Senhime

Senhime and Honda Heihachiro, a 17th-century depiction, Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya

Senhime or Lady Sen (千姫) (May 26,^[1] 1597 – March 11,^[2] 1666) was the eldest daughter of the shogun Tokugawa Hidetada and his wife Oeyo. She was born during the Warring-States period of Japanese history. Her paternal grandfather was the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu; her maternal grandfather was Azai Nagamasa; her grandmother was Oichi, whose brother was Oda Nobunaga. When she was six or seven, her grandfather married her off to Toyotomi Hideyori, who was the son of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Biography

Early life

In 1603, when Senhime was seven years old, she married the successor to the Toyotomi clan, Toyotomi Hideyori and lived with him in Osaka Castle along with his mother, Lady Yodo, who was a sister of Oeyo. Little is known about their life together, but it didn't last long, as her grandfather, Ieyasu, besieged the castle in 1615, when she was just nineteen. When Osaka castle fell, Hideyori was forced to commit suicide along with his mother and his child by Senhime. Senhime was luckier and had been rescued from the castle before it fell.

Tadatoki's wife

In 1616, Ieyasu remarried Senhime to Honda Tadatoki, a grandson of Honda Tadakatsu, and in few years she moved to Himeji.

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 tuberculosis. His mother and Oeyo (then known as Sūgen'in) died in the same year. As was the tradition for a widow at that time, Senhime cut her hair short and became a Buddhist nun, taking the name Tenjuin (天樹院), moved back to Edo and spent the rest of her life there.

Impact on culture

Senhime's grave at Chion-in, Kyōto

The dramatic life of Senhime produced many legends. Some legends talk about her tenderness, such as how she saved a daughter between 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 jidaigeki and taiga dorama (period dramas) in Japan.

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 she actually groomed herself.

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 Kyo Machiko 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

Senhime

References

↑ April 11 in the old calendar
↑ February 6 in the old calendar

External links

Media related to Senhime at Wikimedia Commons

Authority control	VIAF: 28426666 NDL: 00624752

Prominent people of the Sengoku period

Three major daimyo	Oda Nobunaga Toyotomi Hideyoshi Tokugawa Ieyasu

Shogun	Ashikaga Yoshiharu Ashikaga Yoshiteru Ashikaga Yoshihide Ashikaga Yoshiaki Tokugawa Hidetada

Emperors	Go-Kashiwabara Go-Nara Ōgimachi Go-Yōzei

Other daimyo	Akechi Mitsuhide Amago Haruhisa Amago Yoshihisa Andō Chikasue Araki Murashige Asakura Norikage Asakura Yoshikage Asano Nagamasa Asano Yoshinaga Ashina Moritaka Azai Nagamasa Bessho Nagaharu Chōsokabe Morichika Chōsokabe Motochika Date Masamune Date Terumune Fukushima Masanori Furuta Shigekatsu Gamō Ujisato Hachisuka Koroku Hatano Hideharu Hattori Kazutada Hōjō Sōun Hōjō Ujiyasu Hōjō Ujimasa Hōjō Ujinao Hōjō Ujitsuna Honda Masanobu Honda Tadakatsu Honda Tadamasa Honda Tadatomo Hori Hidemasa Hoshina Masanao Hosokawa Fujitaka Hosokawa Tadaoki Ii Naomasa Ii Naotora Ikeda Terumasa Ikeda Tsuneoki Imagawa Ujizane Imagawa Yoshimoto Ishida Masatsugu Ishida Mitsunari Katagiri Katsumoto Katakura Kojūrō Katō Kiyomasa Katō Yoshiaki Kikkawa Hiroie Kikkawa Motoharu Kinoshita Iesada Kobayakawa Hideaki Kobayakawa Takakage Konishi Yukinaga Kōriki Kiyonaga Kuroda Kanbei Kuroda Nagamasa Kyōgoku Takatomo Kyōgoku Takatsugu Maeda Gen'i Maeda Toshiie Maeda Toshinaga Mashita Nagamori Matsudaira Hirotada Matsudaira Ietada Matsudaira Kiyoyasu Matsunaga Hisahide Miyoshi Nagayoshi Mogami Yoshiaki Mōri Hidemoto Mōri Motonari Mōri Okimoto Mōri Takamoto Mōri Terumoto Nabeshima Naoshige Nakagawa Hidenari Nakagawa Kiyohide Nanbu Nobunao Natsuka Masaie Niwa Nagahide Oda Nagamasu Oda Nobuhide Oda Nobukatsu Oda Nobutaka Oda Ujiharu Okudaira Nobumasa Ōmura Sumitada Ōtani Yoshitsugu Ōtomo Sōrin Ōuchi Yoshitaka Rokkaku Yoshikata Ryūzōji Takanobu Saitō Dōsan Saitō Tatsuoki Saitō Yoshitatsu Sakakibara Yasumasa Sakai Tadatsugu Sanada Masayuki Sanada Yukitaka Sassa Narimasa Satake Yoshinobu Satake Yoshishige Shibata Katsuie Shimazu Takahisa Shimazu Tadayoshi Shimazu Yoshihisa Shimazu Yoshihiro Tachibana Dōsetsu Takahashi Shōun Takayama Ukon Takeda Katsuyori Takeda Nobutora Takeda Nobuyoshi Takeda Shingen Takigawa Kazumasu Tōdō Takatora Toki Yorinari Torii Mototada Toyotomi Hidetsugu Tsugaru Tamenobu Tsutsui Junkei Uesugi Kenshin Uesugi Kagekatsu Uesugi Norimasa Ukita Hideie Ukita Naoie Yamauchi Kazutoyo Yūki Hideyasu

