Yodo-dono

Yodo-dono (1569-1615) was born as the eldest daughter of Azai Nagamasa and Oichi, the younger sister of Oda Nobunaga, and her real name is traditionally said to have been Chacha. In her early childhood, her father Azai Nagamasa was attacked by Oda Nobunaga and took his own life at Odani Castle. After her mother Oichi remarried Shibata Katsuie, Oichi also took her own life right after the Battle of Shizugatake, so she went through a tragic upbringing. She became a concubine of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and by giving birth to his legitimate son, Toyotomi Hideyori, in 1593, her standing within the Toyotomi family became firmly established. After Toyotomi Hideyoshi's death (1598), she became a central figure in keeping the Toyotomi family going, with Osaka Castle as her base, and her relationship with Tokugawa Ieyasu gradually grew more confrontational. Triggered by the Hōkō-ji bell inscription incident (1614), the Winter Siege of Osaka and the Summer Siege of Osaka broke out, and in the Summer Siege of Osaka in 1615, the Toyotomi family was destroyed. Yodo-dono took her own life together with Toyotomi Hideyori in the Yamazato enclosure.