Koshōshō

Koshōshō is the historical nickname for Motochika's concubine. According to Chōsokabe Kyukkikō and Chōsokabe Keizu, Koshōshō was supposedly much older than her mate. She gave birth to one of his sons –who is only known under his title in historical records, Inner Bureaucrat of the Right– and one daughter, Kozaishō. While her mention in historical texts ends here, she is the topic of many unverifiable stories and legends.

Her Samurai Warriors counterpart is voted thirty-second by fans in the Samurai Warriors 4 character popularity poll.

Role in Games
Although she was born in Shikoku as the daughter to the governor of Awa, Koshōshō is proud of her reputation as "the maid of misfortune" and leaves her home to see the capital. She first decides to tag along with the Miyoshi clan to stop Nobunaga's conquests towards the capital. Interested in Hisahide's scheme and choosing to follow his orders, she inspires the other discontent clans to fight for the shogun's freedom at Kannonji Castle and Noda-Fukushima.

When the rebels are driven back, Koshōshō decides to initiate her own ambitions to take the Shikoku island for herself. She briefly returns home and lands herself luxury by conning the official of Shikoku, Kanesada Ichijō. She tells the lovestruck man to holler for Ōtomo reinforcements and works with the Tachibana to repel Motochika at Shimantogawa. As Kanesada's power falls, Koshōshō answers the call of help from her acquaintance, Magoichi, and helps repel the Oda invasion of his home. Afterwards, she returns to her Shikoku conquest and sides with the remnants of the Miyoshi to defy Motochika.

Much to her dismay, Koshōshō is captured during the fighting at Asan and brought before Motochika as a prisoner. Since he doesn't fall for her charms, she becomes fascinated by his rebellious spirit and decides to be with him when she is set free. She helps him support Mitsuhide at Honnōji and Yamazaki with the additional goal of protecting her self-proclaimed disciple. The Toyotomi's forces soon threaten to invade Shikoku, and she worries that Motochika has a death wish due to Mitsuhide's demise. She invites every man she knows to help their defense at Hiketa. They successfully drive back Mitsunari's first raid yet fail to surpass the larger army under Hideyoshi's command. Koshōshō continues to be beside Motochika until his off-screen death. Inheriting his will to always resist to the bitter end, she stands by the Toyotomi army at Sekigahara and Osaka Castle. Once she is defeated in the latter conflict, Koshōshō escapes to keep living for his memory.

Her 4-II centric story begins with her lover being killed by Magoichi. Naming him her next target, Koshōshō tails the mercenary to Shigizan Castle and Iyo. She jests that she is out for revenge and warns that he shall meet calamity like the others who fell for her charms. When he finds the ruins of his home, Koshōshō shares her knowledge of Mitsuhide and Motochika's revolt at Honnōji to him. He bars her from going with him, but she insists on being present to witness his fall. During the battle, Nobunaga orders a ninja unit to assassinate Koshōshō; Magoichi forsakes his revenge to distract the ninja and protect her.

Koshōshō heads to Hiketa to help Motochika and Gracia against the Toyotomi forces, hoping to find a new purpose for herself. Through their consultation and years of pondering, she begins to treasure herself and gains the courage to love again. When she hears that Gracia is in danger of being held hostage by Mitsunari, Koshōshō goes to her rescue. She no longer needs to rely on her memories of Magoichi to get by, and he disappears as she embraces Gracia. The ladies vow to live long lives for the loved ones whom died before them.

Development
Mieda remarked that Koshōshō was added as "the sexy contrast" to the "neat-and-tidy" Lady Hayakawa. The designer wanted her to be a "cheerful sexy" to contrast the darker Nō. Her hairstyle is something the designer always wanted to add to the series for impact. Koshōshō's overall design was deliberately created to be a fusion of modern and Warring States fashion.

Personality
As the living magnet for men's attention, Koshōshō is a devious and sassy thrill-seeker with bewitching charms. To her, all men are fools who grovel before her. Always playful in the battlefield, she exploits her powers over men at every opportunity. Koshōshō appears shamefully apathetic to their fall, seemingly proud of her self-proclaimed title as an "unlucky woman". Hardened by the times to be skeptic and one-sided, she ridicules criticism directed towards her and acts as a lone wolf. She never wants to break her suave image before others, disguising her concerns as an excuse for spreading misfortune.

In reality, she fears love and friendship because she feels she is jinxed to lose everyone close to her. Rather than experience the sorrow of losing someone, she convinces herself that their deaths are mere consequences of the age. Rejection and disappointment are easier for her accept. Afraid to face her compassion and guilt, Koshōshō lives her current lifestyle because she believes it's hopeless to change. When someone does break through her imposed barriers, her sarcastic retorts soften and become grateful towards the people who helped her regain genuine endearment.

Gracia may amuse Koshōshō with her sudden attachment, but the maiden's unexpected metal fortitude and optimism for the future catches the woman off guard. The admirer has no idea that her innocent wonder and reverence encourages her idol to overcome her inner insecurities and live up to her lofty expectations. Koshōshō fondly nicknames her after the maiden's preference for referring to herself ("われわ"ちゃん) in the Japanese script. For someone who prides herself on her knowledge of men, Motochika completely baffles her. He is immune to her teases and babbles about resisting the inevitable. Koshōshō is swept in by his charisma to become a believer in his rationale in her debut. Magoichi's charms are as fruitless as ever against her and other women in her latest story, but his insight and concern to her inner dilemma earns her attention. The mercenary's death left a deeper blow on her than she would care to admit.

