Жена Оды Нобунаги: Нохимэ – загадочная фигура эпохи Сэнгоку

Wife of Oda Nobunaga, a major daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japanese history

, also known as Kichō (帰蝶) was a Japanese woman from the Sengoku period to the Azuchi–Momoyama period. She was the daughter of Saitō Dōsan, a Sengoku Daimyō of the Mino Province, and the lawful wife of Oda Nobunaga, a Sengoku Daimyō of the Owari Province.

There are very few reliable historical documents about Nōhime, and little is known about her real identity. Shinchō Kōki, which is considered to be of historical value, contains only a brief description of her marriage, after which her name does not appear at all. The exact dates of her birth and death are unknown, and Minonokuni Shokyūki states that she was born in 1535. While the first half of her life can be traced to some extent, the second half of her life is not known, nor is the date of her death, her family temple or her commandments, and various theories are mixed up. The name 'Nōhime' became popular as a result of its appearance in the Edo period's books Ehon Taikōki and Bushō Kanjōki. This was only a later name meaning "Noble Lady of ". She is sometimes referred to as Onō no kata (於濃の方).

It is not actually known when she married Nobunaga, nor is it known whether the couple were on good terms or not. As far as reliable documents show, it seems that she had no children with Nobunaga.

There are several well known anecdotes about Nōhime in the Edo period's Ehon Taikōki and Bushō Kanjōki. The first story is when Nōhime was to marry into the Oda clan. Dōsan handed her a kaiken and told her: 'If Nobunaga is as big a fool as rumoured, stab him to death with that dagger'. Then Nōhime replied: 'I understand. But maybe then this blade will be pointed at you'. The next story is about a year after they were married. Nobunaga began to repeatedly slip out of their bedchamber every night and return a short time later, and when Nōhime questioned him, suspecting an affair, he replied, "I have set up a plot against the retainers of the Saitō clan to cause them to rebel, and I'm waiting for the smoke signal to announce that they have defeated Dōsan". Nōhime was surprised and informed her father about it, and Dōsan killed the retainers whose names were on the letter. But this was Nobunaga's ruse to get Dōsan to kill his retainers. However, all of these are merely Edo period fictions born from the image of the 'daughter of Dōsan the pit viper'. There is no record of Nōhime in Azuchi Castle, and the role of Nobunaga's legal wife was played by his concubine Onabe no Kata. After the Honnō ji Incident, it was also Onabe no Kata who fulfilled the duty of legal wife to pray for the repose of Nobunaga's soul.