Lady Hayakawa
Lady Hayakawa (早川殿, died April 4, 1613) was a Japanese women and aristocrat from the Sengoku period. Hayakawa is a common nickname for one of Daimyō Hōjō Ujiyasu's daughters, who lived in the Sengoku through early Edo period. She is best known for marrying into the Imagawa clan as a condition for The Kōsōsun Triple Alliance, a alliance who put daughters of Takeda, Imagawa and Hojo clan in a political marriage, event that would later change the fate of these three powerful clans.
Life
Elder daughter of Hōjō Ujiyasu, daimyō of Sagami province in Kanto, her mother was probably Zuikeii-in, sister of Imagawa Yoshimoto. In 1554, she married Imagawa Ujizane, her cousin, as an agreement of the Kai-Sagami-Suruga alliance, of which she has five children. Due to their political marriage, the Hojo clan, Takeda and Imagawa became allies.
However, in 1568, Shingen Takeda violated the agreement and invaded Imagawa. In 1571, Ujiyasu died, and his last wish was to renew his alliance with Takeda. Instead, she ran away with her husband and joined Tokugawa. In 1590, Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded the Hojo during the Siege of Odawara. Hayakawa's brothers and mother die. She died in 1613 in Edo. Lady Hayakawa and Ujizane Imagawa are the only couple in the Kai-Sagami-Suruga alliance who do not divorce and continue to live for the rest of their lives.
Her current grave stands at Kansen-ji in modern-day Suginami, Tokyo.
Family
- Father: Hōjō Ujiyasu
- Father-in-law: Imagawa Yoshimoto
- Husband: Imagawa Ujizane
- Sons:
- Imagawa Norimochi
- Shinagawa Takahisa
Further reading
- Turnbull, Stephen (2002). War in Japan: 1467-1615, Oxford: Osprey Publishing.