Who Was Nōhime (Kichō), Oda Nobunaga's Wife? How She Died, Her Children and Her Real Name

Nōhime was the daughter of Saitō Dōsan, the warlord of Mino Province (today's southern Gifu Prefecture), and became the principal wife of Oda Nobunaga of Owari Province (today's western Aichi Prefecture). She is also known by the name Kichō.

That Dōsan's daughter married Nobunaga is recorded by Nobunaga's own retainer [Fact: Shinchō Kōki]. After that, however, she almost disappears from the records. Her real name is unknown, and so are when, where and how she died [Unknown].

This article traces where the names "Nōhime" and "Kichō" come from and what became of her, checking each story against the date of the record that tells it.

Japanese months and days refer to the historical lunisolar calendar. The Western date given for the Honnō-ji Incident uses the Julian calendar. Ages use the traditional Japanese count, in which a person was counted as one at birth and gained a year at the start of each new year in the Japanese calendar.

Key points are tagged: [Fact] confirmed by records from the time, [Widely accepted] a view widely accepted by researchers, [Debated] accounts, interpretations or ways of counting differ, [Unknown] not established from the sources we checked, [Legend] stories found in later records or traditions, [Folk belief] popular claims with little evidence, and [Drama fiction] scenes created for dramas, novels or films.

I am Uesugi Kenshin. Today's subject is Nobunaga's wife, Nōhime.

I'm Date Masamune! She's the one who fought beside Nobunaga with a naginata at Honnō-ji, right?

A familiar scene from TV dramas. But follow the records, and the story turns out quite different. Let us check it together.

Jump to the part you want to read:

• Who was Nōhime (Kichō)?
• Nōhime or Kichō? Her real name and where the names come from
• How did Nōhime die? Comparing the theories
• Nōhime and Nobunaga: their marriage and age difference
• Did Nōhime have children?
• Who were Nōhime's parents? Was she Akechi Mitsuhide's cousin?
• Nōhime in novels, TV dramas and films
• Statues, graves and places connected with Nōhime
• FAQ

Who Was Nōhime (Kichō)?

In a single sentence, Nōhime was "the daughter of Saitō Dōsan of Mino, who became Oda Nobunaga's principal wife through a marriage that made peace between Owari and Mino".

In the Sengoku period (the age of warring states, roughly 1467–1590), Nobunaga's father, Oda Nobuhide of Owari, and Saitō Dōsan of Mino fought each other many times. Eventually the two houses made peace, and as a sign of it, a marriage was arranged between Nobunaga and Dōsan's daughter [Fact: Shinchō Kōki]. A marriage like this, arranged to tie two houses together, is called a political marriage.

Here is a profile of what is known:

Image: What the records show, and do not show, about Nōhime's life (made by Samurai Lord)

As the chart shows, the main clues that lead to Nōhime herself are the account of the marriage in the Shinchō Kōki and the mention of "Nobunaga's principal wife" in a court noble's diary of 1569. The diary, however, does not give her name (more). Most other stories come from books written in the Edo period (1603–1868) or later, or from local tradition.

We found no portrait confirmed to show her either [Unknown]. There are photos of a picture displayed as "Nōhime" inside Gifu Castle (Gifu City), but we could not confirm who painted it or when. (The keep and museum of Gifu Castle are scheduled to be closed for renovation until the end of October 2027, as of October 20, 2026.)

Nōhime or Kichō? Her Real Name and Where the Names Come From

In short, "Nōhime" and "Kichō" are two names for the same woman. Neither, however, appears in records from her own lifetime. Her real name is unknown [Unknown].

Where the names come from has been studied in detail by Matsuura Yoshiki of the National Institute of Technology, Toyota College, in a 2014 paper on the names "Kichō," "Kochō" and "Kikyō" for Nōhime. Based on that paper, we have arranged the books in which the names appear in order of date.

Image: Timeline of the books in which Nōhime's names appear (made by Samurai Lord based on Matsuura Yoshiki's 2014 paper; the years are when each book was written or published)

"Nōhime" Means "the Princess from Mino"

"Nōhime" is a name meaning "the princess who came from Mino" [Legend]. The oldest example found in Matsuura's survey is the popular book Bushō Kanjōki, published in 1716 (Shōtoku 6). The name then appears in the Ehon Taikōki, published from 1797 (Kansei 9).

