Who Is Nene (One)?
Hideyoshi's wife, later known as Kita no Mandokoro
Nene, also known as Kita no Mandokoro, was the wife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Her name is also recorded as "One" and "Nei," among other forms, and accounts differ. She is said to have been born into the Sugihara family and adopted into the Asano family, and she married Hideyoshi while he was still Kinoshita Tokichiro.
In this manga she appears from Episode 2 as the woman who will become Tokichiro's wife. However, how the Taikoki itself portrays Nene is still being checked, and the story of how the two came together mainly follows the commonly told version.
When her husband became kampaku (imperial regent) she was called Kita no Mandokoro. She had no children of her own, but she is said to have looked after young retainers such as Kato Kiyomasa and Fukushima Masanori. After Hideyoshi's death she became a Buddhist nun under the name Kodai-in, built the temple Kodai-ji in Kyoto to pray for him, and died in 1624.
Episodes featuring this character3
NEWEpisode 2
Warm Sandals: Suck-Up or Genius?Tokichiro the Sandal Bearer
Hideyoshi, the lowest servant in the castle, warms his lord's sandals inside his shirt. Then he opens his big mouth and promises to fix a castle wall nobody can finish. Only when he shuts up, listens to the builders, and hands the credit to others do people finally start to move. Is he just a bootlicker, or something more?
19 pages
NEWEpisode 3
Build a Castle Before the Enemy WakesThe One-Night Castle of Sunomata
Everyone laughs when Tokichiro volunteers to build a castle the enemy keeps tearing down, right under their noses. His answer: don't build it, ship it, with river men and carpenters on his side. On the big night he must choose between a raft of castle parts and a man swept away, and his choice steals the enemy's morning.
21 pages
NEWEpisode 4
16 Men Took a Castle. He Gave It Back.Takenaka Hanbei
A man took a castle with just sixteen followers, inexplicably gave it back, and vanished into the mountains. Hideyoshi keeps climbing up to recruit him, but every compliment and gift is called out before he can use it. On his third visit, out of tricks, he offers the one thing he has left: his own weakness.
19 pages