Sūgen fujin gorinsekitō 崇源夫人五輪石塔すうげんふじんごりんせきとう

Memorial for Lady Sūgen

The largest five-tier stone monument at Oku-no-in is 6.6 meters in height with a base more than 3 meters wide. It was commissioned in 1627 and took three years to complete. While not as tall, for instance, as the sarsens of Stonehenge, it is still quite impressive, and, for this reason, referred to as "Ichiban-hi," or "Number One Stone. "

The monument was built by Tokugawa Tadanaga in memory of his mother, Lady Sūgen). Variously known as Oeyo, Ogō or Satoko, Lady Sūgen was related by blood, adoption and multiple marriages to the three most powerful families of late 16th- and early 17th-century Japan. Her mother (Oichi) was the sister of Oda Nobunaga. In the period before her first marriage, Lady Sūgen was adopted by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, whose nephew, Hidekatsu, became her second husband. After Hidekatsu's death during Japan's attempted invasion of Korea, Oeyo married the son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, Tokugawa Hidetada who served as the second Tokugawa Shōgun from 1605 to 1623.

Hidetada and Lady Sūgen had two sons: Iemitsu (1604-1651) who succeeded his father as the third Tokugawa Shōgun, and Tadanaga, who was also known as the Major Counsellor of Suruga. It is thought that Lady Sūgen had favored Tadanaga over the elder Iemitsu at the time of their father's abdication. And this might explain the young Tadanaga's grand gesture of filial piety in erecting this enormous memorial to his mother. (He was only 20 years old at the time.)

After the death in 1632 of the retired Hidetada, Tadanaga was accused by his older brother of plotting against him, and he was forced to commit ritual suicide at the age of 27.

KoyaQuest

KoyaQuest

KoyaQuest

Memorial for Lady Sūgen

KoyaQuest

Memorial for Lady Sūgen

Sūgen fujin gorinsekitō 崇源夫人五輪石塔すうげんふじんごりんせきとう

Memorial for Lady Sūgen