Sengoku UkiyoSengoku Ukiyo
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First Hosokawa Gracia
Senhime
Princess of Toyotomi and Tokugawa

Senhime

Women of the Sengoku Era
Senhime
Life 1597–1666 (aged 70)
Title Princess of Toyotomi and Tokugawa
Faction Women of the Sengoku Era
Places associated with this character Osaka (1603–1615), Edo (1616–1666)
Voice and speech Palace-raised, she learns Kyoto honorifics in a childlike voice, frightened yet always polite.
Family Eldest daughter of Hidetada and Oeyo. Married Hideyori at seven; after Osaka fell, she remarried Honda Tadatoki and became Tenshūin.
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Sent to Osaka at seven as a pledge of alliance, she was rescued from the flames at nineteen. Carry messages in the winter siege and copy sutras with her through mourning, and she may trust you with her true feelings.

Life

Hideyori’s Principal Wife

Ambition

Bridge peace between Tokugawa and Toyotomi and protect her beloved husband Hideyori.

Though sent to Osaka by her grandfather Ieyasu and father Hidetada, she grew to love Hideyori. She hopes to prevent war between her birth family and her husband’s house.

If Osaka Castle falls, she will watch her beloved husband and his entire line disappear.

Obstacles of the era
  • The Tokugawa army’s relentless assault and the burning of Osaka Castle
  • Ieyasu’s ruthless decision to destroy the Toyotomi
  • The despair of her pleas for mercy being ignored

Character and convictions

Source of ambition

Memories of her youth with Hideyori and the gentler love of her second husband Tadatoki.

Turning point

When Osaka Castle fell, Sakazaki Naomori rescued her from the doomed fortress. But she could not secure the lives of her husband Hideyori and her mother-in-law Yodo; they were left to die. The wound of having been saved herself while unable to save them never left her.

How he treats others

Naa-hime (Tenshūni), Hideyori’s daughter, whom Senhime adopted and saved from execution.

Principle he will not yield

Watching her loved ones be killed without resisting.

Historical path

1603–1610
The shogun’s daughter, married to Hideyori at seven.
Palace-bred speech learns Kyoto honorifics; she is frightened yet polite.
1611–1614
A young wife learning the world between the Toyotomi and Tokugawa.
Her soft honorifics mature; she speaks little and avoids taking sides.
1615
The shogun’s granddaughter rescued at Osaka’s fall, whose plea for mercy failed.
For the first time, resolve enters her gentle speech; every plea lands firmly.
1616–1666
After losing her husband and child, she lives as Tenshūin and honors both houses.
She speaks quietly as water; her eyes lower at the names Osaka and Himeji.

Final chapter

the 6th day of the 2nd month, Kanbun 6 (1666), aged 70

After her husband Tadatoki and eldest son Yukichiyo died before her, she became a nun named Tenshūin. She died peacefully at Takebashi in Edo Castle on the 6th day of the 2nd month, Kanbun 6 (1666), aged 70.

She prayed throughout her life for the souls of both husbands, Hideyori and Tadatoki, and quietly released her spirit in prayer.
“Born a princess of the shogun’s house, she endured the fall of two castles and watched her beloved husband and child die. With her own life at risk, she rescued Naa-hime, Hideyori’s surviving daughter, and sent the girl away to safety. That courage embodied the pride of Tokugawa blood.”