Her grandfather seems to have been familiar with creative writings such as haikai (seventeen-syllable verse) and keisho (the most important documents in Confucianism); it is said that Noriyoshi preferred academics to farming and, as his marriage with Ayame was not permitted, they practically eloped to Edo.
祖父は俳諧などの文芸や経書に親しんでいたようで、則義も農業より学問を好み、さらに多喜との結婚を許されなかったため駆け落ち同然に江戸に出たという。