* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Komatsuhime (Inahime)
小松姫（稲姫）
Daughter of Honda Tadakatsu and principal wife of Sanada Nobuyuki—a resolute woman who armed herself to refuse entry to her father-in-law Sanada Masayuki at Numata Castle
Description
Daughter of Honda Tadakatsu, One of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Tokugawa
Komatsuhime (Tenshō 1, 1573 – Genna 6, 1620) was born as the eldest daughter of Honda Tadakatsu, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Tokugawa. She was also called Inahime and Komatsu-dono. Her father, Tadakatsu, was a fierce general praised as “a retainer too fine for Ieyasu,” and Komatsuhime, his daughter, was known as a spirited woman raised in a family of martial valor.
Marriage into the Sanada Family
Komatsuhime was adopted as a daughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu (according to one theory, Tokugawa Hidetada) and then married Sanada Nobuyuki (Nobuyuki), the eldest son of Sanada Masayuki of Ueda in Shinano, becoming his principal wife. This was a political marriage that tied the Tokugawa and Sanada families together. With Nobuyuki she bore sons, including Nobumasa and Nobushige, and as a wise wife who supported her husband, she strengthened the Sanada house from within. The Sanada family is also known for facing a painful split at the Battle of Sekigahara: Nobuyuki joined the Eastern Army (the Tokugawa side), while his father Masayuki and his younger brother Nobushige (better known as Yukimura) joined the Western Army.
The Episode of Numata Castle
Komatsuhime is best known for the episode at Numata Castle. Before the Battle of Sekigahara, her father-in-law Sanada Masayuki, who had sided with the Western Army, was returning to his castle at Ueda Castle and tried to stop at Numata Castle, which was under Komatsuhime’s watch in Nobuyuki’s absence, claiming he wished to see his grandsons. Komatsuhime replied that although he was her father-in-law, they were now on opposing sides. She put on armor herself, stood armed before the castle gate, and resolutely refused Masayuki entry. It is said that Masayuki admired this response and praised her: “As expected of Honda Tadakatsu’s daughter; this is how the wife of a samurai should be.”
Komatsuhime and Swords
As the episode at Numata Castle shows, Komatsuhime was a samurai woman resolved to arm herself in an emergency. Just as samurai women always carried a small dagger (kaiken), she too is thought to have kept a blade close at hand for self-protection and as a sign of her resolve. Her resolute temperament was nurtured within the martial household traditions of the Honda family, represented by her father’s famous spear, Tonbokiri.
Reputation in Later Times
Komatsuhime died in Genna 6 (1620) at Kōnosu in Musashi Province, on her way to the Kusatsu hot spring (Kōzuke Province) to take the waters. She was aged 48 by East Asian reckoning. Her husband, Nobuyuki, grieved deeply over her death and is said to have lamented, “The light of my house has gone out.” Born into a family of martial valor, supporting the Sanada house within a political marriage, and arming herself to protect her household when the moment came, her life is passed down as a model of the samurai woman of the Sengoku and early Edo periods.
Notable Swords
- Kaiken of a samurai woman (a short sword for self-defense and a symbol of resolve, thought to have been kept close at hand, following samurai custom, by Komatsuhime, who armed herself when the need arose)