Shunkoin (Concubine of Shigehide SHIMAZU) (春光院 (島津重豪側室))
Shunkoin (1747- November 29, 1811) was a concubine of the eighth load of the Satsuma Domain, Shigehide SHIMAZU. The ninth load of the Satsuma Domain, Narinobu SHIMAZU was her son. Her father was Shironaga TSUTSUMI who was the head of an important noble family of Kyoto, the Tsutsumi family. Her childhood name is unknown; after becoming a concubine, she was called Ochimanokata.
According to a book "Shimazu Shigehide," she initially served Joganin (a concubine of Tsugutoyo SHIMAZU) as Joro (high rank female housekeeper). After Joganin's death, she became a concubine of Shigehide and bore his first son Narinobu, third son (his name is unknown) and fifth daughter Tae (or Katsu). On March 11, 1776, she went down to the Satsuma Domain; in August of 1789, her nickname was changed from Ochimanokata (or Ochimasama) to Gonaishosama (refer to "Shimazu-ke Reccho Seido" Vol. 27, Ch.1678 and 1732). In 1807, she came up to Edo by Shigehide's order. In 1811, she died at the residence for the Satsuma clan located at Takanawa, Edo (present Takanawa, Tokyo). She died at the age of 65. Her posthumous Buddhist name was Shunkoin-shingetsu-seiryo-daishi; she was buried in Daien-ji Temple (Suginami Ward, Tokyo), later re-buried in Fukusho-ji Temple of Satsuma (present Kagoshima City, Kagoshima Prefecture).