WELCOME TO
HEART OF
JAPAN AICHI!
HEROINES OF THE
WARRING STATES PERIOD
O-NE
(1546-1624)
Wife and trusted confidante of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, O-Ne greatly influenced Hideyoshi’s successes. She was highly respected by Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu, and became a maternal figure to many of Hideyoshi’s men, particularly Kato Kiyomasa and Fukushima Masanori.
O-ICHI
(1547-1583)
O-Ichi was the younger sister of the warlord Oda Nobunaga, and through political arrangements, the wife of rival warlord Azai Nagamasa. Following the fall of the Azai clan, O-Ichi married her brother’s trusted retainer, Shibata Katsuie. After Nobunaga’s death, Katsuie was defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, so he and O-Ichi killed themselves in their castle keep. O-Ichi’s eldest daughter became the concubine of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Another daughter married into the Tokugawa clan.
CHIYO
(1557-1617)
The wise wife of the Daimyo, Yamauchi Kazutoyo. Chiyo is said to have been the brains behind her husband’s successes, starting with secretly saving enough money with which to buy him a magnificent horse, the quality of which caught the eye of Oda Nobunaga, bringing its rider to the great warlord’s attention.
ODAI
(1528-1602)
The mother of Tokugawa Ieyasu, Odai married the warlord Matsudaira Hirotada, and gave birth to the future shogun, Ieyasu at Okazaki Castle. However, her brother was suspected of colluding with the enemy Oda clan, forcing the couple to send their then 3-year-old son, Ieyasu, as a hostage to their ally, the powerful Imagawa clan in return for support. The mother and child would not be reunited until 16 years later.
MATSU
(1547-1617)
The wife of Maeda Toshiie, Matsu’s keen intelligence was instrumental in furthering Toshiie’s political career. After Toshiie’s death in 1599, and the Battle of Sekigahara the following year, the Maeda clan were accused of treason against the Tokugawa, and so Matsu offered herself as a hostage to ensure both peace and the survival of the Maeda.
NO-HIME
(?)
Said to have been highly intelligent with beauty to match, No-hime was the daughter of Saito Dosan, warlord of Mino, and the official wife of Oda Nobunaga. No-hime’s marriage to Nobunaga was a political move to ensure peace between the Saito and Oda clans. Very few historical records or details are known about No-hime, and much of her life remains a mystery.
KITSUNO
(c. 1538-1566)
Born to the influential Ikoma clan of Ko-ori Castle in western Aichi Prefecture, Kitsuno was the concubine of Oda Nobunaga, despite him being married when he met her. Kitsuno was the mother of his eldest son and heir, Nobutada, his second son, Nobukatsu and daughter, Toku-hime. When Kitsuno passed away aged just 29, the usually austere Nobunaga is said to have shed tears in mourning her death.
ASAHI-HIME
(1543-1590)
Asahi-hime was the younger sister of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Following the Battle of Komaki Nagakute (1584) between the Toyotomi and Tokugawa forces, Hideyoshi suggested his 44-year-old sister divorce to allow a political marriage between her and rival, Tokugawa Ieyasu, as a peace offering, and to keep an eye on the Tokugawa.
Writer Chris Glenn
Chris Glenn is a bilingual radio DJ, TV presenter, producer, narrator, MC, copywriter, author and columnist, and Japanese historian, specializing in samurai castles, battles, armor and weapons. He is an inbound tourism advisor, and is often called upon as a lecturer and speaker on Japanese history and topics. He was born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1968, and has spent over half his life in Japan, most of that time in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture. Chris is dedicated to promoting and preserving Japans’ long history, deep culture, traditions, arts and crafts.
