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All About Lady Saigo
(1552 � 1 July 1589), also known as Oai, was the first consort and trusted confidante of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the samurai lord who unified Japan at the end of the sixteenth century and then ruled as Shogun
She was also the mother of the second Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Hidetada.
During their relationship, Lady Saigo influenced Ieyasu's philosophies, choice of allies, and policies as he rose to power during the late Sengoku period, and she thus had an indirect effect on the organization and composition of the Tokugawa shogunate
Although less is known of her than some other figures of the era, she is generally regarded as the "power behind the throne", and her life has been compared to a "Cinderella story" of feudal Japan
Her contributions were considered so significant that she was posthumously inducted to the Senior First Rank of the Imperial Court, the highest honor that could be conferred by the Emperor of Japan.
Once she was in a respected and secure position as first consort and mother to Ieyasu's heir, Lady Saigo used her influence and wealth for charitable purposes
A devout Buddhist, she donated money to temples in Suruga province, where she resided as the consort of Ieyasu, first in Hamamatsu Castle and later in Sunpu Castle
As she was quite near-sighted, she also established a charitable organization that assisted visually impaired women with no other means of support
Lady Saigo died at a fairly young age, under somewhat mysterious circumstances
Although *** was suspected, no culprit was identified.
Lady Saigo bore four children: she had a son and a daughter (Saigo Katsutada and Tokuhime) while married, and she later bore two sons as the consort of Tokugawa Ieyasu: Tokugawa Hidetada and Matsudaira Tadayoshi
Among the descendants of Lady Saigo was the Empress Meisho , one of very few women to accede to the Chrysanthemum Throne as empress regnant.