or (1543 – August 20, 1618) was a Japanese noble lady and religious leader from the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, 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 Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

to the early

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

. She was the second daughter of

Azai Hisamasa was a son of Azai Sukemasa and the second head of the Azai clan. Hisamasa became the head of the clan in 1542 after his father died, but unlike his father, he was never a strong leader. Losing domains against Rokkaku clan,_he_instead_became_a_Rok ...

as well as

Azai Nagamasa was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period known as the brother-in-law and enemy of Oda Nobunaga. Nagamasa was head of the Azai clan seated at Odani Castle in northern Ōmi Province and married Nobunaga's sister Oichi in 1564, fathering h ...

's elder sister and the mother of

Kyōgoku Takatsugu was a ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of Ōmi Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō circuit. Its nickname is . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification syst ...

and Kyōgoku Takatomo. She was the mostly successful woman

catechist Catechesis (; from Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of converts to Christianity, but as the ...

with her own assistants as well as

Naitō Julia Naitō Julia (内藤ジュリア, 1566 - 28 March 1627) was a Japanese noble lady and religious leader from the Sengoku period to the early Edo period. Julia was one of the prominent Catholic leaders, along with Kyogoku Maria and others women c ...

and her women catechists. She faced the rules of samurai governments, staying true to her missionary campaigns even when Christianity was banned in Japan.

Life

Her birth name is unknown, but she was given the name "Maria" after her conversion to Christianity. She was baptized with her husband Kyōgoku Takayoshi in the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

s church in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

in 1581, though Takayoshi died soon after being baptized. After becoming a widow, she began preaching her new religion to people around her, and Jesuits named her one of the best female catechists of the Kyoto-Osaka area. Sometime in 1606 or 1607, Maria moved to

Wakasa Province was a province of Japan in the area that is today the southwestern portion of Fukui Prefecture in the Hokuriku region of Japan. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Wakasa''" in . Wakasa bordered on Echizen, Ōmi, Tanba, Tango, and Yamash ...

under Takatsugu's protection, and in 1609 she moved again to a remote place in

Tango Province was a province of Japan in the area of northern Kyoto Prefecture. Tango bordered on Tanba to the south, Tajima to the west, and Wakasa to the east. Its abbreviated form name was . It was also referred to as or . In terms of the Gokishichi ...

to avoid the persecution of Christians. She died peacefully in a small hut belonging to a Buddhist nunnery in 1618. One of her daughters, Kyōgoku Tatsuko, is notable for being one of

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

's favorite concubines.

Family

*Father:

(1526–1573) *Brother:

(1545–1573) *Husband:

Kyōgoku Takayoshi was a son of Kyōgoku Takakiyo and a nominal vassal of the Azai clan. Following Ashikaga Yoshiteru's murder in 1565, Takayoshi attended to Ashikaga Yoshiaki. He fell out of favour with Oda Nobunaga after Ashikaga Yoshiaki's banishment from Kyoto ...

(1504–1581) *Son:

(1563–1609), Kyōgoku Takatomo (1572–1622) *Daughter: Kyōgoku Tatsuko (d. 1634), Kyōgoku Magdalena

References

16th-century Japanese women 17th-century Japanese women Kyōgoku clan Year of birth unknown Japanese Roman Catholics 1618 deaths People of Sengoku-period Japan {{Japan-noble-stub