Kaihime

Kaihime (1572-death year unknown) was the daughter of Narita Ujinaga, lord of Oshi Castle in Musashi Province, and one of the representative female warriors of the Sengoku period. During the Odawara campaign by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1590, when Ishida Mitsunari launched a water-flooding attack on Oshi Castle (present-day Gyōda, Saitama Prefecture), she held out in the castle together with the castellan Narita Nagachika and others. According to tradition, although a woman, she donned armor and helmet herself, carried the famed sword 'Namikiri' passed down in the Narita family, led troops, and went into battle. She repelled Mitsunari's water attack, and Oshi Castle never fell until the end; it is called the 'Floating Castle' (Uki-shiro) as an impregnable castle. It is also said that she was later discovered by Hideyoshi and became his concubine. In war chronicles (gunkimono), she is depicted as a skilled archer, and she is said to have skillfully wielded a naginata and bow and arrows, boosting the morale of the castle garrison. As one of the few female warriors with traditions of actual battle, she also holds a unique presence in the culture of swords and armor.