Asahihime

Asahi no kata (朝日の方, 1543 – February 18, 1590) was a Japanese aristocrat of the Sengoku period. She was a half-sister of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and wife of Tokugawa Ieyasu, two of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan. Apart from "Asahi no kata", she is also known as Suruga Gozen (駿河御前) and Asahi-hime (朝日姫), though none of these are personal names, which roughly translate to "the person of Asahi", "the Lady Suruga", or "Princess Asahi", respectively. Life In 1543, Asahihime was born as the daughter of Ōmandokoro and Chikuami, a farmer in Owari Province.  Along with the rise of Hideyoshi under Oda Nobunaga, her husband was elevated to the status of a bushi and adopted the name of Saji Hyūga-no-kami. Asahi no kata was first married to Saji Hyūga no kami, but when her brother Toyotomi Hideyoshi wished to make peace with Tokugawa Ieyasu after the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute, Hideyoshi expressed interest in marrying her to Ieyasu. In 1586, the retainers of Oda Nobukatsu were dispatched as messengers to Yoshida in Mikawa and, via Sakai Tadatsugu, proposed a marriage to appease Tokugawa Ieyasu. Ieyasu accepted the proposal and sent Sakakibara Yasumasa as his representative to Kyōto to exchange betrothal gifts. As a result, Saji Hyūga committed suicide, in order to not pose an obstacle to such a powerful political marriage, and the two were married soon afterwards.