Yajima Kajiko was born in 1833 in Kumamoto. Even though she was born into a wealthy peasant family the start of her life was not quite pleasant. Her parents had already five daughters and only one son, so they had desperately hoped for a boy. When they found out that they would become parents of yet another daughter they were so disappointed that they did not even bother giving her a name. Out of pity, her sister chose the name Kazuko for her. Yajima just like her sisters did not received formal education but instead learned how to write and read by copying Kaibara Ekiken`s Onna Daigaku. Through Onna Daigaku and her mother, who taught her through personal example and instruction in household management how to be a good housewife, Yajima became familiar with the basic perceptions of ideal womanhood during the Edo Period. This picture particularly was that of an obedient woman who respects her husband, views him as her lord and never shows rude or arrogant behavior.

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In 1858, at the age of twenty-five, Yajima married Hayashi Shichoro, who was already divorced twice but through his samurai status in fact seemed to be able to provide financial stability and was known as a generous man. Because of her upbringing she followed the expectations of being an obedient wife and endured ten years of abuse by her husband, a heavy drinker. After ten years, she left him and fled to her birthplace. However, she was hardly criticized for this decision by her family since they saw her as a selfish woman, who did not know how to behave and just ran away from her duty as a wife. Around 1868, her brother, who lived in Tokyo, felt ill and needed help. For this reason, Yajima was send to Tokyo to help him with his recovery. By moving, she could leave her old life behind her once and for all. Seeing this as an opportunity to start a new life, she decided to change her name to Kajiko.  In Tokyo, her wish to be become economically independent led her to participate in a school-teaching course for one year to become a teacher. Shortly after her education, she started working at a public primary school and received a good salary. Nevertheless, her life in Tokyo was not easy, since her income was primarily consumed by her costs of living, packages for her three children who still lived in her birth-village and support of a former student. On top of that she had an affair with a married man who had not disclosed that he was married. She also had to send away her illegitimate daughter who resulted from this love affair, in order to prevent a scandal.

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During her first years in Tokyo, Yajima developed an interest in Christianity through her bad experiences in marriage, remorse of adultery, Christians in Japanese pioneering educational facilities and by reading a book in which god was referred as the creator of all. In 1878 Yajima then heard, that the American Protestant Maria True searched for a Japanese woman to work at a Presbyterian mission´s Shinei Girls’ School in Tokyo. After her application, Yajima was accepted and started to work there. With the beginning of working at a Christian school, Yajima`s belief in god strengthened and she decided to be baptized in 1879.