Other samurai	Akai Naomasa Akao Kiyotsuna Akashi Takenori Akechi Hidemitsu Akechi Mitsuharu Akechi Mitsutada Akechi Mitsutsuna Akechi Mitsuyoshi Akiyama Nobutomo Amakasu Kagemochi Anayama Nobukimi Anayama Nobutomo Andō Morinari Asakura Kageaki Azai Hisamasa Azai Sukemasa Baba Nobuharu Ban Naoyuki Chaya Shirōjirō Chōsokabe Nobuchika Date Shigezane Endo Naotsune Gotō Matabei Hara Masatane Hashiba Hidekatsu Hattori Masanari Hayashi Narinaga Honda Narishige Honda Shigetsugu Honjō Shigenaga Hōjō Tsunashige Hōjō Ujikuni Hōjō Ujinori Hōjō Ujiteru Hoshina Masatoshi Ichinomiya Munekore Ii Naochika Ii Naomori Ikeda Motosuke Imafuku Masakazu Inaba Yoshimichi Iriki-In Shigetomo Ishikawa Kazumasa Iio Noritsura Iio Tsuratatsu Isono Kazumasa Iwanari Tomomichi Kakizaki Kageie Kani Saizō Karasawa Genba Katakura Shigenaga Katsurayama Ujimoto Kimura Shigenari Kobayakawa Hidekane Kojima Yatarō Kōsaka Masanobu Kuki Yoshitaka Kuki Moritaka Kumabe Chikanaga Maeda Nagatane Maeda Keiji Maeda Toshimasa Makara Naotaka Matsuda Masachika Matsudaira Nobuyasu Mori Nagayoshi Mori Ranmaru Mori Yoshinari Mōri Katsunaga Mōri Motokiyo Mōri Yoshikatsu Murai Nagayori Murakami Yoshikiyo Nagano Narimasa Nagao Fujikage Nagao Masakage Nagao Tamekage Naitō Masatoyo Nakagawa Hidemasa Naoe Kagetsuna Naoe Kanetsugu Natsume Yoshinobu Niiro Tadamoto Nomi Munekatsu Obata Masamori Obata Toramori Obu Toramasa Oda Hidenobu Oda Hidetaka Oda Katsunaga Oda Nobuharu Oda Nobuhiro Oda Nobukane Oda Nobutada Oda Nobutoki Oda Nobuyuki Oniniwa Tsunamoto Oyamada Nobushige Saji Kazunari Saitō Toshimitsu Sakai Masahisa Sakuma Morimasa Sakuma Nobumori Sanada Nobutsuna Sanada Nobuyuki Sanada Yukimura Shibata Naganori Shima Sakon Shimazu Iehisa Shimazu Toshihisa Shimazu Toyohisa Sogō Kazumasa Sue Harukata Tachibana Muneshige Takeda Nobukado Takeda Nobushige Takenaka Hanbei Takenaka Shigekado Torii Suneemon Toyotomi Hidenaga Toyotomi Hideyori Tsutsui Sadatsugu Uesugi Kagetora Uesugi Tomosada Ujiie Naotomo Ujiie Yukihiro Usami Sadamitsu Yamagata Masakage Yamamoto Kansuke Yamanaka Shikanosuke Yasuke

Swordsmen	Hikita Bungoro Kamiizumi Nobutsuna Miyamoto Musashi Sasaki Kojirō Tadashima Akiyama Tsukahara Bokuden Tsutsumi Hōzan Yagyū Munenori Yagyū Munetoshi

Ninja, rogues and mercenaries	Fūma Kotarō Hattori Hanzō Ishikawa Goemon Katō Danzō Kirigakure Shikaemon Kōzuki Sasuke Mochizuki Chiyome Ogurusu Nakamura Ohama Kagetaka Saika Magoichi Suzuki Sadayu Suzuki Shigehide Suzuki Shigetomo Suzuki Magoroku Igasaki Dōshun

Monks and other religious figures	Ankokuji Ekei Honganji Kennyo Honinbo Sansa Ishin Sūden Jion Nankōbō Tenkai Rennyo Sessai Choro Shimozuma Chuko Shimozuma Rairen Shimozuma Rairyū Takuan Sōhō

Onna-bugeisha	Ikeda Sen Kaihime Komatsuhime Maeda Matsu Ōhōri Tsuruhime Tachibana Ginchiyo

Other women	Asahihime Chacha Dota Gozen Gotokuhime Hosokawa Gracia Izumo no Okuni Kitsuno Kyōgoku Maria Kyōgoku Tatsuko Nene Nōhime Oeyo Oichi Ohatsu Okaji no Kata Lady Kasuga Lady Saigō Lady Tsukiyama Senhime Sentōin Tokuhime

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