The reading is interesting. Edo-period books gloss the name as "No-hime," not "Nōhime." Some books from the end of the Edo period write it "Mino-hime," and Matsuura regards "Nohime" as a shortened form of "Minohime." The reading "Nōhime" is found from the Meishō Genkōroku, a collection of anecdotes compiled from the end of the Edo period into the early Meiji era.

"Kichō" Comes from the Mino no Kuni Shokyūki

"Kichō" (written with characters meaning "return" and "butterfly") is a name that appears in the Mino no Kuni Shokyūki, an Edo-period history of Mino [Legend]. Among the old books Matsuura examined, it appears only in this one.

Another book, the Bukō Yawa, writes her name as "Kochō" ("butterfly"). However, this book only became known in the mid-20th century, and many suspect it of being a later forgery.

Because the characters 帰 (ki) and 胡 (ko) look very similar in cursive handwriting, Matsuura suggests that "Kichō" may originally have been a misreading of "Kochō." Matsuura presents this only as a conjecture, and it has not been confirmed.

The Names Spread Through the Novel Kunitori Monogatari

What made the names "Nōhime" and "Kichō" widely known was Shiba Ryōtarō's novel Kunitori Monogatari (roughly "The Tale of Seizing a Province"), serialized in a magazine from 1963. According to Matsuura, the novel used both names with reading guides, and from there they spread to the general public.

Image: Nōhime peering at a record, wondering what her name was

So she may never have been called "Nōhime" or "Kichō" in her own lifetime!

Just so. Both names come from books written long afterward.

How Did Nōhime Die? Comparing the Theories

There are many theories about Nōhime's end: that she died young, that she was divorced, that she died with Nobunaga at Honnō-ji, or that she lived a long life. An important clue for judging between them is the following diary entry.

The Key Clue: "Nobunaga's Principal Wife" in a Diary of 1569

The Kyoto court noble Yamashina Tokitsugu kept a diary of daily events. In his Tokitsugu Kyōki, the entry for the 27th day of the 7th month of 1569 (Eiroku 12) uses the words "Nobunaga's principal wife" (Nobunaga honsai).

Yoshitatsu was Dōsan's eldest son and Nōhime's brother (Edo-period books say he was her half-brother, with a different mother). In his last years he used the family name Isshiki. Because "Nobunaga's principal wife" appears in an entry about Yoshitatsu's widow, the leading view is that this principal wife was Dōsan's daughter, that is, Nōhime [Widely accepted].

If so, Nōhime was still alive in 1569 (aged 35 by the traditional count, if she was born in 1535) and was still Nobunaga's principal wife. That does not fit the theories that she died young or was divorced before then.

Comparing the Theories About Her End

Here are the main theories, with their evidence and their weak points:

Did She Die Fighting Beside Nobunaga at Honnō-ji?

The scene of Nōhime fighting beside Nobunaga with a naginata (a pole weapon with a curved blade) at Honnō-ji is familiar from TV dramas. But the Shinchō Kōki, which describes the Honnō-ji Incident (June 21, 1582; the 2nd day of the 6th month of Tenshō 10), paints a different picture.

After this, Nobunaga went into the inner part of the hall and killed himself [Fact: Shinchō Kōki].

Image: Nobunaga at Honnō-ji, shouting to the women around him to flee

On the other hand, some Meiji-era nishiki-e (multicolored woodblock prints) show a woman swinging a naginata at Honnō-ji.

Image: Part of Yōsai Nobukazu, Honnō-ji Yakiuchi no Zu ("The Burning of Honnō-ji," 1896; collection of Nagoya City). In the center a long-haired woman swings a naginata; on the right, Oda Nobunaga looks out from inside a room. The print does not name the woman. Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

The woman in this print is not named, so we cannot say she is Nōhime. A Shōwa-era NHK historical drama does show Nōhime fighting with a naginata at Honnō-ji. But both the print and the drama were made long after the Honnō-ji Incident and are no evidence that Nōhime was there [Folk belief].

In Gifu City there is also "Onō's grave," a hair mound where a retainer who escaped after the Honnō-ji Incident is said to have buried a lock of Nōhime's hair [Legend] (more).

