Lady Tsukiyama


Lady Tsukiyama or Tsukiyama-dono was a Japanese noble lady and aristocrat from the Sengoku period. She was the chief consort of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the daimyō who would become the founder and first shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate. She was the mother of Ieyasu's first child, Kamehime, and gave birth to Ieyasu's heir apparent, Matsudaira Nobuyasu. As principal consort, Tsukiyama led many of the political achievements of the former Matsudaira clan. She was an important figure at the beginning of Ieyasu's career, who later led to the beginning of Tokugawa Shogunate.

Life

Lady Tsukiyama was the daughter of an Imagawa retainer, Sekiguchi Chikanaga. Her mother was Imagawa Yoshimoto's former concubine and daughter of Ii Naohira. She was also known as Sena before she married Tokugawa Ieyasu. Sena was related to Ii Naotora who was the female lord of Ii clan, her actions were vital for the Ii clan to ally with Ieyasu.The Ii family members became one of the most important retainers of the Tokugawa shogunate.
In January 1557, Lady Tsukiyama married Tokugawa Ieyasu. The marriage was arranged by her Imagawa Yoshimoto, ostensibly to help cement ties between the Imagawa clan and the Tokugawa clan, respectively. Two years later, on 13 March 1559, she gave birth to his eldest son, Matsudaira Nobuyasu. In 1560, she gave birth to a daughter, Kamehime.
When Ieyasu moved to Hamamatsu in 1570, he left Lady Tsukiyama and their eldest son at Okazaki Castle. During this time, he had started an affair with Lady Saigō. In 1573, one of Tsukiyama's maid servants, Oman, became pregnant by Ieyasu. Oman bore him a son, Hideyasu, though Ieyasu was slow to claim lest it anger his wife.
, Shizuoka.
Because Nobuyasu had no sons by his wife Tokuhime, a daughter of Oda Nobunaga, Lady Tsukiyama decided to procure a daughter of a Takeda retainer for her son's concubine. Seeing this and all of the conflicts that her mother-in-law made against her, Tokuhime sent a letter to her father, telling him that Lady Tsukiyama was conspiring with the Takeda clan against the Oda clan. Oda Nobunaga informed Ieyasu of this letter, and as a show of good faith and loyalty, and to preserve the Oda-Tokugawa alliance, Ieyasu ordered his wife executed, and Nobuyasu imprisoned due to his closeness with his mother.
On 9 September 1579, Lady Tsukiyama was beheaded on the shore of Lake Sanaru, in Hamamatsu. Her primary grave is at Seiryū temple in Tenryu ward, Hamamatsu. Her head was sent to Okazaki and interred at Yūden temple ; during the Tenpō era it was transferred to Hachioji Shrine.
Knowing his eldest son would feel obligated to avenge his late mother's death, Ieyasu eventually ordered Nobuyasu, who was confined at Futamata Castle, to commit suicide on 5 October 1579. Her buddhist name is Shoge-in.

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