Senhime or Lady Sen was the eldest daughter of the shogun

Shogun

A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...

 Tokugawa Hidetada

Tokugawa Hidetada

was the second shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate.-Early life :...

 and his wife Oeyo

Oeyo

, , or : 1573 – September 15, 1626) was a prominently-placed female figure in late-Sengoku period. She married three times, first to Saji Kazunari, then to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's nephew Toyotomi Hidekatsu. Her third and last husband Tokugawa Hidetada became the second Tokugawa shogun...

. She was born during the warring-states period

Sengoku period

The or Warring States period in Japanese history was a time of social upheaval, political intrigue, and nearly constant military conflict that lasted roughly from the middle of the 15th century to the beginning of the 17th century. The name "Sengoku" was adopted by Japanese historians in reference...

 of Japanese history

History of Japan

The history of Japan encompasses the history of the islands of Japan and the Japanese people, spanning the ancient history of the region to the modern history of Japan as a nation state. Following the last ice age, around 12,000 BC, the rich ecosystem of the Japanese Archipelago fostered human...

. Her paternal grandfather was the founder of the Tokugawa

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

 shogunate Tokugawa Ieyasu

Tokugawa Ieyasu

 was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara  in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...

; her maternal grandfather was Azai Nagamasa

Azai Nagamasa

was a Daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japan. His clan, the Azai, were located in northern Ōmi Province, east of Lake Biwa. He was both the brother-in-law of Oda Nobunaga, starting in 1564, and one of Nobunaga's enemies from 1570-1573. Nagamasa and his clan were utterly destroyed by Oda...

; her grandmother was Oichi

Oichi

or a female historical figure in the late Sengoku period. She is known primarily as the mother of three daughters who married well -- Yodo-dono, Ohatsu and Oeyo....

, whose brother was Oda Nobunaga

Oda Nobunaga

was the initiator of the unification of Japan under the shogunate in the late 16th century, which ruled Japan until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was also a major daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. His opus was continued, completed and finalized by his successors Toyotomi...

.

Early life

In 1603, when Senhime was seven years old, she married the successor to the Toyotomi clan, Toyotomi Hideyori

Toyotomi Hideyori

was the son and designated successor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the general who first united all of Japan. His mother, Yodo-dono, was the niece of Oda Nobunaga....

 and lived with him in Osaka Castle

Osaka Castle

is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan.Originally called Ozakajō, it is one of Japan's most famous castles, and played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi-Momoyama period.-Description:...

 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

Siege of Osaka

The was a series of battles undertaken by the Tokugawa shogunate against the Toyotomi clan, and ending in that clan's destruction. Divided into two stages , and lasting from 1614 to 1615, the siege put an end to the last major armed opposition to the shogunate's establishment...

 in 1615, when she was just nineteen. When Osaka castle fell, Hideyori was forced to commit suicide along with his mother. Senhime was luckier and had been rescued from the castle before it fell.

Tadatoki's wife

In 1616, Ieyasu remarried Senhime to Honda Tadatoki

Honda Tadatoki

was a Japanese daimyo of the early Edo period.Tadatoki was born as the eldest son of Honda Tadamasa. His mother Kumahime was a granddaughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu and Oda Nobunaga....

, a grandson of Honda Tadakatsu

Honda Tadakatsu

, also called Honda Heihachirō , was a Japanese general of the late Sengoku through early Edo period, who served Tokugawa Ieyasu. Honda Tadakatsu was one of the Tokugawa Four Heavenly Kings along with Ii Naomasa, Sakakibara Yasumasa and Sakai Tadatsugu. - Biography :A native of Mikawa Province in...

, and in few years she moved to Himeji.

A famous legend tells that a certain Sakazaki Naomori

Sakazaki Naomori

' was a Japanese daimyo of the early Edo period, who served as lord of the Tsuwano Domain.Originally from Joseon, Sakazaki helped Japanese army during the Japanese invasions of Korea. He became a confidant of Ukita Hideie...

 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 and a son, Kōchiyo. However tragedy struck when Kōchiyo died at the age of three, and five years later in 1626, Tadatoki died of tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

. 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 , moved back to Edo

Edo

, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...

 and spent the long years of the rest of her life there.

Impact on Culture

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

Jidaigeki

is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. The name means "period drama" and is usually the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—Portrait of Hell, for example, is set during the late Heian period—and the early Meiji era is also a popular...

 and taiga dorama in Japan.

Senhime is also a beloved figure in Himeji. Little after her marriage to Honda Tadatoki, they moved to Himeji Castle

Himeji Castle

When the han feudal system was abolished in 1871, Himeji Castle was put up for auction. The castle was purchased by a Himeji resident for 23 Japanese yen...

, a present-day world heritage, and its west wing was mostly constructed at this 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 dressed herself.

Senhime appeared in the semi-fictional video game Kessen

Kessen

is a PlayStation 2 launch title produced by Koei and published by Electronic Arts. This was the first DVD-ROM format game for the PS2. It was initially the only real-time wargame game available for the PlayStation 2....

 concluding the storyline of 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

Seppuku

is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai bushido honor code, seppuku was either used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies , or as a form of capital punishment...

.

Senhime also appeared in a 1962 Japanese movie Sen-hime to Hideyori, starring Hibari Misora

Hibari Misora

was an award-winning Japanese enka singer and actress. and was the first woman in Japan to receive the People's Honour Award, which was awarded posthumously for her notable contributions to the music industry. Misora recorded 1,200 songs, and sold 68 million records. After she died, consumer demand...

 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.

Senhime appears in the 1955 historical novel Yodo dono nikki by Yasushi Inoue

Yasushi Inoue

Yasushi Inoue was a Japanese writer whose range of genres included poetry, essays, short fiction, and novels...

.