# Lady Nata

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16th-century Japanese noblewoman

Usa Jingū Shrine

**Lady Nata** (奈多夫人, d. March 23, 1587), known in Christian scholarship as **Ōtomo-Nata Jezebel**, was a Japanese noblewoman from the [Sengoku period](/source/Sengoku_period). Daughter of [Nata Akimoto](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nata_Akimoto&action=edit&redlink=1), she was a high priestess of [Usa Jingū](/source/Usa_Jing%C5%AB). She was the first wife of Christian [daimyo](/source/Daimy%C5%8D) [Ōtomo Sōrin](/source/%C5%8Ctomo_S%C5%8Drin). She actively resisted the [Jesuit mission in Japan](/source/Jesuit_Japan_mission) and the spread of [Christianity](/source/Christianity) in [Kyushu](/source/Kyushu).

Her religious and political influence was so great that she was the principal leader of the anti-Christian force in Bungo province during the rule of Ōtomo Sōrin.

## Life

Lady Nata married Ōtomo Sōrin around 1545, when he was around 15 years old. She was the mother of [Ōtomo Yoshimune](/source/%C5%8Ctomo_Yoshimune) who succeeded Sōrin as head of the [Ōtomo clan](/source/%C5%8Ctomo_clan); their second son [Ōtomo Chikaie](/source/%C5%8Ctomo_Chikaie), third son [Ōtomo Chikamori](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Otomo_Chikamori&action=edit&redlink=1) the last two were adopted by [Tawara Chikakata](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tawara_Chikakata&action=edit&redlink=1). She had a daughter who was engaged for a time to Chikakata's adopted son [Tawara Chikatsura](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tawara_Chikatsura&action=edit&redlink=1). Despite her husband's kind treatment of the Jesuits, she remained affiliated with her parents' Hachiman Shrine, and associated regularly with [shrine maidens](/source/Miko), [Yamabushi](/source/Yamabushi) and [Bhikkhunī](/source/Bhikkhun%C4%AB)*.*[1]

She has been described by resistant Buddhists as "the defender and martyr of the traditional religions that had given Bungo its coherence and peace until the Jesuits arrived."

### Resistance against Christianity

Lady Nata was one of the main reasons for slow and difficult spread of Christianity in the [Bungo province](/source/Bungo_Province) in 1570-1580. The Jesuits readily identified her as "a witch, pagan, idol-worshipping enemy of the church", and thus nicknamed her "[Jezebel](/source/Jezebel)", the idol-worshipping queen of [King Ahab](/source/Ahab) from the [Book of Kings](/source/Books_of_Kings) — a figure associated with seduction, desire for usurpation of the office of the king, and protection of the prophets of [Baal](/source/Baal) who fought against God's prophet [Elijah](/source/Elijah).[2]

Advised by Jesuits, Ōtomo Sōrin divorced Lady Nata in 1578, his clan retainers were completely opposed to the divorce. This event was the trigger for the Hachimangū's members to declare war on Christianity.

The Nata family controlled a large portion of the [Kunisaki peninsula](/source/Kunisaki) in northern Bungo, and Lady Nata held significant tracts of land herself. She gathered around herself numerous powerful supporters at court, who helped oppose Sōrin's destruction of [Buddhist temples](/source/Buddhist_temple) and [Shinto shrines](/source/Shinto_shrine), abandonment of Shinto and Buddhism, and embrace of Christianity. She and her brothers, Tawara Chikakata and [Nata Shizumoto](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nata_Shizumoto&action=edit&redlink=1), continued to resist the oppression of Christian daimyos and the massive presence of European Christian (specially Portugueses) in eastern Kyushu.[2]

Sōrin turned against the Nata family and Usa Jingū shrine, attacking and burning the shrine repeatedly in the 1580s, and seizing its territories and armies to be placed under his direct supervision. After Lady Nata's death in 1587, the Nata family declined further; however, her religious influence is said to have lasted throughout the [Edo period](/source/Edo_period).[3]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Ward, Haruko Nawata (2016-12-05). [*Women Religious Leaders in Japan's Christian Century, 1549-1650*](https://books.google.com/books?id=7ZGoDQAAQBAJ&dq=otomo+Nata+Jezebel&pg=PT580). Routledge. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781351871815](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781351871815).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-ambros_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-ambros_2-1) Ambros, Barbara (2015-05-29). [*Women in Japanese Religions*](https://books.google.com/books?id=gVxACQAAQBAJ&dq=otomo+Nata+Jezebel&pg=PA95). NYU Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781479884063](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781479884063).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Schurhammer, Georg (1955). [*Franz Xaver: sein Leben und seine Zeit*](https://books.google.com/books?id=J64AAAAAMAAJ&q=otomo+Nata+Jezebel) (in German). Herder. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9783451165184](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9783451165184). {{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility ([help](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:CS1_errors#invalid_isbn_date))

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

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