Chikako, Princess Kazu
Japanese princess; youngest daughter of Emperor Ninkō and his concubine, Hashimoto Tsuneko
Chikako, Princess Kazu (和宮 親子内親王, Kazu-no-miya Chikako naishinnō; 1 August 1846 – 2 September 1877) (Kazunomiya) was the wife of 14th shōgun Tokugawa Iemochi. She was renamed Lady Seikan'in-no-miya after she took the tonsure as a widow. Chikako was the youngest child of Emperor Ninkō.
Biography
Her birth name was Chikako. She was the eighth and youngest daughter of Emperor Ninkō, and was renamed Kangyō'in (観行院) by his concubine, Hashimoto Tsuneko , after she took the tonsure. She was the younger half-sister of Emperor Kōmei.
A few months before her birth, her father, Emperor Ninkō, died unexpectedly. Born on 1 August 1846, her official birth date was changed to 10 May because the actual birth date was a bad omen date, and a double bad omen with the death of her father a few months before.
She was known as an excellent calligrapher and she was also highly regarded as a waka poet.
Family
Father: Emperor Ninkō
Mother: Hashimoto Tsuneko (1825–1865)
Husband: Tokugawa Iemochi
Adopted son: Tokugawa Iesato
Marriage
In 1851, Chikako was engaged to Prince Arisugawa Taruhito (有栖川宮熾仁親王).
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q907048. VIAF identifies the subject as 67268304. The Library of Congress control number is n88091785. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1846, 1877, 1825 and 1865.
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