# Irohahime

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Irohahime
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Irohahime.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irohahime
> Source revision: 1340659508
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Japanese noble lady (1594–1661)

Irohahime 五郎八姫 Born August 2, 1594 Jurakudai, Kyoto Died June 4, 1661(1661-06-04) (aged 66) Other name Tenrin'in (天麟院) Spouse Matsudaira Tadateru Parent(s) Date Masamune Megohime Family Date clan Matsudaira clan

**Irohahime** (五郎八姫; August 2, 1594 – June 4, 1661) was a Japanese noble lady and [aristocrat](/source/Aristocrat) from the [Sengoku period](/source/Sengoku_period) and [Edo period](/source/Edo_period). She was the first daughter of [Date Masamune](/source/Date_Masamune) and [Megohime](/source/Megohime), as well as the wife of [Matsudaira Tadateru](/source/Matsudaira_Tadateru), the sixth son of [Tokugawa Ieyasu](/source/Tokugawa_Ieyasu). Her Buddhist name is **Tenrin'in** (天麟院).

## Life

Irohahime was born in [Jurakudai](/source/Jurakudai). She was Masamune's first conjugal child. Although the married couple would have been hopeful for a boy to take over the Date family, the baby born to them was a girl. As Masamune was expecting a son, he personally chose a masculine name. After she was born, however, the name was kept, but pronounced more femininely.[1][2]

Having moved from place to place, from Jurakudai to [Fushimi](/source/Fushimi-ku%2C_Kyoto), and then to [Osaka](/source/Osaka), Irohahime was engaged to Ieyasu's son, Tadateru, on January 20, 1599, as part of Ieyasu's strategy for strengthening relationships with powerful [daimyō](/source/Daimy%C5%8D). In 1603, she moved from Fushimi to [Edo](/source/Edo), and on December 24, 1606, she married Tadateru. Though the two got along, they had no children. In 1616, she divorced Tadateru when he was stripped of his position, and returned to her father, Masamune, thereafter living in Sendai.

As she lived in the Nishikan (the west annex) of the main castle in this period, she was also called Lady Nishikan (西館殿). She died on June 4, 1661, at the age of 68. Her grave is in Tenrinin Temple in [Matsushima](/source/Matsushima%2C_Miyagi).[3]

## Legends

- Irohahime was such a beautiful and intelligent daughter that her father was led to lament, "imagine if she had been a boy." [Date Tadamune](/source/Date_Tadamune), a younger brother by the same mother, also relied on her for her intelligence.

- Irohahime was allegedly a [Christian](/source/Christians),[4] as her real mother Megohime had been a Christian for a time. When she divorced Tadateru, she was still in her early twenties and her father and mother, concerning about their beloved Irohahime, allegedly asked her to remarry, but she kept refusing. It is generally accepted that she refused offers of marriage throughout the rest of her life, no matter how earnestly her parents and those around her advised her to remarry because she believed in the Christian doctrine, which does not allow divorce.

- Because Irohahime was born and raised in Kyoto, her words and customs were also in the Kyoto style. When she moved to Sendai after her divorce, she had a hard time getting used to the [Tōhoku](/source/T%C5%8Dhoku_region) dialect as well as Tōhoku's way of living.

## In popular culture

She makes an appearance in the [NHK](/source/NHK) [taiga drama](/source/Taiga_drama) *[Dokuganryū Masamune](/source/Dokuganry%C5%AB_Masamune)*, and she is portrayed by [Sawaguchi Yasuko](/source/Sawaguchi_Yasuko).

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** "They say they gave the child a boy's name because they were anticipating celebrating Kitanokata (legitimate wife; here, Yoshihime) giving birth to an heir." (from *Date Jige Kiroku*).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** "五郎八" is classic common boy name in Japan and usually pronounced as *go-ro-hachi* with [On'yomi](/source/Kanji#On.27yomi_.28Sino-Japanese_reading.29), but Masamune pronounces "五" as "i" with [Kun'yomi](/source/Kanji#Native_reading_.28Kun.27yomi.29) against convention to be used as a phonic equivalent of [Iroha](/source/Iroha).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [Zuigan-ji](/source/Zuigan-ji) Blue Dragon（Treasure Hall）Now, in the museum annex to Zuigan-ji Temple, beside statues of her father, Masamune, and mother, Yotokuin Yoshihime, there is a statue of their daughter, Tenrinin Irohahime, dressed in priestess's clothes.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Japan History: Date Masamune"](http://www.japanitalybridge.com/en/2018/03/japan-history-date-masamune/). *Japan Italy Bridge*. 2018-03-28. Retrieved 2019-04-16.

