* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Nōhime (Kichō)
濃姫（帰蝶）
Daughter of Saitō Dōsan and Principal Wife of Oda Nobunaga, a Sengoku Woman Shrouded in Mystery
Description
Daughter of Dōsan, Principal Wife of Nobunaga
Nōhime (1535-date of death unknown) is held to be the daughter of Saitō Dōsan, the warlord feared as the 'Viper of Mino,' and is known as the principal wife of Oda Nobunaga. 'Nōhime' is a byname meaning 'the lady from Mino Province' rather than a personal name; her given name is recorded as 'Kichō' or 'Kochō,' though even this does not rest on reliable contemporary sources. Appearing only fragmentarily in later compilations, her true figure is deeply shrouded in mystery.
A Political Marriage
Around 1549, in connection with the reconciliation between Oda Nobuhide and Saitō Dōsan, Nōhime is said to have married Nobunaga. At the time, Nobunaga was reputed to be a 'fool,' and the union was a political marriage securing the alliance between the two houses. A senior retainer of Dōsan is said to have mediated the match. It is sometimes told that the later cordial relationship between Dōsan and Nobunaga rested on this marriage, but many such anecdotes derive from later compiled sources.
The Mystery of an Unknown Death and Grave
Reliable records of Nōhime's life are exceedingly scarce. The date of her death and her burial place in particular are not consistent across sources: several views stand side by side—that she died young, or that she survived until the Honnōji Incident—and no settled account exists. That almost no record of her activities survives in contemporary primary sources, despite her being Nobunaga's principal wife, itself symbolizes how thin the documentation surrounding Sengoku-era women is.
The Image Handed Down to Later Ages
Precisely because the sources are scarce, Nōhime/Kichō has been given varied images through later fiction and historical dramas. Portrayed as an intelligent and resolute woman, or as a figure torn between her father Dōsan and her husband Nobunaga, her depiction has shifted with each era. It is precisely because her true figure cannot be grasped that she has continued to stir people's imagination.
Connection to Swords
No reliable source attesting to a sword carried personally by Nōhime can be confirmed. In general, women of warrior and daimyo families in the Sengoku period customarily carried a protective kaiken upon marriage. Her father Saitō Dōsan was a warlord of Mino and her husband Oda Nobunaga was known as a collector of fine swords; standing in the line of both, Nōhime too was likely in an environment with close exposure to sword culture as a woman of a warrior family, though no specific blade she owned can be asserted.
Notable Swords
- Kaiken (short blade) of a warrior-class woman—no reliable record of a sword owned by Nōhime herself can be confirmed, but women of daimyo families in the Sengoku period customarily carried a protective kaiken upon marriage. As the wife of Nobunaga, a collector of fine swords, she is thought to have lived in an environment close to sword culture