Gracia, who would not be taken

An homage — 真理子 (child of truth)

In plain words

Akechi Tama was a traitor's daughter: in 1582 her father killed his lord, Oda Nobunaga. Married into the Hosokawa, she turned to the faith the Portuguese Jesuits had carried to Japan, and when Hideyoshi ordered the missionaries out in 1587 she had herself baptized at once, at home, by her own maid, a Christian named Maria. She took the name Gracia. On 25 August 1600, with Japan one battle from a single master, Ishida Mitsunari's men came to take her hostage. Her faith forbade her to take her own life, so her retainer took it, and the house was set on fire. The outrage broke Ishida's hostage plan, and eight weeks later Sekigahara made Tokugawa Ieyasu master of Japan. James Clavell drew Shōgun's Lady Mariko, baptized Maria, from her.

How it was checked

• StatusCOMMITTED
• Plate — Kurosawa Hirotada, Zenzō Honchō Kokon Retsujoden, vol. 2, 1668 · National Archives of Japan · Public domain · source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NAJDA-158-0155_%E5%85%A8%E5%83%8F%E6%9C%AC%E6%9C%9D%E5%8F%A4%E4%BB%8A%E5%88%97%E5%A5%B3%E4%BC%9D2_(%E7%B4%B0%E5%B7%9D%E5%BF%A0%E8%88%88%E5%AD%BA%E4%BA%BA).jpg
• SourcesPICTURE — Kurosawa Hirotada, Zenzō Honchō Kokon Retsujoden (Illustrated Lives of Exemplary Women of Japan, Past and Present), 1668, vol. 2: her death; National Archives of Japan, NAJDA-158-0155; public domain. POEM — her death poem (jisei), as the Japanese record keeps it; the English is plain and ours. HISTORY — Hosokawa Gracia in the standard histories: born Akechi Tama, 1563; baptized 1587; died at Osaka, 25 August 1600. NOVEL — James Clavell, Shōgun (1975): Toda Mariko, baptized Maria, modelled on her.