Database: Oichi no kata

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Oichi-no-kata, the youngest sister of Oda Nobunaga, was renowned for her beauty and strong character. At the age of 20, she was strategically married by Nobunaga to Azai Nagamasa, a powerful lord in the province of Ōmi. Unusually for the time, this politically motivated union evolved into a genuine love relationship, resulting in the birth of a son and three daughters, including Yodo gimi, who later became the concubine and later the official wife of Hideyoshi, bearing him a son. Another daughter, Gō or Ogō, married Tokugawa Hidetada, the second shōgun.

Oichi-no-kata faced significant hardships between 1570 and 1573, as her brother Nobunaga and her husband Nagamasa were embroiled in conflict. Besieged in Odani Castle and facing defeat, Azai Nagamasa was compelled to send Oichi-no-kata and their children back to Nobunaga before taking his own life.

Following this, Oichi-no-kata was remarried to Shibata Katsuie, one of Nobunaga's most powerful generals. After Nobunaga's sudden death, Hideyoshi and Katsuie quickly became rivals. Katsuie, besieged in Kitanosho Castle, attempted to send his wife and children to Hideyoshi. In a poignant echo of her previous ordeal, Oichi-no-kata allowed her children to leave but chose to remain with her second husband, ultimately deciding to perish with him in the burning castle.

Oichi-no-kata's life is marked by tragedy. Her eldest daughter, Yodo gimi, perished leading the Toyotomi clan during the fall of Osaka Castle to the Tokugawa in 1615. Her other daughter, Gō, became the mother of the third shōgun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, and the grandmother of Meishō, the only reigning empress of her time.