Did She Live On After Honnō-ji? "Azuchi-dono" and "Yōkain"

On the other hand, some theories say that Nōhime lived long after the Honnō-ji Incident [Debated]. There are two clues, and they need to be considered separately.

The first is "Azuchi-dono." A woman called "Azuchi-dono" appears in the Oda Nobukatsu Bugenchō, a register of the retainers and lands of Nobunaga's second son, Oda Nobukatsu. One theory takes her to be one of Nobunaga's wives, named after Azuchi Castle, and identifies her as Nōhime. However, we found no record saying that Azuchi-dono was Nōhime.

The second is "Yōkain." A temple register (『泰巌相公縁会名簿』), said to have been compiled in or after the mid-18th century, is reported to list a woman with the Buddhist name 養華院殿要津妙玄大姉 (Yōkain), who died in the 7th month of 1612 (Keichō 17), as "Lord Nobunaga's midai (principal wife)." (We have not been able to check the original text of the register.) If Yōkain was Nōhime, and if she was born in 1535, she would have lived to 78 by the traditional count.

If the reported compilation date is correct, the register was compiled more than a century after Yōkain's recorded death in 1612, and researchers disagree about whether this woman was Nōhime. Some encyclopedias follow this theory and give her dates as "1535–1612," but neither Azuchi-dono nor Yōkain has been confirmed to be Nōhime.

What Was Her Cause of Death?

Whether she died early or lived long, in the sources we checked, we found no record of what illness or event caused Nōhime's death [Unknown]. Even under the 1612 theory, the only clue is the date of Yōkain's death in the register, and Nōhime's own cause of death remains unknown. Claims that she "died of old age" or "died in Kyoto" are guesses.

Nōhime and Nobunaga: Their Marriage and Age Difference

You may come across claims that "Nobunaga doted on Nōhime" or that "they were deeply in love." However, in the records from the time that we checked, we found no description of how close they were as a couple [Unknown]. From those records, we cannot tell whether they got along well or badly.

When Did They Marry, and How Old Were They?

The Shinchō Kōki does not give the year of the marriage. The historian Owada Tetsuo thinks that, since the last battle between the Oda and the Saitō was in 1547 (Tenbun 16), the peace and the marriage probably came the following year, 1548 (Tenbun 17). The Mino no Kuni Shokyūki, on the other hand, gives the 24th day of the 2nd month of Tenbun 18 (1549) [Debated].

Nobunaga was born in the 5th month of 1534 (Tenbun 3), so at the time of the marriage he was 15 or 16 by the traditional count. Nōhime's birth year is uncertain, but if we follow the Mino no Kuni Shokyūki, which says she was born in 1535 (Tenbun 4), she was 14 or 15, and one year younger than Nobunaga.

Image: Nōhime on her way from Mino to her marriage in Owari

Was She Married to Someone Else Before Nobunaga?

There is a story that a daughter of Dōsan was married, before Nobunaga, into the Toki family, the hereditary governors (shugo) of Mino, and some take this as Nōhime's first marriage [Debated]. However, it has not been confirmed that this daughter was Nōhime.

Is the Story of Nobunaga Slipping Out at Night True?

The Edo-period popular books Bushō Kanjōki (1716) and Ehon Taikōki tell the following story.

Every night, after Nōhime had fallen asleep, Nobunaga quietly got up and went outside. When she asked why, he confided that Dōsan's senior retainers were plotting to betray and kill Dōsan, and that he was waiting for their signal fire. Nōhime told her father, and Dōsan had those retainers executed. This, it turns out, was exactly Nobunaga's scheme.

It is a clever tale, but it comes from Edo-period popular books and cannot be confirmed from records of the time [Legend].

For Nobunaga's wives and consorts, see also "Who Was Oda Nobunaga's Wife?" in our article on Oda Nobunaga.

Did Nōhime Have Children?

In the sources we checked, we found no record that Nōhime gave birth to a child [Unknown].

Some Edo-period books do mention children. The Seishū Gunki (1638) says that Dōsan's daughter, Nobunaga's midai (principal wife), "had no son," and the Mino Meisaiki (1738) says that Nobunaga's principal wife "had no children" [Legend].

Edo-period books also say that Nōhime adopted Nobunaga's eldest son, Nobutada, born to a daughter of the Ikoma family who was one of his secondary wives, and made him the heir [Legend]. Whether she really adopted him, or actually raised him, is unknown.