Authority control databases International VIAF National Japan

v t e Prominent people of the Sengoku and Azuchi–Momoyama periods Emperor Go-Kashiwabara Go-Nara Ōgimachi Go-Yōzei Three major daimyō Oda Nobunaga Toyotomi Hideyoshi Tokugawa Ieyasu Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshiharu Ashikaga Yoshiteru Ashikaga Yoshihide Ashikaga Yoshiaki Tokugawa Hidetada Other daimyō Amago Tsunehisa Amago Haruhisa Asakura Yoshikage Ashina Moriuji Akechi Mitsuhide Azai Nagamasa Chōsokabe Motochika Date Terumune Date Masamune Hatakeyama Yoshitaka Honda Tadakatsu Hōjō Sōun Hōjō Ujimasa Hōjō Ujiyasu Ii Naomasa Imagawa Yoshimoto Imagawa Ujizane Isshiki Yoshimichi Itō Yoshisuke Kitabatake Tomonori Kuroda Nagamasa Matsunaga Hisahide Miyoshi Nagayoshi Mogami Yoshiaki Mōri Motonari Ōuchi Yoshitaka Ōuchi Yoshinaga Ōtomo Sōrin Rokkaku Yoshikata Ryūzōji Takanobu Saitō Dōsan Saitō Yoshitatsu Sakai Tadatsugu Sakakibara Yasumasa Satomi Yoshitaka Sanada Yukitaka Sanada Masayuki Sanada Nobuyuki Satake Yoshishige Sagara Yoshihi Shimazu Yoshihisa Shimazu Yoshihiro Tachibana Dōsetsu Takeda Nobutora Takeda Shingen Tōdō Takatora Uesugi Kagekatsu Uesugi Kenshin Uesugi Norimasa Ukita Naoie Uragami Munekage Yamana Toyokuni Yamana Suketoyo Swordsmen Marume Nagayoshi Hikita Bungorō Kamiizumi Nobutsuna Miyamoto Musashi Mizuno Katsushige Sasaki Kojirō Tadashima Akiyama Tsukahara Bokuden Tsutsumi Hōzan Yagyū Munenori Yagyū Munetoshi Shinmen Munisai Itō Ittōsai Advisers and strategists Kobayakawa Takakage Kuroda Yoshitaka Naoe Kanetsugu Takenaka Shigeharu Usami Sadamitsu Yamamoto Kansuke Ninja, rogues and mercenaries Mochizuki Chiyome Fūma Kotarō Hatsume no Tsubone Hattori Hanzō Ishikawa Goemon Katō Danzō Kirigakure Shikaemon Kōzuki Sasuke Nakamura Chōbei Ohama Kagetaka Sugitani Zenjūbō Saika Magoichi Suzuki Sadayu Suzuki Shigehide Suzuki Shigetomo Suzuki Magoroku Igasaki Dōshun Umemura Sawano Monks and other religious figures Ankokuji Ekei Hongan-ji Kennyo Hon'inbō Sansa Ishin Sūden Jion Koji Kashin Nankōbō Tenkai Rennyo Sessai Chōrō Shimozuma Chūkō Shimotsuma Rairen Shimozuma Rairyū Takuan Sōhō Female castellans Ashikaga Ujihime Chacha Miyohime Munakata Saikaku Ii Naotora Nene Onamihime Otazu no Kata Otsuya no Kata Seishin-ni Tachibana Ginchiyo Female warriors Akai Teruko Fujishiro Gozen Ichikawa no Tsubone Ikeda Sen Kaihime Kamehime Katakura Kita Katō Tsune Komatsuhime Kushihashi Teru Maeda Matsu Myōki Myōrin Numata Jakō Ōhōri Tsuruhime Okaji no Kata Okyō no Kata Omasa Oni Gozen Shigashi Shirai no Tsubone Ueno Tsuruhime Yuki no Kata Other women Lady Acha Akohime Asahihime Lady Chaa Chikurin-in Gōhime Lady Goryū Dota Gozen Gotokuhime Tsumaki Hiroko Lady Hayakawa Hosokawa Gracia Irohahime Izumo no Okuni Jukei-ni Shimazu Kameju Lady Kasuga Keigin-ni Kitsuno Konoe Sakiko Kōzōsu Kyōgoku Maria Kyōgoku Tatsuko Kyōun'in Matsuhime Megohime Lady Myōkyū Naitō Julia Lady Nata Nōhime Odai no Kata Oeyo Oichi Oinu Ohatsu Lady Ōkurakyo Ōmandokoro Ono Otsū Rikei Lady Saigō Lady Sanjō Seien-in Seikōin Senhime Sentōin Tobai-in Toyotomi Sadako Tomo Lady Toida Tokuhime Tōshōin Lady Tsukiyama Yamauchi Chiyo Yoshihime Yoshihiro Kikuhime Foreign people in Japan Alessandro Valignano Francis Xavier Gaspar Coelho Jacob Quaeckernaeck Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn Julia Ota Luís Fróis Soga Seikan Wakita Naokata Wang Zhi William Adams Yasuke See also List of samurai from the Sengoku period

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Irohahime](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irohahime) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irohahime?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.