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

Azuchi–Momoyama period The was the final phase of the in Japanese history from 1568 to 1600. After the outbreak of the Ōnin War in 1467, the power of the Ashikaga Shogunate effectively collapsed, marking the start of the chaotic Sengoku period. In 1568, Oda Nobuna ...

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 is the daughter and only child of

Tamura Kiyoaki was a Japanese samurai and head of the Tamura clan. Tamura clan was a daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from thei ...

,Ōshima Kōichi, ''Ichinoseki Domain (Clan Stories Series)'', , page 12 the lord of Miharu Castle, and Okita, daughter of Sōma Akitane. She was also the wife of

Date Masamune was a regional ruler of Japan's Azuchi–Momoyama period through early Edo period. Heir to a long line of powerful ''daimyō'' in the Tōhoku region, he went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai. An outstanding tactician, he was made all ...

. She was also known as Lady Tamura (田村御前). After fulfilling her pravrajya, her posthumous Buddhist name was Yōtokuin (陽徳院).

Life

In 1579, she married her second cousin Masamune at the age of twelve. Unfortunately, her

wet nurse A wet nurse is a woman who breastfeeds and cares for another's child. Wet nurses are employed if the mother dies, or if she is unable or chooses not to nurse the child herself. Wet-nursed children may be known as "milk-siblings", and in some cu ...

was killed by Masamune, who suspected that betrayers from the Tamura clan were involved in the assassination attempt on him. It is said that her marriage got worse for a while because many other

handmaiden A handmaiden, handmaid or maidservant is a personal maid or female servant. Depending on culture or historical period, a handmaiden may be of slave status or may be simply an employee. However, the term ''handmaiden'' generally implies lowly ...

s serving her were executed. However, after she moved to the Date residence in

Jurakudai The Jurakudai or Jurakutei () was a palace constructed at the order of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Kyoto, Japan. Construction began in 1586, when Hideyoshi had taken the post of , and required nineteen months to complete. Its total area was almost equa ...

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 ...

, her marriage seemed to be restored and she gave birth to

Irohahime was a Japanese noble lady and aristocrat from the Sengoku period and Edo period. She was the first daughter of Date Masamune and Megohime, as well as the wife of Matsudaira Tadateru, the sixth son of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Her Buddhist name is Tenri ...

(

Matsudaira Tadateru was a ''daimyō'' during the Edo period of Japan. He was the sixth son of Tokugawa Ieyasu. He was born in Edo Castle during the year of the dragon (''tatsu''), and as a child his name was Tatsuchiyo (辰千代). His mother was , a concubine of I ...

's wife) in 1594. From there, she had four children with Masamune, including

Date Tadamune was an early Edo period Japanese samurai, and the 2nd ''daimyō'' of the 625,000 ''koku'' Sendai Domain in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. He was the half-brother of Date Hidemune of Uwajima Domain. Biography Tadamune was born as Torakikum ...

(the second lord of the Sendai Domain), Munetsuna Date, and Takematsumaru Date. Even after she lived in the Date residence in Jurakudai, she might have played a role of a woman diplomat to inform Masamune of the Kyoto situation. In a letter addressed to him, she wrote:

"The world has not been stabilized yet. You should decide your course of action in accordance with the cause of the universe. Don't worry about me. I always have a knife with me. I'll promise not to be shamed."

When Masamune died on June 27, 1636, she entered the Buddhist priesthood under the Ungo Zenji and called herself Yōtokuin. Megohime died on February 21, 1653, at the age of 86.Ōshima Kōichi, ''Ichinoseki Domain (Clan Stories Series)'', , page 15 It was the same day as the mensiversary of Masamune's death. Her graveyard is located in the Yotokuin mausoleum near the Zuigan-ji Temple.The excavation research on

Zuihōden in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan is the mausoleum complex of Date Masamune and his heirs, daimyō of the Sendai Domain. History When Date Masamune, known as and founder of the Sendai Domain, died in 1636, he left instructions for a mausoleu ...

in 1974 showed that her husband, Masamune had blood type B and her son, Tadamune, A-type blood, and therefore it is assumed that Megohime had A- or AB-type blood.

Last Testament

She frequently asked Masamune and Tadamune to restore the Tamura family.Ōshima Kōichi, ''Ichinoseki Domain (Clan Stories Series)'', , page 14 Tadamune obeyed his mother's will and rebuilt the Tamura family with his son, Muneyoshi, as the lord the same year as his mother's death.

In popular culture

*In the

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestri ...

taiga drama ''

Dokuganryū Masamune is a 1987 Japanese historical television series. It is the 25th NHK ''taiga'' drama. The broadcast received an average viewer rating of 39.7 percent in the Kanto area. The drama was adapted from the novel of Sōhachi Yamaoka. Plot Toyotomi Hidey ...

'', she is portrayed by

Junko Sakurada is a Japanese singer and actress. She was part of a music trio in 1973, which included Momoe Yamaguchi and Masako Mori. Sakurada then became successful in a solo music career, with 18 top ten singles in the 1970s. Her acting career ran from 1 ...

, and her younger incarnation by

Kumiko Goto is a Japanese former singer, actress and Japanese idol active in the 1980s. As an actress, she is known for starring in the ''Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' films and the Jackie Chan film ''City Hunter''. In 1995, she quit her artistic career and marri ...

. *In the

taiga drama ''

Tenchijin is a 2009 Japanese super historical drama television series, and the 48th taiga drama of NHK. It aired every Sunday from January 4 to November 22, 2009, spanning 47 episodes.It is an unusual Taiga Drama as the final episode will be broadcast as ...

'', she is portrayed by

Anne Watanabe is a Japanese fashion model, actress, and singer. She is the daughter of film actor Ken Watanabe and his first wife Yumiko. In her modeling work, she is known by the mononym Anne.Kuhn, Anthony"For Japanese Women, The Past Is The Latest Fad"/ref> ...

(credited as Anne). *In the ongoing anime series ''

Masamune Datenicle ''Masamune Datenicle'' is a Japanese anime series produced through the cooperation of the anime studio Gaina and the city of Date, Fukushima. It is one of a number of anime produced by Gaina in promotion of Fukushima Prefecture. Otherwise know ...

'', produced in coordination between Gaina and Date City,

Fukushima may refer to: Japan * Fukushima Prefecture, Japanese prefecture ** Fukushima, Fukushima, capital city of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan ***Fukushima University, national university in Japan *** Fukushima Station (Fukushima) in Fukushima, Fukushim ...

, Megohime is portrayed as a 14-year-old girl.

References

{{Authority control 1568 births 1653 deaths 16th-century Japanese people 17th-century Japanese people 16th-century Japanese women 17th-century Japanese women Women of medieval Japan People of Sengoku-period Japan People of Edo-period Japan Date clan Tamura clan Deified Japanese people