Okurakyo-no-tsubone (大蔵卿局)
Okurakyo-no-tsubone (? - June 4, 1615) was a woman in the Sengoku period (period of warring states) - the Edo Period.
Okura-no-tsubone
Kosode
She was a wife of Satomori ONO, jizamurai (local samurai) in Tango Province. Harunaga ONO, Harufusa ONO and Harutane ONO were her sons.
She served Yodo-dono and Hideyori TOYOTOMI as menoto (a woman providing breast-feed to a highborn baby).
She wielded power inside the Toyotomi family along with Ono three brothers, her sons, after Kodaiin, Hideyoshi' lawful wife, and Kozosu, Kodaiin's attendant, passed away.
The incident of Hoko-ji Temple bell
When the incident of Hoko-ji Temple bell occurred in 1614, she went to Sunpu to see Ogosho (leading or influential figure) Ieyasu TOKUGAWA. In this meeting, Ieyasu hatched a plot to induce a split among the people of the Toyotomi family.
On one hand, Ieyasu proposed, humbly, a generous demand towards Okurakyo-no-tsubone. On the other hand, Ieyasu made severe demands on Katsumoto KATAGIRI, who represented the moderates and had been separately asking Ieyasu to save the Toyotomi family.
Naturally, the opinions of Okurakyo-no-tsubone and Katsumoto differed and didn't dovetail. Watchful people at Osaka Castle came to believe that Katsumoto was a spy of Tokugawa and eventually, Katsumoto was forced to leave Osaka Castle despite the persuasion by Yodo-dono.
Other moderate busho (Japanese military commander) who watched the scene also gave up on the future of the Toyotomi family and left Osaka Castle.
The end
After this incident, the Toyotomi family became extinct only one year later. After Hideyori and Yodo-dono were brought to bay and committed suicide, Okurakyo-no-tsubone followed them to the grave along with her son Harunaga.