List of female castellans in Japan
A list of female castellans in Japanese history.
Definition
The list includes the following persons:- Women who inherited the leadership of a Samurai clan.
- A woman who was named commander of the castle by a Daimyo.
- Due to the death of a male owner, his wife or daughter formally inherit the leadership of the castle.
- Women who had great political power but were not formally clan or castle leaders.
- Reigning Empresses or Regents
- Women who was the owner of part or compartment of a castle, like Kodai-in who gave the eastern ward of Osaka Castle to Tokugawa Ieyasu.
- Women who received honorable titles, such as Lady Kasuga who was named
Jōrō Otoshiyori and commanded the Ōoku area of Edo Castle - Buildings or areas that cannot be considered a Japanese castle.
List
| Name | Allegiance | Castle | Reign |
| Ii Naotora | Imagawa clan | Iinoya Castle | 1565-1568 |
| Otazu no kata | None | Hikuma Castle | 1566-1568 |
| Ii Naotora | Matsudaira clan | Iinoya Castle | 1568-1572 |
| Lady Otsuya | Oda clan | Iwamura Castle | 1572 |
| Ii Naotora | Matsudaira clan | Iinoya Castle | 1573-1582 |
| Tachibana Ginchiyo | Ōtomo clan | Tachibana Castle | 1575-1581 |
| Onamihime | Ashina clan | Sukagawa Castle | 1582-1588 |
| Ashikaga Ujinohime | （Later Hōjō clan） | Koga Castle | 1583-1590 |
| Enkyū-ni | Ryūzōji clan | Kamafunatsu Castle | 1584 |
| Yodo-dono | Toyotomi clan | Yodo castle | 1589 |
| Akai Teruko | Toyotomi clan | Ushiku castle | 1590 |
| Ashikaga Ujinohime | Toyotomi clan→ Kitsuregawa clan | Kōnosu Palace | 1590-1620 |
| Kōdai-in | Toyotomi clan→ Tokugawa clan | Kyōto New castle | 1599-1623 |
| Seishin-ni | Nanbu clan | Ne Castle | 1614-1620 |
Others evidences of female castellans
A sequence of women who acted remarkably as castellans, without being formal heiress, or female castellans where there is little detail about their administration, area and castle.Sengoku period (1467–1603)
- Akamatsu Tōshōin: She was a de facto Daimyo of the Akamatsu clan. She was a guardian of Akamatsu Yoshimura. After Yoshimura's death, Tōshōin took total control of the clan as the leader in 1521.
- Jukei-ni: She acted as guardian and adviser to Ujiteru, Yoshimoto and her grandson Imagawa Ujizane. She has spent four generations of daimyos and it is said that she was de facto the last Sengoku daimyo of the Imagawa clan.
- Ikeda Sen:
Tōdaiki describes that she owned lands with a revenue equivalent to 10,000 koku, like a minor daimyo. - Myorin: Luís Fróis describes that a woman was the ruler of an area that is currently the Ōita city, that woman was probably Myorin. Her son inherits the clan leadership after the death of Yoshioka Akioki. Because he is very young, Myorin becomes the representative head of Tsurusaki castle as a counselor for her son. Cases like these were common in all of Japanese history.
- Yodo-dono: She formally received Yodo Castle in 1589. After Hideyoshi's death, she acted as guardian of his heir Toyotomi Hideyori. Following the fall of the Council of Five Elders that resulted in the Battle of Sekigahara, Yodo-dono becomes the chief representative of the Toyotomi clan and Osaka Castle.
- Lady Nata: In Otomo Family Document , it is described that she owned lands on the Kunisaki Peninsula, an area run by her family, the Nata clan.
- Fujishiro Gozen: She was the female castellan of a minor castle, the Fujishiro-kan in Mutsu Province.