This is a list of female castellans in Japanese history.
The list includes the following persons:
The list does not include:
| Name | Allegiance | Castle | Reign | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harima no Tsubone | Ōkura clan | Hondo castle | 1233 - Unknown (Kamakura period) | |||
| rowspan | Otazu no kata[1] | rowspan | None | rowspan | Hikuma Castle (Tōtōmi Province) | 1566–1568 |
| rowspan | Lady Otsuya | rowspan | Oda clan | rowspan | Iwamura Castle (Mino province) | 1572 |
| rowspan | Tachibana Ginchiyo | rowspan | Ōtomo clan | rowspan | Tachibana Castle (Chikuzen province) | 1575–1581 |
| rowspan | Onamihime[2] | rowspan | Ashina clan | rowspan | Sukagawa Castle (Mutsu province) | 1582–1588 |
| rowspan | Ashikaga Ujinohime | rowspan | （ Later Hōjō clan） | rowspan | Koga Castle (Shimōsa Province) | 1583–1590 |
| rowspan | Enkyū-ni | rowspan | Ryūzōji clan | rowspan | Kamafunatsu Castle (Chikugo Province) | 1584[3] |
| Yodo-dono | Toyotomi clan | Yodo castle (Yamashiro Province) | 1589[4] | |||
| Ashikaga Ujinohime(2) | Toyotomi clan→ Kitsuregawa clan | Kōnosu Palace (Shimōsa Province) | 1590–1620 | |||
| Kōdai-in | Toyotomi clan→ Tokugawa clan | Kyōto New castle (Yamashiro Province)[5] | 1599–1623 | |||
| Seishin-ni | Nanbu clan | Ne Castle (Mutsu province) | 1614–1620 | |||
A sequence of women who acted remarkably as castellans, without being a formal heiress, or female castellans where there is little detail about their administration, area and castle.
Luís Fróis describes that a woman was the ruler of an area that is currently Ōita city, that woman was probably Myorin. Her son inherited the clan leadership after the death of Yoshioka Akioki. Because he was very young, Myorin became the representative head of Tsurusaki castle as a counselor for her son. Cases like these were common in all of Japanese history.[10] [11]
In 1586, she was appointed leader of the Munataka clan by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, because of her efforts in the Kyushu campaign.
She was granted by Shimazu Yoshihiro landholdings of 5,000 koku in the Hioki District of Satsuma, by Shimazu Yoshihisa additional landholdings of 2,739 koku in the village of Ōnejime in Ōsumi Province. In 1611, she received Kokubu Castle after her divorce. In 1624, she received another grant of 10,000 koku free of levies for her generation.
She formally received Yodo Castle in 1589. After Hideyoshi's death, she acted as guardian of his heir Toyotomi Hideyori. Following the fall of the Council of Five Elders that resulted in the Battle of Sekigahara, Yodo-dono becomes the chief representative of the Toyotomi clan and Osaka Castle.
In Otomo Family Document (大友家文書録), it is described that she owned lands on the Kunisaki Peninsula, an area run by her family, the Nata clan.[12]
She was the female castellan of a minor castle, the Fujishiro-kan (藤代館) in Mutsu Province.[13]