Katakura Kita (片倉喜多, 1538 - July, 1610) was a Japanese noble lady, aristocrat and retainer of the

Date clan The is a Japanese samurai kin group.Edmond Papinot, Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Date", ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 5 retrieved 2013-5-5. History The Date fam ...

during 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 the daughter of

Oniniwa Yoshinao also known as Oniniwa Sagetsusai was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period who served Date clan. He was deeply trusted by Date Terumune and Date Masamune. Yoshinao at the age of 73, bravely fought to let Masamune go during the Battle of Hit ...

and Lady Naoko. She was the half-sister of

Katakura Kagetsuna was a Japanese samurai of the Katakura clan during the late Sengoku period. Also known by his court title, ''Bichū no Kami'' (備中守), or more commonly, as Katakura Kojūrō. He was retainer of the Date clan of Sendai. Together with Oniniwa ...

and

Oniniwa Tsunamoto (1549 – July 13, 1640) was a Japanese samurai of the late Sengoku period through early Edo period. He was retainer of the Date clan of Sendai. Together with Katakura Kagetsuna and Date Shigezane, Tsunamoto was known as one of the ''"Three ...

. Katakura Kita had knowledge in several areas, she was strategic and had great fighting skills. She was the

wet nurse A wet nurse is a woman who breastfeeding, breastfeeds and cares for another's child. Wet nurses are employed if the mother dies, if she is unable to nurse the child herself sufficiently or chooses not to do so. Wet-nursed children may be known a ...

Date Masamune was a Japanese ''daimyō'' during the Azuchi–Momoyama period through the early Edo period. Heir to a long line of powerful feudal lords in the Tōhoku region, he went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai. An outstanding tactician, he w ...

and mentor of Kagetsuna and Masamune. Kita is best known for became a valued mentor and

political advisor Political consulting is a form of consulting that consists primarily of advising and assisting political campaigns. Although the most important role of political consultants is arguably the development and production of mass media (largely televisi ...

, choosing to dedicate herself to the affairs of Date clan and was actively involved in Masamune's political and strategic decisions.

Biography

Katakura Kita came from the Oniniwa and

Katakura clan The is a Japanese family which claims its descent from Fujiwara no Toshihito by way of Katō Kagekado. The family entered Mutsu Province in the 14th century as subordinates of the Ōsaki clan. However, in 1532, they became retainers of the Date ...

, who served local lord

Date Terumune was a Japanese samurai clan leader of the Sengoku period. Turnbull, Stephen. (2012) ''Samurai Commanders: 1577–1638,'' Vol, 2, p. 52 He had close relationship with Oda Nobunaga, one of the leading figures of the period. Terumune was the fathe ...

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, , or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains ...

(northern Japan). When Naoko gave birth to her, her father's concubine gave birth to a boy (Oniniwa Tsunamoto). The concubine becomes the official wife of Oniniwa Yoshinao and Naoko was divorced. After that, Naoko took Kita again with Katakura Kagenaga, and in 1557 she gave birth to Kita's half-brother, Katakura Kagetsuna. Because of the turbulent circumstances of Kita's life, she was very interested in, and had an aptitude for, both martial arts and military skills. She became the teacher of her younger half-brother, Katakura Kagetsuna, who would succeed the leadership of the Katakura clan later. After the birth of

, Date Terumune offered to Kita to be the wet nurse and mentor of Masamune.

Yoshihime Yoshihime (義姫, 1548 – August 13, 1623) was a Japanese noble lady and aristocrat from the Sengoku period. She was a daughter of Mogami Yoshimori from the Mogami clan, she married Date Terumune and gave birth to Date Masamune. Yoshihime becam ...

(Masamune's biological mother) did not want to take care of her own son, it is said that she tried to assassinate him for the political interests of her family, the

Mogami clan were Japanese ''daimyōs'', and were a branch of the Ashikaga family. In the Sengoku period, they were the Sengoku ''daimyōs'' who ruled Dewa Province which is now Yamagata Prefecture and part of Akita Prefecture. The Mogami clan is derived ...

. However, since Kita was single, she was really a caretaker for children, she had a strong influence on personality formation and Masamune's success Katakura Kita was present in many of the political matters of the clan Katakura and

. She who was the main supporter for Date Masamune succeed the clan's leadership. Yoshihime was against Masamune's succession and gave preference to her other son. This crisis in the Date family ended with Yoshihime's exile and the death of Masamune's brother. In 1584, Masamune succeeded the leadership of the Date clan. When

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: ...

ordered all his vassals to send their families to the

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

palace as hostages, Kita went with

Megohime was a Japanese noble lady and aristocrat from the Azuchi–Momoyama period to the early Edo period. She is the daughter and only child of Tamura Kiyoaki,Ōshima Kōichi, ''Ichinoseki Domain (Clan Stories Series)'', , page 12 the lord of Miharu ...

(Masamune's wife). Hideyoshi was impressed by Kita's intelligence and cunning. He called Kita as "Shonagon" (title that refers to one of the emperor's high councilors). In 1590s, after Japan was unified under the name of the

Toyotomi clan The was a Japanese clan that ruled over the Japanese before the Edo period. Unity and conflict The most influential figure within the Toyotomi was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the three "unifiers of Japan". Oda Nobunaga was another primary ...

, Kita acted unilaterally on issues that affected the future of the Date family. Hideyoshi had a bad relation to the Date clan since the Siege of Odawara, Hideyoshi asked Masamune to take his concubine for him, but Masamune refused. Kita worried about Hideyoshi's wrath with Masamune, she convinced the concubine and took her to Hideyoshi. One source reports that, when an angry Masamune confronted Kita, she calmly replied:

"I'll gladly die for being so presumptuous as to have done this. Take my head if it will satisfy you."

Date Masamune sent her north to his domain, placing her under exile. Though she wasn't pardoned for several years, Masamune didn't undo Kita's actions. She lived with Katakura Kagetsuna in near

Shiroishi Castle is a flatland-style Japanese castle in what is now the city of Shiroishi, Miyagi. During the Edo period, it was the castle of the Katakura clan, who were hereditary retainers of the Date clan of Sendai Domain. During the Boshin War, it was als ...

. She continued to be active in the policies of the Katakura clan, her expertise in engineering helped reinforce the castle's defenses. Kita have suggested that the Katakura clan use a particularly valuable temple bells that her family possessed as a motif for its battle flag. The black bell flag remained a Katakura banner through 1871, and it remains the Shiroishi City emblem today. Katakura Kita died in 1610, at age 72, in Shiroishi Castle. After a few decades,

Date Tadamune was an early Edo period Japanese samurai, and the second ''daimyō'' of the 625,000 ''koku'' Sendai Domain in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. He was the half-brother of Date Hidemune of Uwajima Domain. Biography Tadamune was born as Tora ...

(Masamune's son) summoned a distant relative of Kita to take over the leadership of the Katakura clan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Katakura, Kita Women of the Sengoku period 1538 births 1610 deaths Samurai Kita 16th-century Japanese nobility Women in 16th-century warfare 16th-century Japanese women 17th-century Japanese women Women in 17th-century warfare Date retainers