Lady Kasuga

Jōrō Otoshiyori
春日局
Kasuga no Tsubone
Portrait of Lady Kasuga
Born
Saitō Fuku (斉藤福)

1579
DiedOctober 26, 1643(1643-10-26) (aged 63–64)
Resting placeBunkyō, Tokyo
SpouseInaba Masanari
ChildrenInaba Masakatsu
Hotta Masatoshi (adopted)
other son
FatherSaitō Toshimitsu
Relatives Saitō clan
Inaba clan
Tokugawa clan
HonoursJunior Second Rank (従二位, 1629)

Lady Kasuga (春日局, Kasuga no Tsubone, 1579 – October 26, 1643) was a Japanese noble lady and politician from a prominent Japanese samurai family of the Azuchi–Momoyama and Edo periods. Born Saitō Fuku (斉藤福), she was a daughter of Saitō Toshimitsu (who was a retainer of Akechi Mitsuhide). She was the wet nurse of the third Tokugawa shōgun Iemitsu. Lady Kasuga was one of the best politicians in the Edo period. She stood in front of negotiations with the Imperial Court and contributed to the stabilization of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Kasuga was one of the most powerful figures in the Ōoku (the quarters in Edo Castle where the women related to the Shogun family resided) . She is counted alongside Matsudaira Nobutsuna and Yagyu Muneyori as one of the Three Tripod Legs, who supported and propped up Iemitsu.