("hime" means lady, princess, woman of noble family), speculated to have been born in April 15, 1572, was a Japanese female warrior,
onna-musha
is a term referring to female warriors in pre-modern Japan, who were members of the ''bushi'' (warrior) class. They were trained in the use of weapons to protect their household, family, and honour in times of war; many of them fought in battle ...
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 was a daughter of and granddaughter of
Akai Teruko, retainers of the
Later Hōjō clan
The was one of the most powerful samurai families in Japan in the Sengoku period and held domains primarily in the Kantō region. Their last name was simply , but were called "Later Hōjō" to differentiate between the earlier Hōjō clan who h ...
in the
Kantō region
The is a geography, geographical region of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures of Japan, prefectures: Chiba Prefecture, Chiba, Gunma Prefe ...
. She is known as the heroic woman who helped her father's
resistance at Oshi Castle against
Toyotomi Hideyoshi's army during the
siege of Odawara. After the war, she became one of the wives of Hideyoshi. She was known for her bravery and beauty. According to the chronicle of Narita clan, she was praised as "The most beautiful woman in east Japan".(東国無双の美人)
Biography

In June 1590,
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 ...
led a 20,000-man army to take Oshi Castle. Mitsunari started to build a large embankment, and completed this embankment in a week. He placed his headquarter at the top of old tomb near the castle, and ordered to pour water into the castle. In a moment Oshi castle was filled with water, and inside people had to evacuate to higher place. The moats around the castle rejected the water attack. The embarkaments built by Toyotomi's men were used against them. Kaihime broke the dikes near the castle, causing massive damage to the
Toyotomi army. Owing to lack of foresight and planning, Mitsunari troops was devastated by the water attack.
Kai was said to have volunteered to rout the remaining soldiers, donning armor and riding on horseback with 200 men. When Ishida was reinforced by
Sanada Masayuki,
Sanada Yukimura and
Asano Nagamasa, she was said to have slain the Sanada retainer, Miyage Takashige, in battle, taking his head as her trophy. Her accomplishments gave a huge boost to Narita army morale and forced Mitsunari to retreat, reporting his failure to Hideyoshi.
Mitsunari has been ridiculed among warlord, to this day, the long strait where the Oshi incident occurred is also known as the "Ishida Tsutsumi", it ruined the career of Ishida, who emerged with a sullied image and the reputation of a poor commander. It subsequently affected his ability to gain the loyalty and support of Japan's other powerful daimyo after the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. This lack of support eventually contributed to his defeat at the 1600
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, ...
.
The Oshi castle was defended with a small number of soldiers and peasants, only fell when
Hojo Ujimasa was defeated in Odawara. When Odawara Castle surrendered, Kaihime's father also chose to do the same with the hope of ending warfare.
She and her father were put under
Gamō Ujisato's care for a time. Sometime when her father was away, an internal rebellion was caused by Hamada Shugen and his younger brother (historical records suggest that the revolt was actually started by Ujinaga's brothers). During this time, Kai's mother-in-law was killed. As soon as she heard about the incident, Kai brandished a sword and sought to end the rebels. She slew the instigator and two followers, effectively repressing the bloodshed. Hideyoshi heard of her bravery and married her. As a result, her father became one of Hideyoshi's trusted generals. He was rewarded with Karasuyama Castle and 20,000 ''
koku
The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...
''.
Much later, near the end of the
siege of Osaka
A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...
's summer campaign, she is said to have fled the flames of Osaka Castle with
Toyotomi Hideyori
was the son and designated successor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the general who united all of Japan toward the end of the Sengoku period. His mother, Yodo-dono, was the niece of Oda Nobunaga.
Early life
Born in 1593, he was Hideyoshi's sec ...
's concubine (Oiwa no kata) and Hideyori's daughter (Nāhime). It is said that Kaihime personally defended Nāhime from Tokugawa troops, and three of them became nuns at
Tōkei-ji.
In popular culture
* Kaihime appears in
Koei's ''
Samurai Warriors
is the first title in the series of hack and slash video games created by Koei's Omega Force team based closely around the Sengoku ("Warring States") period of Japanese history and is a sister series of the ''Dynasty Warriors'' series, releas ...
'' video game series, where her weapon is a sword-whip. She first appears in ''
Samurai Warriors 3'' and reappears in ''
Samurai Warriors 4'', ''
Warriors Orochi 3'', and ''
Warriors Orochi 4''.
** Her ''Samurai Warriors 3'' incarnation is also a playable character in ''
Pokémon Conquest'', in which her partner
Pokémon
is a Japanese media franchise consisting of List of Pokémon video games, video games, Pokémon (TV series), animated series and List of Pokémon films, films, Pokémon Trading Card Game, a trading card game, and other related media. The fran ...
are
Darumaka and its evolution
Darmanitan.
* She appears in Magitech Corporation's video game ''
Takeda 3'' as a prominent character under the name Narita Kaihime.
* She is an obtainable unit in the mobile game ''
The Battle Cats''.
* She also appears as a character in
Irem
is a Japanese video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher and manufacturer of pachinkos. The company has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda, Tokyo.
The full name of the company that uses the brand is Irem Software Enginee ...
's trading card video game ''Sengoku Efuda-yugi: Hotogisu Ran''.
* Professional wrestler
Hiroyo Matsumoto wrestled as Kaihime for the
Dramatic Dream Team
is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Its name is an initialism of Dramatic Dream Team, which was the promotion's original name from 1997 to 2004. Founded in March 1997 by Shintaro Muto, the promotion was even ...
promotion on February 10, 2013.
* Portrayed by ''
Nana Eikura'' in the 2012 movie ''
The Floating Castle''.
See also
*
Onna-musha
is a term referring to female warriors in pre-modern Japan, who were members of the ''bushi'' (warrior) class. They were trained in the use of weapons to protect their household, family, and honour in times of war; many of them fought in battle ...
– Female samurai warriors
Sources
*''Himegimi-tachi no Dai Sengoku Emaki'' (姫君たちの大戦国絵巻);
*''Narita-ki'' (成田記)、小沼十五郎保道著、大澤俊吉訳・解説、歴史図書社、1980年
References
{{People of the Sengoku period, state=autocollapse
16th-century Japanese people
Women of the Sengoku period
Women in 16th-century warfare
1570s births
Year of death unknown
16th-century Japanese women