Princess Kazu

Princess Kazu

Chikako, the Princess Kazu (和宮 親子内親王, Kazu-no-miya Chikako naishinnō?, 1 August 1846 – 2 September 1877) (Kazunomiya) was the wife of 14th shogun Tokugawa Iemochi. She was renamed Lady Seikan'in no miya after she took the tonsure as a widow.

She was the eighth and youngest daughter of Emperor Ninkō and his concubine, Hashimoto Tsuneko - renamed Kangyouin (観行院) after she took the tonsure. She was the younger half-sister of Emperor Kōmei. A few months after her birth, her father, Emperor Ninkō died unexpectedly. Born on 1 August 1846, her official birth date was changed to 3 July because the actual birth date was a bad omen date, and a double bad omen with the death of her father a few months later.

She was known as an excellent calligrapher and she was also highly regarded as a waka poet.

Read more about Princess Kazu:  Marriage, Buddhist Nun

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