Hatsume no Tsubone (初芽局) is a fictitious Japanese woman from the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

. She is famous as the main character of the historical novel ''Sekigahara'' by

Ryōtarō Shiba , also known as , was a Japanese author. He is best known for his novels about historical events in Japan and on the Northeast Asian sub-continent, as well as his historical and cultural essays pertaining to Japan and its relationship to the r ...

. In the novel, she is a

kunoichi is a Japanese term for . In popular culture, it is often used for female ninja or practitioner of ninjutsu (''ninpo''). The term was largely popularized by novelist Futaro Yamada in his novel in 1964. Although kunoichi have appeared in numerou ...

(female ninja) sent by

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

to spy on his political enemy

Ishida Mitsunari was a Japanese samurai and military commander of the late Sengoku period of Japan. He is probably best remembered as the commander of the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the Azuchi–Momoyama period of the 16th century. He ...

before the

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was an important battle in Japan which occurred on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu Prefecture, ...

Narrative

Hatsume was born in Iga Village, a village of ninja. Hatsume's father was a retainer of the Takeda clan. After her father's death, Hatsume went with her sister and mother to serve the Mogami clan. Hatsume was one of the maids of Komahime, the daughter of Mogami Yoshiaki. In the 2017 film '' Sekigahara'', based on Shiba's novel, Hatsume became a female ninja in Iga after serving as a maid of

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

's mother. She then fell in love with the character of

and began working for him in the Western army. The director of the movie

Masato Harada is a Japanese film director, film critic, and occasional actor; he is best known to foreign audiences as Omura in '' The Last Samurai'' and as Mr Mita in '' Fearless''. In both his acting roles he portrayed the villain who wants Japan to western ...

wanted to create a "boy meets a girl" type of romantic encounter. Having served the Tokugawa, she walked freely in

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

to later inform Ieyasu's plans. After Hatsume betrayed Tokugawa Ieyasu and tried to kill him, Ieyasu had her condemned to death. She is said to have lodged at

Sawayama castle was a castle in the city of Hikone, Shiga, Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. This castle was an important military stronghold of Ōmi Province. The Azai clan held this castle in the Sengoku Period. Niwa Nagahide held it after the ruin of the Az ...

Omi province Omi or OMI may refer to: Organisations * Optical Mechanics, Inc., a US telescope company * Ottico Meccanica Italiana, an Italian company * Original Musical Instrument Company, manufacturers of resonator guitars * Open Music Initiative, a digital ...

and has become a mistress of Mitsunari. According to Shiba's novel, after Ishida Mitsunari's death at the Battle of Sekigahara, she disappeared from the historical records and her existence is debated.

Popular culture

* Hatsume is played by

Keiko Matsuzaka (born July 20, 1952) is a Japanese actress. Early life Born in Ōta, Tokyo, her father was a naturalized South Korean while her mother was Japanese. Career In the 1960s, Matsuzaka became a child actress. Matsuzaka grew into adulthood in fil ...

in the TV series ''Sekigahara'' (1981). * Hatsume appears in various video games, such as '' Sengoku Taisen'' (2010) and ''

Puzzle & Dragons is a puzzle video game with Role-playing video game, role-playing and strategy games, strategy elements, developed and published by GungHo Online Entertainment for the iOS, Android (operating system), Android, and Amazon Fire platforms. ''Puzz ...

'' (2012). * Hatsume (played by

Kasumi Arimura , is a Japanese actress. Her television roles have included the young Haruko Amano in the 2013 NHK asadora '' Amachan'' and the lead role in the 2017 asadora '' Hiyokko''. She has also appeared in several films, including '' Flying Colors'', for ...

) is a protagonist character in the film '' Sekigahara'' (2017).

References

{{People of the Sengoku period, state=autocollapse 16th-century Japanese people 17th-century Japanese people Japanese ninjutsu practitioners Japanese nobility Ninja 17th-century Japanese women 16th-century Japanese women Women in 16th-century warfare Women in 17th-century warfare Women of the Sengoku period Fictional people of the Sengoku period People of the Edo period Female wartime spies Fictional Japanese military personnel Fictional female ninja Fictional military spies Fictional Japanese spies Fictional nobility