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[[Image:和宮親子内親王.jpg|right|thumb|Kazu-no-Miya]]

[[Image:和宮親子内親王.jpg|right|thumb|Kazu-no-Miya]]

Kazu-no-Miya was the daughter of [[Emperor Ninko|Emperor Ninkô]] (1800-1846). She was engaged to [[Arisugawa-no-miya Taruhito|Prince Arisugawa-no-Miya Taruhito]], but later her marriage with the young shogun Iemochi was decided upon as part of the "[[Kobu Gattai|Kôbu Gattai]] ("Union of Emperor and Shogunate") policy. In [[1861]] she went to Edo via the [[Nakasendo|Nakasendô]] in a huge procession<ref>For the logistical problems involved, see "The Story of Princess Kazunomiya" http://hkuhist2.hku.hk/nakasendo/kazunomy.htm</ref> and married Iemochi the [[1862|next year]]. This was perhaps the largest procession to ever march down the Nakasendô, and it included some 20,000 samurai, ''[[kuge]]'', and others. All along the route, commoners watching from the sides of the road were obliged to prostrate themselves when the princess' palanquin passed; men sitting on the earthen floor (''[[doma]]'') outside of their homes, and women and children from atop the floor within their homes, or from viewing boxes set up for the occasion.<ref>Gallery labels, "Edo-zu-byôbu to gyôretsu" exhibition, National Museum of Japanese History, Sept 2014.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/15434468333/sizes/h/]</ref>

Kazu-no-Miya was the daughter of [[Emperor Ninko|Emperor Ninkô]] (1800-1846). She was engaged to [[Prince Arisugawa Taruhito]], but later her marriage with the young shogun Iemochi was decided upon as part of the "[[Kobu Gattai|Kôbu Gattai]] ("Union of Emperor and Shogunate") policy. In [[1861]] she went to Edo via the [[Nakasendo|Nakasendô]] in a huge procession<ref>For the logistical problems involved, see "The Story of Princess Kazunomiya" http://hkuhist2.hku.hk/nakasendo/kazunomy.htm</ref> and married Iemochi the [[1862|next year]]. This was perhaps the largest procession to ever march down the Nakasendô, and it included some 20,000 samurai, ''[[kuge]]'', and others. All along the route, commoners watching from the sides of the road were obliged to prostrate themselves when the princess' palanquin passed; men sitting on the earthen floor (''[[doma]]'') outside of their homes, and women and children from atop the floor within their homes, or from viewing boxes set up for the occasion.<ref>Gallery labels, "Edo-zu-byôbu to gyôretsu" exhibition, National Museum of Japanese History, Sept 2014.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/15434468333/sizes/h/]</ref>

However, Iemochi died in [[1866]], and Kazu-no-Miya became a nun, taking the name Seikan-in. At the end of the [[Boshin War]] she, the aunt of [[Emperor Meiji]], appealed to the victors for the continuance of the Tokugawa family.

However, Iemochi died in [[1866]], and Kazu-no-Miya became a nun, taking the name Seikan-in. At the end of the [[Boshin War]] she, the aunt of [[Emperor Meiji]], appealed to the victors for the continuance of the Tokugawa family.