Tale Of Refugee Samurai Princess 'Matsu' and Hachioji City, Tokyo

Today, I'd like to continue the story of the refugee Samurai princess "Matsu" whom I wrote about in my previous post on April 10th. She was born in 1561, during the Warring States Period of Japan, as the fourth daughter of a historical Samurai lord Shingen Takeda. He was a very powerful lord called "Tiger in Kai state" leading unstoppable mounted troopers. "Kai state" is the old place name of Yamanashi prefecture area. 

However Shingen Takeda collapsed by a sickness in 1573. It might be the start of disasters for princess Matsu's life because although a son of Shingen Takeda took over his position and the powerful troopers, but the son was defeated by another powerful lord Nobunaga Oda in 1582. Then all Takeda troopers were routed and princess Matsu also had to run away. The 450-year history of Takeda family as a Samurai lord ended in the year 1582.

As I mentioned in my previous post, princess Matsu went over mountains and finally reached Hachioji. Then she became a Buddhist nun and established a temple there. Her temple still exists in Hachioji City. The building was rebuilt and it looks splendid now as you can see in the upper left hand side photo. In front of the entrance of the temple there is a statue of princess Matsu with travel clothes as she arrived in Hachioji as in the upper center photo.

Apparently, even though she barely escaped with her life and arrived in Hachioji, she was with her little nieces. She raised her nieces by spunning silk yarns and weavibg silk fabrics by herself, and taught her knowledge and techniques to the locals. Thus she made a great contribution to the development of Hachioji city which became famous as a textile town later. 

Therefore she was respected by the local people and survivors of Takeda troopers until she died in 1616. Today, we can find her grave inside the temple ground which has been well taken care of as shown in the lower left hand side photo and the lower center photo. Her grave is standing quietly under a big pine tree. The grave stone has a wooden roof with her family crest decorated by flowers. Now it became a registered historical site by Hachioji City. 

Recently there was a local festival commemorating Princess Matsu. The festival was held on April 16th and called "Princess Matsu 400th Anniversary Festival". The young woman in the upper left hand side photo who played the role of princess Matsu, is wearing an old-fashioned Kimono just like her statue and taking girls who played roles of her nieces in the festival parade. Also a local sweets shop is selling sweets which are associated with her. The traditional sweet buns shown in the lower right hand side photo have her family crest on top. Hachioji people still love princess Matsu. 

In addition, if you are interested in taking a tour to this historic site, please feel free to contact me!