Hosokawa Gracia

nihongo|Hosokawa Tama|細川玉|, usually referred to as nihongo|Hosokawa Garasha|細川ガラシャ|, (1563 - August 25 (17th day of the 7th month by the Japanese calendar), 1600) was a Japanese noblewoman, daughter of Akechi Mitsuhide. She was named Tama at birth; Garasha, the name she is known by in history, is taken from her baptismal name, Gracia. She married Hosokawa Tadaoki at the age of fifteen; the couple had five or six children.

In the Sixth Month of 1582, her father Akechi betrayed and killed his lord, Oda Nobunaga. Afterwards, Tama became known as a "traitor's daughter." Not wishing to divorce her, Tadaoki sent her to the hamlet of Midono in the mountains of the Tango Peninsula (now in Kyoto Prefecture), where she remained hidden until 1584. Tadaoki then took Tama to the Hosokawa mansion in Osaka, where she remained in confinement.

Tama's maid was from a Christian family, and her husband repeated to her conversations with his Christian friend Takayama Ukon. In the spring of 1587 Tama managed to secretly visit the Osaka church, and a few months later when she heard that Toyotomi Hideyoshi had issued a proclamation against Christianity, she determined to be baptized immediately. As she could not leave the house, she was baptized by her maid and received the Christian name "Gracia".

In 1595 Tadaoki's life was in danger because of his friendship with Toyotomi Hidetsugu, and he told Gracia that if he should die she must kill herself, but when she wrote asking the priests about it, they answered she must not as a Christian kill herself. However, the danger passed.

, the city where the families of many of Hideyoshi's generals resided. Ishida devised a plan to take the family members hostage, thus forcing the rival generals either to ally with him or at least not to attack him.

However, when Ishida attempted to take Gracia hostage, the family retainer Ogasawara Shōsai killed her; he and the rest of the household then committed seppuku and burned the mansion down. The outrage over her death was so great that Ishida was forced to abandon his plan.Most Japanese accounts said that it was Gracia's idea to order Ogasawara to kill her. But according to the Jesuit account written right after her death, whenever Tadaoki left the mansion he would tell his retainers that if his wife's honor were ever in danger, they should kill her and then themselves. They decided that this was such a situation; Gracia had anticipated it and accepted it.

A Catholic priest had Gracia's remains gathered from the Hosokawa mansion and buried them in a cemetery in Sakai. Later, Tadaoki moved the remains to Sōkenji, a temple in Osaka.

The Empress Shōken Haruko Ichijō, was the empress consort of Japan as the wife of Emperor Meiji, is a lineal descendant of lady Gracia Hosokawa,Fact|date=January 2008 she appears to have had a good cooperation with Christians in the Red Cross and otherwise. Empress Shoken was a descendant of the Fujiwara clan and through Garcia Hosokawa of the of the Minamoto clan.

Though popular culture states that the Vatican canonized her as a saint in 1862, there are no historical documents that prove this.

Hosokawa Gracia in popular culture

Gracia frequently appears as a character in Japanese historical fiction, both novels and drama. One website lists her as a character in over 40 stage dramas, movies, TV dramas, etc., from 1887 to 2006. She is also frequently referred to in popular writing or talks on the history of the period. A work that has been translated into English is Ayako Miura's novel, "Hosokawa Garasha Fujin" (English title: "Lady Gracia: a Samurai Wife's Love, Strife and Faith"), which follows history fairly closely.

James Clavell used Gracia as the model for the character of Mariko in his novel "Shogun", which was later adapted for television as a miniseries. Elements of Mariko's story follows Gracia's quite closely, although the manner of her death is different and the two characters do not fundamentally have anything in common.

For depictions in video, etc. that have nothing to do with history, see Japanese historical people in popular culture.She is a playable character in the video game Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends.

References

* J. Laures, "Two Japanese Christian Heroes", Rutland, VT: Bridgeway Press Books, 1959.