Senhime
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Senhime (千姫) (May 26,
Biography
Early life
She was born in 1597 as the eldest daughter of the then-
In 1603, when Senhime was seven years old, she married the successor to the Toyotomi clan,
Tadatoki's wife
In 1616, Ieyasu remarried Senhime to Honda Tadatoki, a grandson of Honda Tadakatsu, and in few years she moved to Himeji. Honda Tadatoki's mother, Kumahime, was the daughter of Matsudaira Nobuyasu and hence a granddaughter of Ieyasu.
A famous legend tells that a certain Sakazaki Naomori planned to capture Senhime just before her remarriage, wishing to marry her himself. However his plan was revealed and Naomori was either killed or forced to commit suicide. It was long believed that Naomori was the one who saved Senhime out from the Osaka Castle, believing the words of Tokugawa Ieyasu that he would give Senhime to whoever rescued her, though recently this has been doubted. Stories tell that Senhime refused to marry Naomori, whose face was ill-favored because of the burn he got when he saved her, and rather preferred handsome Tadatoki.
Senhime and Tadatoki had an amicable marriage and had two children together: a daughter, Katsuhime (勝姫), and a son, Kōchiyo (幸千代). However tragedy struck when her son died at the age of three, and five years later in 1626, her husband died of
Family
- Father: Tokugawa Hidetada (1581-1632)
- Mother: Oeyo (1573-1626)
- Husbands:
- Toyotomi Hideyori (1593-1615)
- Honda Tadatoki (1596-1626)
- Children:
- Katsuhime (b. 1618) married Ikeda Mitsumasa
- Kochiyo (1619–1621)
Impact on culture
The dramatic life of Senhime produced many legends. Some legends talk about her tenderness, such as how she saved a daughter of her husband Hideyori and another wife of him at the Siege of Osaka. Some other tell her lecherousness during her later days at Edo. Today, Senhime figures prominently in
Senhime is also a beloved figure in Himeji. Shortly after her marriage to Honda Tadatoki, they moved to Himeji Castle, a present-day world heritage site whose west wing was mostly constructed at that time. Most of the west wing is lost now, but a tower called keshō yagura (Dressing Tower) remains, where it is believed that her dressing chambers were.
Senhime appeared in the concluding storyline of the semi-fictional video game Kessen. In the final cutscene she laments to Ieyasu about the tragedy of war and the death of Hideyori, Ieyasu comforts her and replies that the people of Japan will once again live in peace and praises Hideyori for his duty as a samurai by committing seppuku.
Senhime also appeared in a 1962 movie Senhime to Hideyori, starring Hibari Misora as Senhime. The film begins from the siege and fall of Osaka castle and tells the fictionalized story of Senhime's later years after the death of Hideyori till her final confinement to the Buddhist temple. A more historical film about Senhime and the siege of Osaka Castle appeared in the mid-1950s entitled Princess Senhime, with Machiko Kyō in the title role.
Senhime appears in the 1955 historical novel Yodo-dono nikki by Yasushi Inoue.
Literature
- Motoo, Hinago (1986). Japanese Castles. Tokyo: Kodansha. pp. 111–114. ISBN 0-87011-766-1.
Family tree
Tokugawa Ieyasu | Azai Nagamasa | Oichi | Oda Nobunaga | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
One | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tokugawa Iemitsu | Senhime | Toyotomi Hideyori | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References
- ^ April 11 in the old calendar
- ^ February 6 in the old calendar
- ^ "千姫と秀頼の新婚生活は、はじめはママゴトのようなものだったが、年月が経つにつれ、仲睦まじいものになっていったという。". PRESIDENT Online. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
External links
Media related to Senhime at Wikimedia Commons