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In the turbulent Sengoku period, it was natural for warlords to try to have many children. "Sengoku warlords with many children, there are countless examples of Howeverprincesses with many children, even in this era, there were not many One of them was Princess Kubo, the principal wife of Date Harumune andgrandmother.
A warrior with many children and a princess with many children
Warlords of the Sengoku period generally fathered many children. Even if a child was born, there was no guarantee that they would lose their life in battle, and even if they didn't, in an era without the advanced medical care we have today, many children died young. Furthermore, having many children allowed warlords to increase their influence by having boys adopted into other families or having girls marry into other families or their retainers. For these reasons, many warlords took concubines in addition to their principal wives, in an attempt to father as many children as possible.
Almost everyone knows Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu, but they are also known for having many children. Oda Nobunaga is said to have had 11 sons and 6 daughters, even just based on the children whose existence is considered certain, and Tokugawa Ieyasu is said to have had 11 sons and 5 daughters. Furthermore, it is said that Nobunaga's father, Nobuhide, had 12 sons and 15 daughters, including Nobunaga himself. The Oda family was a family with many children for two generations. In addition, although he is less well-known as a military commander, the existence of Date Tanemune (Masamune's great-grandfather), who fathered 14 sons and 6 daughters, is quite remarkable.
By the way, there are many "warlords with many children," but the number of "princesses with many children" is much smaller. Unlike warlords who could have children with multiple concubines, there is a limit to the number of children a single woman can give birth to.
Perhaps the most famous is Matsu, the wife of Maeda Toshiie, who served Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Matsu married Toshiie at the age of 12 and gave birth to her eldest daughter at the age of 13. In her lifetime, she gave birth to a total of 11 children, 2 sons and 9 daughters.
Another person with a comparable record is Kubohime, the principal wife of Date Harumune. It is said that children together:11had
Who was Princess Kubo, who gave birth to six boys and five girls?
Kubohime was born in 1521 as the eldest daughter of Iwaki Shigetaka. She grew up to be known as the most beautiful girl in Oshu, andEkubo Gozen" (Dimple Ladywas apparently also called
Iwaki Shigetaka was the lord of Odachi Castle, located in what is now Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture. To counter the alliance of the Tamura, Soma, and Date clans, with whom he was in conflict, Shigetaka tried to marry his daughter, Kubohime, to Yuki Harutsuna of Shirakawa. However, Soma Akitane intervened, wanting to marry Kubohime to Date Harumune. Shigetaka refused this offer, but Kubohime and her entourage, who were on their way to marry into the Yuki clan, were ambushed by Date Harumune's forces and captured alive.
Harumune decided to make Kubohime his principal wife, and Kubohime, apparently fond of Harumune, repeatedly sent letters to her father, Shigetaka, asking for his approval of their marriage. Shigetaka reluctantly allowed the marriage on the condition that if a son was born between Kubohime and Harumune, that child would be adopted into the Iwaki clan.
Harumune must have been very fond of Kubohime, as, at least as far as records show, he had no concubines. Incidentally, Harumune's father, Tanemune, as mentioned earlier, had even more children than Harumune and Kubohime, but it is said that Tanemune had five concubines.
As promised to Iwaki Shigetaka when Date Harumune and Kubohime married, he became Shigetaka's adopted son and succeeded to the headship of the Iwaki clan. Records show that he worked hard to mediate internal conflicts within his birth family, the Date clan, and to facilitate peace between surrounding forces. However, he began to allow the intervention of the Satake clan of Hitachi Province (present-day Ibaraki Prefecture), his wife's family, and eventually his son Tsunetaka became the head of the clan, so it is thought that he had completely lost power by this time.
Eldest daughter: Princess Anami
She married Nikaido Moriyoshi, the eldest son of the lord of Sukagawa Castle (present-day Sukagawa City, Fukushima Prefecture). Although she was blessed with children such as Ashina Moritaka and Nikaido Yukichika, her sons died one after another following her husband Moriyoshi, and the Nikaido clan effectively became extinct. Afterwards, Sukagawa Castle was attacked by her nephew Date Masamune, but Ananhime, also known as Daijoin, who had become the lord of the castle, is known for her fierce resistance. It is said that the " festival, which still remains in Sukagawa City today, originated when the Nikaido clan's retainers and villagers, who decided to fight to defend Sukagawa Castle at this time, gathered with torches lit.Taimatsu AkashiAfter the fall of Sukagawa Castle, she spent her later years relying on her nephew Iwaki Tsunetaka and Satake Yoshinobu.
Because Terumune's older brother, Chikataka, was adopted into the Iwaki clan, Terumune inherited the Date clan. Even after Harumune retired and handed over the family headship to Terumune, he did not relinquish real power, and eventually Harumune and Terumune came into conflict, and ultimately, real power was also handed over to Terumune. greatly expanded the power of the Date clan, in 1585 he was captured as a hostage by Nihonmatsu (also known as Hatakeyama) Yoshitsugu, the lord of Nihonmatsu Castle, who was supposed to have surrendered to the Date clan, andas a result he met a tragic end. He was the father of Date Masamune.
