Maeda Matsu

Matsu as she is depicted in a sculpture at the Oyama Shrine in Kanazawa.

In this Japanese name, the family name is Maeda.

Maeda Matsu (前田まつ), aka Omatsu no Kata (お松の方) (1547–1617), was a Japanese woman of the 16th century. She was the wife of Maeda Toshiie, who founded the Kaga Domain. Matsu had a reputation for intelligence; she was skilled at both literary and martial arts. Her sons—Toshinaga, Toshimasa, and other Toshiie's sons-Toshitsune, Toshitaka, and Toshitoyo were each allowed their own individual title of daimyo and their own private fief. She also had four daughters: Kō, Maahime, Gōhime and Chiyo.

Cultural Influence

• Actress Matsushima Nanako acted as Maeda Matsu in NHK Taiga drama Toshiie to Matsu in 2002.
• In Tenchijin, one of her sons sells her to Tokugawa Ieyasu in order to live.
• In the game Devil Kings (Sengoku Basara), she fights as an unplayable character alongside Toshiie, where she is named as Bramble as he is named as Lark. These codenames are lost in the later game titles.
• In Sengoku Basara X, she and Toshiie are both helpers for their nephew Keiji.
• In Devil Kings' later titles: Sengoku Basara 2, Sengoku Basara 2: Heroes, and Sengoku Basara 3: Utage, she is a playable character and appears in Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes, as an NPC.
• She is a female bodyguard in the game Samurai Warriors 2 and Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends. In Samurai Warriors 3: Empires, Matsu is mentioned during a dialogue between Toshiie and Hideyoshi.
• She appears in the games Kessen as a playable character. She can also appear in Kessen III if the player have an "Enjoy Disc".