Some people take the lack of records about children to mean that "the couple did not get along" or that "she was sickly," but the absence of records alone does not support such conclusions.

Most of Nobunaga's children are said to have been born to his secondary wives [Widely accepted]. His eldest son Nobutada was born in 1557 (Kōji 3), and his mother is said to have been a daughter of the Ikoma family [Widely accepted]. For Nobunaga's children, see the family tree in our article on Oda Nobunaga.

Image: Nōhime lost in thought on the veranda of a mansion

Who Were Nōhime's Parents? Was She Akechi Mitsuhide's Cousin?

Image: Nōhime's family tree (solid lines show relationships confirmed by records; dashed lines show relationships found in Edo-period books and similar sources. Made by Samurai Lord)

Her Father, Saitō Dōsan, "the Viper of Mino"

Her father, Saitō Dōsan, rose from a family of retainers of the Toki, the governors of Mino, to become the warlord ruling Mino. His cunning earned him the nickname "the Viper of Mino," though the nickname was given in later times.

After marrying his daughter to Nobunaga, Dōsan fell out with his son Yoshitatsu, and in the 4th month of 1556 (Kōji 2) he was killed fighting Yoshitatsu's army by the Nagara River [Fact].

Image: Dōsan telling his daughter Nōhime about the marriage to Nobunaga

Was Her Mother "Omi no Kata"?

The Mino no Kuni Shokyūki says her mother was Omi no Kata, a daughter of the Akechi family [Legend]. The same book names a different woman, Miyoshino, as Yoshitatsu's mother, making Yoshitatsu and Nōhime half-siblings [Legend].

Was She a Cousin of Akechi Mitsuhide?

The Mino no Kuni Shokyūki makes Nōhime a cousin of Akechi Mitsuhide [Legend], on the grounds that her mother, Omi no Kata, came from the Akechi family. Mitsuhide was the general who later turned against Nobunaga at Honnō-ji.

However, we found no other source confirming that they were cousins, and Mitsuhide himself is a man whose birth year and parents are unclear. The idea became widely known through the NHK historical drama Kirin ga Kuru (2020), which presented Kichō as Mitsuhide's cousin. For Mitsuhide, see our article on Akechi Mitsuhide.

Oichi, Her Sister-in-Law

Nōhime was the sister-in-law of Nobunaga's younger sister, Oichi. We found no record of a meeting between the two women in the sources we checked. For Oichi, see our article on Oichi.

Nōhime in Novels, TV Dramas and Films

Nōhime has appeared in many novels, TV dramas and films. Here are some of the main works:

Image: Nōhime introducing the Nōhime of dramas and novels

For NHK's 2026 historical drama Toyotomi Kyōdai! (Toyotomi Brothers!), the chief producer explained in a February 2026 interview that Nōhime (Kichō) would not be shown on screen, so as to bring out Nobunaga's solitude (TV Guide Web, February 14, 2026). This is a decision about how the drama portrays its characters, not a new finding about the historical Nōhime.

Statues, Graves and Places Connected with Nōhime

Places said to be connected with Nōhime are found in Aichi Prefecture, Gifu Prefecture and Kyoto. Some of the connections can be confirmed from records, while others are only local traditions, so we introduce them separately.

The Statues of Nobunaga and Nōhime (Kiyosu Park)

In Kiyosu Park in Kiyosu, Aichi Prefecture, there is a bronze statue of Nobunaga and a statue of Nōhime, who seems to look up at him. Both are modern statues.

Image: The statues of Nōhime (left) and Oda Nobunaga (right) in Kiyosu Park. Wikimedia Commons (photo: baggio4ever, CC BY 3.0)

Onō's Grave (the Nōhime Hair Mound)

In Fudō-chō, Gifu City, there is "Onō's grave" (the Nōhime hair mound). It is said that after the Honnō-ji Incident a retainer who escaped buried a lock of Nōhime's hair here [Legend]. It was destroyed in the air raid on Gifu in 1945 and rebuilt by local people in 1976. It is not a designated historic site of the nation or the city.

