Nohime

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Nōhime (濃姫) also Kichō (帰蝶) or Lady/Princess Noh, was the wife of Oda Nobunaga, a major daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. Her proper name was Kichō, but since she came from Mino province, she is most commonly referred to as Nōhime (Princess of Mino). She was renowned for her beauty and cleverness.

Nōhime's father was the daimyo Saito Dosan and her mother was known as Omi no Kata. Nōhime herself appears very little in any historical record, and there is not a lot of information on the dates of her birth or death; however, proposed dates for her birth fall between 1533–1535.

[edit] Nobunaga's Wife

Nōhime's life with Oda Nobunaga was said to be difficult. She was married to him in 1549, during a truce between Nobunaga's father, Nobuhide and Saito Dosan. The marriage was a political gesture and many believe there was little love between Nōhime and Nobunaga.

Nōhime was never able to conceive a child with Nobunaga and it was believed that she was barren.

Through lack of historical record there is not much information of what became of Nōhime or even the date of her death.

Nōhime was the official wife of Oda Nobunaga although it is often believed that he focused his love on his concubine Kitsuno, who bore him his son Nobutada.

Overall, it can be said that Nōhime's life as it is known now is more of a mixture of legends, folktales, and tentative half-truths.

[edit] Legends and speculation

It was alleged that Nōhime was acting as a spy, or even assassin, for her father; it is worthy to note that at that time it was not an uncommon practice for a wife to relay information to her maiden family. Given Nobunaga's reputation at the time as the unruly "Great Fool of Owari", it was also not entirely impossible for Dosan to want Nōhime to assassinate him.

As for her alleged role as a spy, there is a popular story where Nobunaga purposely gave Nōhime false information regarding a conspiracy between two of her father's head servants and their plans to betray the Saito. Her father had both the men executed and thus weakened himself by eliminating those loyal to him.

Some legends, however, allege that it was in fact not Nōhime but someone else who looked like her that married Oda Nobunaga.

In 1556, Dosan, Nōhime's father, was killed in a coup in Mino Province. This detracted much from Nōhime's worth as a wife. Her inability to conceive and her supposed spying were held against her.

After the Incident at Honnōji which claimed the lives of Nobunaga and Nobutada, it was uncertain where Nōhime went. Some speculate that she died at Honnoji, but the woman alleged to be Nōhime was more often believed to be a maid whose name sounds similar to Nōhime. Nevertheless, after the incident, Nobunaga's wives and female servants were all sent to Azuchi Castle, which was Nobunaga's castle of residence. Among the women was a Lady Azuchi (安土殿, Azuchi dono), who was taken in by Oda Nobukatsu. This Lady Azuchi is widely believed to have been Nōhime.

[edit] Nōhime in Fiction

She was portrayed by Japanese actress Nakatani Miki in the 1998 film Oda Nobunaga and appeared as a playable character in the 2004 videogame Samurai Warriors, where she had a love/hate relationship with Nobunaga (alternating between love and the aforementioned 'assassin for her father' -- which also parleys into wanting to be the one who kills him). In the American version of this videogame, she was known as Lady Noh and was voiced by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn. Her character was voiced by Mariko Suzuki in the Japanese version. (In Samurai Warriors 2, where her character is voiced by Alisha Ruiss in the American version, she shows no signs of the killing intent in any of her FMV appearances.)

In Capcom's Onimusha 3: Demon Siege released in 2004, Nohime proves her love and absolute loyalty to her husband, the demonic Genma Lord Nobunaga, by willingly transforming herself into a Genma in order to be with her loved one. In the form of a Moth-Mantis like demon, she appears as one of the bosses in the second-to-last stage of the game, guarding the top floor of Azuchi Castle. She is eventually defeated by Jacques Blanc when she challenges Jacques to a duel.

In 2005, Koei released Kessen III, a real-time strategy/action game loosely based on Nobunaga's life. In this, Nōhime also made an appearance as a playable character under her alternative name, Kicho. In this interpretation of events, Akechi Mitsuhide, the man who would eventually lead the coup against Nobunaga at Honnouji, was Kicho's bodyguard when she was a child. He was eventually banished for falling in love with her. Many years later, he joins Nobunaga's forces and uses Kicho as a tool to usurp Nobunaga's power.

Nōhime is also a playable character in Sengoku Basara. While portrayed as a gentle woman, she also sports twin guns as her main weapon and is able to unleash a gatling gun. In Devil Kings, she's renamed as Lady Butterfly. Her joke weapon is Ebony and Ivory, taken straight from Dante of Devil May Cry fame.