Kashiwade no Hokikimi no Iratsume (膳部菩岐々美郎女)
KASHIWADE no Hokikimi no Iratsume (year of birth unknown - April 7, 622) was a woman in the Nara period. She was a wife of Prince Shotoku. She is also referred to as KASHIWADE no Oiratsume or Takahashi-hi.
Origin
She was from the Kashiwade clan, powerful family of tomonomiyatsuko (chiefs of various departments at the Imperial Court) from sixth to seventh century, and a daughter of KASHIWADE no Omi Katabuko (傾子, also written as 加多夫子). Her younger sister KASHIWADE no Hiroko no Iratsume became a wife of Prince Kume, younger brother of Prince Shotoku.
Career
In 598, she became a wife of Prince Shotoku. She gave a birth to four sons and four daughters, and one of them, Princess Tsukishine, married Prince Yamashiro no oe, her older paternal half-brother. A story says that Prince Shotoku trusted her and said "we shall be buried at the same place after our death." In 622, she became ill at the same time that Prince Shotoku did, and she died on a day before Prince Shotoku died (on February 21, according to old lunar calendar). She was buried in Shinagaryo, the same mausoleum as Prince Shotoku's.