Tofukumon-in
- Born: 1607
- Died: 1678
- Other Names: 徳川和子 (Tokugawa Masako / Tokugawa Kazuko)
- Japanese: 東福門院 (Toufuku-mon-in)
Tokugawa Masako or Kazuko, better known today by the Buddhist name she took in retirement, Tôfukumon'in, was empress consort to Emperor Go-Mizunoo (r. 1611-1629) and granddaughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu. She was a particularly prominent and influential figure in the early decades of the Edo period, particularly in terms of Imperial-shogunate ties and relations, and artistic patronage.
She was married on 1620/6/18[1], at the age of 14, to Emperor Go-Mizunoo, who was compelled to take her as his consort for political reasons. They had three children, all daughters. The eldest succeeded Go-Mizunoo as tennô, becoming Empress Meishô. The two younger daughters were Princess Teruko (1625-1651) who married Konoe Hisatsugu, and Princess Akiko (1629-1675), also known as the Third Princess.[2]
References
- Lillehoj, Elizabeth. "A Gift for the Retired Empress." in Lillehoj (ed.). Acquisition: Art and Ownership in Edo-Period Japan. Floating World Editions, 2007. pp91-110.
- ↑ Cecilia Segawa Seigle, “Tokugawa Tsunayoshi and the Formation of Edo Castle Rituals of Giving,” in Martha Chaiklin (ed.), Mediated by Gifts: Politics and Society in Japan 1350-1850, Brill (2017), 123.
- ↑ Cecilia Segawa Seigle, "Shinanomiya Tsuneko: Portrait of a Court Lady," in Anne Walthall (ed.), The Human Tradition in Modern Japan, Scholarly Resources, Inc. (2002), 5.
