Teruhime or Kushihashi Teru (櫛橋光, 1553 – October 5, 1627) was a Japanese noble lady and

aristocrat The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient Ro ...

from the

Sengoku The was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Various ...

period. She was

Kuroda Yoshitaka , also known as , was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the late Sengoku through early Edo periods. Renowned as a man of great ambition, he succeeded Takenaka Hanbei as a chief strategist and adviser to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Kuroda became a Christian wh ...

's only wife. Daughter of Kushihashi Koresada and the foster daughter of Kodera Masamoto, she was the princess of Shikata castle in

Harima Province or Banshū (播州) was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is the southwestern part of present-day Hyōgo Prefecture. Harima bordered on Tajima, Tanba, Settsu, Bizen, and Mimasaka Provinces. Its capital was Himeji. During the ...

. In the

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu prefecture, Japan, at the end of ...

Ishida Mitsunari Ishida Mitsunari (, 1559 – November 6, 1600) was a Japanese samurai and military commander of the late Sengoku period of Japan. He is probably best remembered as the commander of the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the A ...

planned to take her as a political hostage, but with the help of Toshiyasu Kuriyama, Tahei Mori and others retainers, she was able to hide and escape.

Life

In the year 1567 she married Kuroda Yoshitaka; gave birth to

Kuroda Nagamasa was a ''daimyō'' during the late Azuchi–Momoyama and early Edo periods. He was the son of Kuroda Kanbei, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's chief strategist and adviser. Biography His childhood name was Shojumaru (松寿丸). In 1577, when Nagamasa was a ...

in 1568 and

Kuroda Kumanosuke Kuroda (written: lit. "black ricefield") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese painter *Akinobu Kuroda 黒田明伸, Japanese historian *Chris Kuroda, lighting designer and operator for the band Phish and Jus ...

in 1582. When

Bessho Nagaharu was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period. He was the eldest son of Bessho Yasuharu. In 1578 Oda Nobunaga called on his retainers to attack the Mōri clan. Nagaharu almost decided to allied with the Oda clan, but after hearing that the ...

rebelled against

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

, the Kushihashi clan sided with Nagaharu. When the Battle of Sekigahara took place,

detained the daimyo's family as hostages, forcing Hosokawa Gracia to end her own life. Teru fled during the chaos that Gracia's suicide caused. Her husband and son Nagamasa were once Christians, but Teruhime was a true devout of the Jodo Bukkyo (Amidism).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kushihashi, Teru People of Sengoku-period Japan Women of medieval Japan 16th-century Japanese women 17th-century Japanese women 1553 births 1627 deaths