Her real name is unknown. She married Date Sanemoto, the third son of Date Tanemune. Since Sanemoto was Harumune's younger brother, this means that Kyōseiin married her uncle. She gave birth to Date Shigezane, who is known for his excellent support of Masamune.
By the way, how should we describe the relationship between Masamune and Narizane? From the perspective of Narizane's mother, Kyōseiin, Masamune, being the son of her brother Terumune, is her nephew, making him Narizane's cousin. However, from the perspective of Narizane's father, Sanemoto, Terumune is his nephew (and brother-in-law), so Masamune is Narizane's cousin-nephew (the son of his cousin). In other words, Masamune is both Narizane's maternal cousin and paternal cousin-nephew. It's a bit complicated, so I suppose it would be better to just say cousin.
Third daughter: Princess Masuho
She married Koyanagawa Morimune, a branch of the Date clan who was based in what is now Yanagawa-cho, Date City. Her posthumous name was Tenkoin.
Third son: Rusu Masakage
He was adopted by Akimune Rusu, the lord of Iwakiri Castle (present-day Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture), and succeeded him. However, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi attacked the Hojo clan of Odawara in 1590, Masakage Rusu did not participate in the battle, and his territory was confiscated. After that, he served under Masamune Date, and after changing his surname back to Date, he distinguished himself in battle.
Fourth son: Akimitsu Ishikawa
He was adopted by Ishikawa Harumitsu, the lord of Mitsuashi Castle (present-day Ishikawa Town, Fukushima Prefecture), and succeeded him. The character "Akira" in his name was bestowed upon him by Ashikaga Yoshiaki, the last shogun of the Muromachi shogunate. He was constantly pressured by the Satake, Ashina, and Tamura clans, and as a result of falling under the influence of the Satake clan, he came into conflict with Date Masamune. Eventually, he surrendered to Masamune and was given Sukagawa Castle (the home of his sister, Ananhime). Akimitsu also had his territory confiscated because he did not participate in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's siege of Odawara, and he became a subordinate of Masamune.
Fourth daughter: Princess Hiko
She married Ashina Morioki, who was based in Aizu, but he died. She then became the principal wife of Moritaka, who was the adopted heir of Morioki's father. Moritaka was the son of Ananhime, the eldest daughter of Harumune (who has already been mentioned), and Nikaido Moriyoshi, so Hikohime remarried her nephew. However, she outlived both Moritaka and his son Kameomaru, and she herself died young. After that, the Ashina clan was attacked by Date Masamune and fell into ruin.
Fifth daughter: Hojuin
Her real name is unknown. She married Satake Yoshishige, a daimyo of Hitachi Province during the Sengoku period. The children born to her and Yoshishige were adopted into the Ashina and Iwaki clans. Her eldest son, Yoshinobu, later moved to Akita and became the first lord of the Akita Domain.
Fifth son: Kokubu Morishige
He succeeded the Kokubun clan, which had established its power in the area of present-day Sendai City. However, he was unable to suppress the opposition from within his own family regarding his cooperative stance with Date Masamune, and was nearly killed by Masamune. Although he was pardoned, in 1596 he fled to Satake Yoshinobu, the son of Hojuin (and Morishige's nephew). He followed the Satake clan when they were transferred to Akita and was given Yokote Castle (present-day Yokote City, Akita Prefecture).
Sixth son: Sugime Naomune
In 1577, after his father Harumune died in retirement at Sugime Castle (present-day Fukushima City), he became the lord of Sugime Castle and lived there with his mother, Kubohime, also known as Saishoin. He died without having any children, and the Sugime clan subsequently died out.
What happened to Princess Kubo?
Kubohime was blessed with six sons and five daughters, and none of her children died in infancy.Each of her children went on to play a role in the turbulent Sengoku period(though whether they were successful or not varied). After the death of her husband, Harumune, she lived in Sugime Castle, and in 1591, she moved to Nebaishi in Miyagi County (present-day Izumi Ward, Sendai City) with her grandson, Masamune.
He died in 1594 at the age of 74. His grave is located at Mankoji Temple in Izumi Ward, Sendai City.
Not only did her second son, Date Terumune, famous for meeting a tragic end, die before her eldest son, Iwaki Chikataka, her second daughter, Kyōseiin, her fourth daughter, Hikohime, and her sixth son, Sugime Naomune. Furthermore, many of the families her daughters married into, and the families her sons inherited, fell into ruin or were destroyed after being attacked by her grandson, Date Masamune. What thoughts must have crossed Kubohime's mind as she spent her later years?
In any case, if Princess Kubo had not been the most beautiful woman in Oshu, her marriage to Date Harumune and the birth of her children, including Terumune (and of course her grandson Masamune), might never have happened. If that had been the case, the history of the Tohoku region would have been rewritten with records that are completely different from the actual facts.
Information:Mankoji Temple
Facility name: Mankoji Temple
Address: 27 Nishikamicho, Neshiroishi, Izumi-ku, Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture
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