Image: Onō's grave (the Nōhime hair mound) in Fudō-chō, Gifu City. Wikimedia Commons (photo: 先徒隗始, CC0)

Sōkenin at Daitokuji, Kyoto

Sōkenin, a subtemple of Daitokuji in Kita Ward, Kyoto, was founded by Toyotomi Hideyoshi for the first anniversary of Nobunaga's death. It holds graves of the Oda family, and among them is said to be a gorintō (a five-tiered stone memorial tower) for "Yōkain," who died in 1612 and who is identified with Nōhime in the long-life theory [Debated]. The temple is usually closed to the public but can sometimes be visited during special openings.

The Site of Sagiyama Castle and a New Excavation at Its Foot (Gifu City)

Mt. Sagiyama in Gifu City is a small hill said to have held the castle where Dōsan lived in his later years [Legend]. Because the Mino no Kuni Shokyūki calls Nōhime "Sagiyama-dono," it is sometimes described as the place where she grew up, but this cannot be confirmed from the records [Legend].

Image: The monument for the site of Sagiyama Castle on the summit of Mt. Sagiyama (Gifu City). Wikimedia Commons (photo: Hide-sp, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Here is a summary of the main places:

FAQ

Summary: Who Was Nōhime?

Nōhime was the daughter of Saitō Dōsan of Mino and the principal wife of Oda Nobunaga, married to him to make peace between Owari and Mino. Her marriage is a firm fact, recorded in the Shinchō Kōki.

On the other hand, the names "Nōhime" and "Kichō" come from books written in the Edo period or later, and her real name is unknown. How and when she died are also unknown. The entry on "Nobunaga's principal wife" in a diary of 1569 is the most important clue to her life after the marriage.

The image of Nōhime fighting with a naginata at Honnō-ji, familiar from TV dramas, cannot be confirmed from the records of the time.

For related people, see our articles on Oda Nobunaga, Akechi Mitsuhide, Oichi and Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Precisely because the records are few, it matters to separate what we know from what we don't.

Tracing her names back to their sources was fascinating!

Sources & How This Article Was Written

This article is based mainly on the following records and references:

• A record from her time: Yamashina Tokitsugu, Tokitsugu Kyōki (entry for the 27th day of the 7th month of Eiroku 12; text from the database of the Historiographical Institute, the University of Tokyo, as quoted in Matsuura Yoshiki's paper)
• Later records: Ōta Gyūichi, Shinchō Kōki (the opening book from the Kadokawa Bunko edition as quoted in Matsuura's paper; book 15 and Dōsan's death from the 1881 printed edition on Wikisource; available in English as The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga, translated by J. S. A. Elisonas and J. P. Lamers, Brill, 2011); Mino no Kuni Shokyūki (Kokushi Sōsho edition, 1915, from the image in Matsuura's paper); Seishū Gunki, Mino Meisaiki, Bushō Kanjōki and Ehon Taikōki (as cited in Matsuura's paper)
• Study (in Japanese): Matsuura Yoshiki, "On the Name of Nohime 'Kicho', 'Kocho', 'Kikyo'" (Journal of National Institute of Technology, Toyota College, vol. 46, 2014; the views of Owada Tetsuo and Kuwata Tadachika are also cited from this paper)
• Public sources (in Japanese; titles translated by us): Gifu City, "Onō's Grave"; Gifu City, "Materials for the On-site Briefing on the Fiscal 2025 Excavation of the Sagiyama Ichiba Site" (2026); Gifu Prefecture Tourism Federation, "Nōhime Hair Mound" and "Site of Sagiyama Castle"
• On the dramas (in Japanese): TV Guide Web, interview with the chief producer of Toyotomi Kyōdai! (February 14, 2026); Yahoo! News Expert, on why Kichō does not appear in Toyotomi Kyōdai! (February 15, 2026); Serai.jp, on Kichō in Kirin ga Kuru (March 21, 2020)
• Images: Yōsai Nobukazu, Honnō-ji Yakiuchi no Zu (collection of Nagoya City, public domain), and the photos of the statues in Kiyosu Park (baggio4ever, CC BY 3.0), Onō's grave (先徒隗始, CC0) and the site of Sagiyama Castle (Hide-sp, CC BY-SA 3.0) are from Wikimedia Commons. The timelines, family tree, manga panels and illustrations are original works by Samurai Lord

We keep "what a record says" separate from "what actually happened."

This article was written by the Samurai Lord editorial team and is revised as new research and reader feedback come in. If you spot an error, please let us know through our contact form (in Japanese) and we will check and correct it.