Okita Mitsu (沖田みつ; May 26, 1833 – November 2, 1907) was the eldest sister of

Okita Sōji was the captain of the first unit of the Shinsengumi, a special police force in Kyoto during the late shogunate period. He was one of the best swordsmen of the Shinsengumi. Background He was born in 1842 or 1844 from a samurai family in the S ...

, captain of the first unit of the

Shinsengumi The was a special police force organized by the (military government) during Japan's Bakumatsu period (late Tokugawa shogunate) in 1863. It was active until 1869. It was founded to protect the shogunate representatives in Kyoto at a time when ...

Background

She was born the eldest daughter of Okita Katsujirō, in a

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

family from

Mutsu Province was an old province of Japan in the area of Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate and Aomori Prefectures and the municipalities of Kazuno and Kosaka in Akita Prefecture. Mutsu Province is also known as or . The term is often used to refer to the comb ...

. In 1846, she married Inoue Rintarō, who later became Okita Rintarō, after being adopted into the Okita family. They had a child in 1853. In 1868, during the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperi ...

, Sōji was suffering from tuberculosis and thus stayed with Mitsu and her family in Edo, while the rest of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

forces retreated to the Tohoku region. Mitsu looked after the terminally ill Sōji, until she and her family were forced to evacuate to Shonai han. Sōji died on May 30 of that year. Mitsu returned to Edo in 1872. Her husband died in 1883, and she went to live with her youngest son in

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

. She died in 1907.

In popular culture

In ''

Gintama is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hideaki Sorachi. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from December 2003 to September 2018, later in ''Jump Giga'' from December 2 ...

'', Okita Sōgo's sister, Okita Mitsuba, is based on her. In the 2004 Taiga drama ''

Shinsengumi! is a 2004 Taiga drama historical fiction television series produced by Japanese broadcaster NHK. It was a popular drama about the Shinsengumi, a Japanese special police force from the Bakumatsu period. Actors include Koji Yamamoto, Tatsuya Fuj ...

'', she was portrayed by

Yasuko Sawaguchi is a Japanese actress. Biography She was born in Osaka. In early 1984, the Japanese movie studio Toho Company Ltd. held their first Toho Cinderella beauty contest, and Yasuko, almost 19 at the time, was chosen as the first Toho Cinderella, beati ...

. 1833 births 1907 deaths People of Edo-period Japan 19th-century Japanese people {{Japan-bio-stub