Tsumaki Hiroko

Tsumaki Hiroko (妻木煕子, 1530 – November 27, 1576) was a Japanese noble woman from the Sengoku period. She is also known as Omaki-no-kata, Omaki and Fuseya-hime, with her real name uncertain. The name Hiroko probably originated from her father's name Tsumaki Norihiro. She was the wife of Akechi Mitsuhide, a prominent general of the Oda clan, and the mother of Hosokawa Gracia, a famous Christian convert. She played a pivotal role in Mitsuhide's early career and in stabilizing the Akechi clan, which would later be responsible for one of the most impactful events in Japanese history: the murder of Oda Nobunaga in the Honnoji Incident.^[1]

Hiroko was the subject of a haiku by Matsuo Bashō, which reads "Tsuki sabi yo / Akechi ga tsuma no / hanashisen" ("Moon be sad / of the wife of Akechi / let us speak"). The sadness could be a reference to the common story that Hiroko died as a result of nursing her husband through a serious disease, which she herself then caught. However, since Japanese commentaries on the poem do not mention her death, the sadness seems to instead from the sacrifice of her own personal dreams which was required to support her husband.^[1]