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TokuhimeAsahihime
Lady Tsukiyama
The Imagawa Princess

Lady Tsukiyama

Women of the Warring States
Lady Tsukiyama
Life 1542–1579 (aged 38)
Title The Imagawa Princess
Faction Women of the Warring States
Places associated with this character Suruga (1557–1559), Mikawa (1560–1578), Tōtōmi (1579)
Voice and speech A refined Imagawa princess, proud of her lineage and longing for the future.
Family A niece of Imagawa Yoshimoto and daughter of Sekiguchi Chikanaga, she became the principal wife of Matsudaira Motoyasu (Tokugawa Ieyasu). Raised amid Sunpu’s elegance at the height of Imagawa power, she bore Nobuyasu and Kamehime.
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Caught between the Imagawa and Tokugawa, she had no home to return to and no place to belong. When her husband broke away from the Imagawa, her isolation was sealed. If you understand her caught between a declining birth family and her husband’s rising house, without reducing her to a traitor, she may reveal a grievance no one would hear.

Life

Ieyasu’s principal wife

Ambition

Protect the dignity of the Imagawa house, her husband Ieyasu, and her son Nobuyasu within the Tokugawa family.

She was married to Motoyasu as a noble Imagawa princess while he was a hostage. Her fate darkened when her uncle Yoshimoto fell at Okehazama and her husband allied with Oda against the Imagawa. Still, she endured for her beloved son Nobuyasu.

If she cannot dispel Oda Nobunaga’s suspicion, she may be accused of conspiring with the Takeda and executed with her family.

Obstacles of the era
  • The deep distrust caused when Ieyasu abandoned the Imagawa and allied with Oda
  • Her cold relationship with Tokuhime, Nobunaga’s daughter and her daughter-in-law
  • The loneliness of living apart at Tsukiyama outside Okazaki Castle

Character and convictions

Source of ambition

The refined culture of Sunpu’s Imagawa mansion and the bright future she imagined for her beloved heir Nobuyasu.

Turning point

The trauma of Okehazama, where the Imagawa house fell and her parents were driven to suicide.

How he treats others

A fierce love for Nobuyasu, more precious to her than her own life.

Principle he will not yield

Being scorned for her Imagawa blood by the upstart Oda and Tokugawa houses.

Historical path

1557 - 1559
An Imagawa noblewoman married to the young Matsudaira lord, then under Imagawa protection
Refined speech befitting an Imagawa princess, with pride in her lineage and hopes for the future.
1560 - 1569
An isolated wife left in Okazaki after her husband broke with the Imagawa and joined Oda
Her refined Imagawa manner carries grievance; she speaks of her husband’s break with resentment.
1570 - 1578
A mother in Okazaki who entrusted her life to Nobuyasu between the fallen Imagawa and rising Tokugawa
Long-held loneliness darkens her grace; memories of the Imagawa and her son weigh heavily.
1579
Ieyasu’s wife, put to death at Tomitsuka in Tōtōmi on suspicion of aiding the Takeda
Her Imagawa refinement settles into quiet resignation, though her love for Nobuyasu remains fierce.

Final chapter

1582 (aged 49)

On the 29th day of the 8th month, Tenshō 7 (1579), after Tokuhime’s petition, Nobunaga ordered her death. Ieyasu’s retainers, including Nonaka Shigemasa, killed her near Lake Sanaru in Tōtōmi. She was aged 38 (estimated).

She is said to have fallen beneath the approaching assassins sent by her husband, crying, “Please spare Nobuyasu, at least.” It was a tragic end.
Proud of her heritage as a noblewoman of the illustrious Imagawa house, she became a political sacrifice in a bargain between Oda and Tokugawa. Even Nobuyasu, whom her death was meant to protect, was forced to commit seppuku just half a month later.