Shunmoji (春香院)
Shunmoji (June 18, 1580 - December 22, 1641) was the sixth daughter of Toshiie MAEDA and Hoshunin, and the biological younger sister of Toshinaga MAEDA. Her first name was Ochiyo. Chiyo MAEDA.
Shunmoji married Tadataka HOSOKAWA, the legitimate son of Tadaoki HOSOKAWA, in 1597, but was 'divorced from the Hosokawa family in 1600 for a certain reason (which was she did not commit suicide with the mother-in-law, Garasha HOSOKAWA)' (according to "Hosokawakeki menkoshuroku" (Records of the Hosokawa family)), and later remarried Nagatsugu MURAI, the son of Nagayori MURAI, who was from one of the eight Maeda Kaga families, and deeply trusted by Matsu (Hoshunin) (There are different theories on the timing: see 'Mystery about the timing of remarriage').
After remarrying, Shunmoji did not have a biological child with Nagatsugu MURAI, but adopted Nagamitsu (who was in fact, the child of Nagataka ODA, and the grandchild of Urakusai ODA), and after the death of Nagatsugu in 1613, she took the tonsure and entered the priesthood, and had a peaceful life in the Murai family under the Buddhist name Shunmoji for the latter half of her life. The Murai family was financially well off, with a kokudaka (assessed yield) of around 16,500 koku, and Shunmoji worked on the reconstruction of the Kumakabuto-jinja Shrine in the Noto territory after the death of Nagatsugu MURAI (according to "Toshiie MAEDA" by Yoshihiko IWASAWA etc.).
She died in 1641 in Kanazawa, at the age of sixty-two. Her grave is located on Mount Noda.
Shunmoji was the youngest child of Matsu (Hoshunin) born at the age of thirty-four and the most beloved among the siblings, and quite a few notes by Hoshunin in her own handwriting addressed to Shunmoji (Ochiyo: wife of Tadataka, etc., Kamoji: wife of Murai, Shunmoji) exist in the Kaetsuno Bunko (Kaetsuno collection) and Maeda Tosanokamike Shiryokan (Museum of the Maeda family, governor of Tosa Province) in Kanazawa City.
[From the genealogical table of the Maeda family]
Chiyohime (千世姫), Chiyohime (千代姫), or Nagahime. She first married Tadataka HOSOKAWA, the legitimate son of a feudal lord in Higo, Tadaoki HOSOKAWA; and later became the wife of Nagatsugu MURAI, a retainer of a feudal lord. She was born on June 18, 1580. Her mother was Hoshunin. She died on December 22, 1641. She died at the age of 62. Her Buddhist name was Shunmoji. She was buried in the ground on Mount Noda.
Mystery about the timing of remarriage
It is believed that Shunmoji remarried in 1605 ('Records of the Murai family' in the "Maedashi senkishu" - War records of the Maeda clan), but it is likely that the actual time that she joined the Murai family in Kaga was around 1611. After being divorced from the Hosokawa clan in 1600, Shunmoji lived together with disinherited Tadataka in Kyoto, and gave birth to a boy Kumachiyo, who died young, as well as Tokuhime (later, a wife of the minister of the left Saneharu SAIONJI), Yoshihime, Fukuhime (later, a wife of Michinori KUZE, the first generation of the Kuze family, a court noble in Kyoto), and Marihime (died young).
In other words, in spite of being divorced from the Hosokawa family, Shunmoji did not separate from Tadataka (who was called Kyumu NAGAOKA, after being disinherited from the Hosokawa family in 1604) until 1611.