now that she's retired from her merchant career, she decided not to raise a family first and focus on her inventor career to help disabled people like her husband Tei Yuushun. Her inventing skills is why the merchant guild sought her in the first place anyway. She seems like Shuurei's older experienced co-worker. I believe Shuurei start to take interest in romance because of her since Sai Rin mentioned she can balance her love and career life. That being in love with a man don't take away her identity and Shuurei want to be like that. She don't want to just be a good wife but a woman with her own individuality. She learned that oh she can take different path from what the society tells her too. Especially during this period of her life, everyone tell her she's at the marriagable age already and she will be a good wife. So she really need to hear that its okay to take different path.
