Shinshōni

Matsuhime (松姫, 1562 - 31 May 1616) or Shinsho-ni (信松尼) was a Japanese noblewoman who was a member of the Takeda clan, an important samurai family of the Sengoku period. She was the daughter of Takeda Shingen and wife of Oda Nobutada. She is best known for trying to strengthen an ailing alliance between Takeda and Oda, two rival families. Matsu is also known for her rightful love and undying devotion to Oda Nobutada, which is considered unusual for the time period. A mountain pass is named Matsuhime Tōge in her honor due to her having used the path to escape Oda Nobunaga's army. The Shinsho-in temple in Hachioji (Tokyo) preserves to this day a wooden statue of Matsuhime and the naginata (polearm) she wielded. Early life Matsuhime was born in Kai province as Shingen's fifth daughter. Her mother was Shingen's concubine Aburakawa-fuujin. She was a younger sister of Nishina Morinobu. According to Kai Kokushi, Shingen devoted himself to prayer for the healthy recovery of one of his ill daughters in 1565; the common consensus is that the girl in question is Matsuhime. According to the tales, Matsuhime's mother Aburakawafujin was famous as the most beautiful woman in Koshu, and Matsuhime herself was also famous for her beauty along with her sister, Kikuhime who was the wife of Uesugi Kagekatsu. According to the theory that Matsuhime's other older sister Shinryuin's mother was also Aburakawafujin, Matsuhime's sisters were Marihime and Kikuhime. Engagement with Nobunaga's heir The Kōyō Gunkan states that the Oda-Takeda alliance was threatened in 1567 when Takeda Katsuyori's wife (Ryūshō-in) and Oda Nobunaga's niece and adopted daughter, died. In an effort to keep the alliance intact, an engagement was arranged for the eleven-year old Oda Nobutada, an heir of the famous Oda Nobunaga, to wed the seven-year old Matsuhime. However, as they were both still very young, Nobunaga decides to wait for the two to grow up and have a wedding ceremony. Oda Nobunaga says that he instructed his son, Nobutada, to give Matsuhime gifts and letters diligently. For this reason, correspondence began between Nobutada and Matsuhime, and although it was a form of political marriage, she and Nobutada had not actually seen each other in person, but spent time exchanging mail, and eventually had a spiritual connection. She stayed with the Takeda family and was formally treated as 'the entrusted lawful wife of Nobutada,' and was called Niitachi-Goryōnin.