Motochika fujin (wife of Motochika) (元親夫人)
Motochika fujin (year of birth unknown - September 8, 1583) was a woman during the Sengoku Period (Period of the Warring States). She was the lawful wife of Motochika CHOSOKABE, Sengoku daimyo (Japanese territorial lord in the Sengoku period) in Tosa Province. Her name is not known.
In the novel, Natsukusa no fu, by Ryotaro SHIBA, she appears by the name of 'Nana.'
Her father was Mitsumasa ISHIGAI, and her mother was the daughter of Chikakazu NINAGAWA. She was the younger half-sister of Yoritatsu ISHIGAI and Toshimitsu SAITO in the Mino Saito clan.
Biography
In 1563, when Motochika was 25, she married and went to Tosa.
At the time of the wedding, it is said that Motochika went to Kyoto (there is an article in the 'Tokitsugu Kyoki' by Tokitsugu YAMASHINA, stating that people of the Chosokabe clan went to Kyoto with an introduction from Yoritatsu ISHIGAI.)
After that, she gave birth to Nobuchika CHOSOKABE, Chikakazu KAGAWA, Chikatada TUNO, Morichika CHOSOKABE, lawful wife of Tadamasa ICHIJO, lawful wife of Chikazane KIRA, lawful wife of Chikanao SATAKE, and lawful wife of Juzaemon YOSHIMATSU.
Right before Motochika CHOSOKABE completed the unification of the Shikoku region after the Honnoji Incident, she passed away. Location of her tomb is not known.
Connection between Motochika fujin and the central government
In Natsukusa no fu, it is said that Motochika got married to Nana, a beautiful younger sister of Toshimitu SAITO, through a connection with Mitsuhide AKECHI, but that is not true. When the wedding took place in 1563, Mino Province was still a territory of Tatsuoki SAITO, and Mitsuhide was still wandering throughout other provinces as a ronin(masterless samurai). After that in 1575, Motochika, completing the unification of Tosa after the Battle of Shimanto-gawa River, through the connection with Hidemitsu, who became a senior vassal of Nobunaga, was given a letter of Nobu (信) as eboshioya (a person who put on an eboshi in the case of genpuku ceremony) of Yasaburo (later Nobuchika), legitimate son of Nobunaga, and also was given a permission to freely conquer other provinces in Shikoku.
After that, however, Nobunaga destroyed his strong rivals, Ishiyama Hongan-ji Temple and Katsuyori TAKEDA. When Nobunaga's enemies were narrowed down to Terumoto MORI, Kagekatsu UESUGI, and others, he tore up the permission for Motochika to freely conquer other provinces in Shikoku, and ordered Motochika to withdraw his troops, giving Motochika the right to rule Tosa Province and the 2 counties of Awa. When Motochika refused to follow the order, Nobunaga planned to send a punitive expeditionary force to Shikoku with his third son, Nobutaka ODA, as the supreme commander. However, the Honnoji Incident by Mitsuhide AKECHI broke out, and Motochika escaped from the crisis.
There is a theory stating that the cause of the Honnoji Incident was a direct request from Toshimitsu SAITO to Mitsuhide to save his younger sister.