Editing Horizon:Volume 9A Preface (section)

==Installation==
[[Image:Horizon_9A_allcover-002_001.jpg|thumb]]
Oichi no Kata

Oichi-sama (why am I adding the honorific?) would probably be at the top of the list of best Sengoku wives, along with Lady Nagaoka from before.

She’s started appearing more in games and such of late, so it’s a wonderful time for the world’s wife lovers, but I doubt she thought she would be this popular 400 years later.


The historical one had a lot of ups and downs in her life. You probably already know she was Nobunaga’s sister (some say cousin instead) and was said to be one of the most beautiful women of the Warring States period, but the Oda clan did a lot of political marriages and she was married off at 21. I guess it was just her turn then. By the standards of the time, that was a fairly late marriage. 

But it is said she got along well with her husband Azai Nagamasa and had two sons and three daughters with him (although the eldest son may have been adopted).

But when the Oda clan attacked the Asakura clan, which was friendly with Azai, Oda and Azai became enemies. Oda ended up slaying Azai for opposing them and Oichi-sama returned to Oda with her children. She was 27 then.

The Honnouji Incident happened nine years later and the following year, at 37, she married Shibata Katsuie. After the Battle of Shizugatake, she and Katsuie killed themselves.

We have no records of anything she said about the destruction of the Azai clan during her ten years after returning from Azai to Oda, but since she and her children were treated well in the Oda clan and since she sent Hideyoshi a letter telling him to protect her children after Katsuie’s defeat at Shizugatake, we can tell she had relationships that crossed the line between enemy and ally.

Her daughter Chacha became Hideyoshi’s concubine and her daughter Hatsu married into the Kyougoku clan, but her daughter Gou ultimately became Tokugawa Hidetada’s wife. Gou’s son was Iemitsu, giving her a family link to Emperor Showa, which means Oichi-sama is a common ancestor of both Yodogimi and the current emperor. In a way, she conquered the east, west, and center of Japan. If she hadn’t lived the life she did, I feel like it would have changed the course of Japanese history. The late 16th century has an absurd density of history.

Also, a record from when she was 37 says (loosely interpreted), “She doesn’t look a day older than 22 or 23!”, so what couldn’t she do?


Ya-san drew out her design after looking at my rough image, so this is where it started.

I designed her as a grieving woman, but I didn’t want to forget her good upbringing, so I added the fur of a Russian uniform to her M.H.R.R. clothing, which makes her look more mature.

Since she swings large objects around in combat, I kept the silhouette of her torso and arms exposed. If you include her historical specs, she has to be one of the all-around strongest characters.

(Kawakami Minoru)


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