Character Symbolism
In the Samurai Warriors series, she is symbolized by the kanji for "allure" (魅) and "embrangle" (惑).

Her rare weapon is named after Kaguyahimenomikoto who is thought to be the mythological model and inspiration for Kaguyahime. Kaguyahimenomikoto is thought to either be a bamboo tree or star deity with relatively unknown origins. She was either related to Emperor Kaika's daughter, Takanohime (literally: "bamboo meadow princess"), or she was Emperor Kaika's consort and took the name Takanohime after Emperor Suinin's ascension. Either account mentions that she was a mysterious beauty. If the reader believes she is a star goddess, the deity rules under the same sky as the deity mentioned in Motochika's rare weapon.

Koshōshō's downloadable weapon references Toyouke-Ōmikami, the goddess of agriculture and industry. Toyouke-Ōmikami was said to have provided food to Amaterasu herself.

Voice Actors

 * Ryoko Shiraishi - Samurai Warriors 4

Charge Moveset

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Hyper Moveset

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Mounted Moveset

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Weapons

 * ''See also Koshōshō/Weapons

Rare Weapon Acquisition

 * Stage: Battle of Hiketa

Japanese Folklore
Edo period folklore commonly depicts Koshōshō as an "evil wench" who schemes and condescends anyone who stands against her. Proud of her beauty and shamefully adulterous ways, she believed in marriages for convenience and would be seen walking with different men in a heartbeat. These tales argue that her son and daughter were not Motochika's biological children. Other tales insist that she was instead an innocent refuge forced by circumstance to leave her home. To distinguish between the two Koshōshō personas, the harlot incarnation might be called Ōgata-dono.

The Ōgata-dono version insists that she was Okamoto Bokusai's daughter. She was first Hosokawa Mochitaka's concubine (or wife) who gave birth to her lord's most cherished son, Saneyuki, sometime in her early youth. After her husband was killed by Miyoshi retainers, Ōgata-dono was sent to become Miyoshi Yoshikata's concubine for the sake of a political treaty. She gave birth to Nagahara and Sogō Masayasu during this time. The peace treaty lasted until Saneyuki and Nagahara disputed territorial rights. Ōgata-dono despaired the conflict between her two sons; in an effort to pacify the siblings, she sought an audience with Saneyuki. Either the gesture was deemed treacherous to the Hosokawa retainers or her son did not approve of her actions because a death warrant for her life was soon issued. Nagahara thought the order was a dastardly attack on traditional values and intensified his efforts to crush his adversary. During the intensified bloodshed, Ōgata-dono fled westward. Alternatively, it is said her apathetic promiscuity is primarily responsible for the feud in the first place. Both her sons loved her dearly and wanted to reclaim her as their own mother, but Ōgata-dono couldn't care less about them. As the sons obliterated one another, Ōgata-dono simply accepted it as a prime chance for her to leave both families.

Ōgata-dono's ties to the Miyoshi landed her her next husband, Shinohara Jiton, a Miyoshi family retainer within Awa Province. She enjoyed flaunting her position as the matriarch of Shōzui Castle and apparently bullied the castle servants in order to keep her many side affairs a secret from Jiton. Motochika's invasion in 1582 meant she did not enjoy her power for long, and she was forced to flee when the castle fell. Without guards or servants to help her, she wandered aimlessly into Ogō and was found by Motochika's forces. The Tosa Monogatari argues that Ōgata-dono was Jiton's political hostage over his lover. She was to stay within the retainer's domain until the Hosokawa-Miyoshi ended. Jiton was defeated by Motochika before the opportunity came to pass. Ōgata-dono was given to Motochika after the siege for a peace treaty. Ōgata-dono continued her promiscuous life when she was accepted into the Chōsokabe. Motochika supposedly didn't mind her lack of responsibility as long as she didn't leave him. She is fabled to have given birth with at least four other different men, although it is unclear with whom and when her other affairs took place.

While the Ōgata-dono scenario has been heralded as true for generations, modern research and historical records draws doubt on its plausibility. The nearly absent Bokusai, the dubious Hosokawa-Miyoshi family ties and the large discrepancy between the birthrates of her many alleged children are the main reasons for doubting its accuracy. If Ōgata-dono really did have that many husbands/lovers within her lifetime, she would have been in her mid-to-late fifties by the time she finally gave birth to Motochika's children.

Modern knowledge of female fertility has led to many disbelieving this incarnation in favor for another set of legends about Koshōshō. She has said to have been the daughter of one of Mitsuhide's younger sisters, or his niece, who was born approximately twenty or so years after Mitsuhide. When Ishigai Yoritoki, a Saitō retainer who served under the Akechi clan, fled westwards into Ogō he brought his immediate family and a handful of other refugees from the failure of Yamazaki with him. Motochika was indebted to the departed Mitsuhide since his attack at Honnōji canceled the grueling defenses for Shikoku. To show his appreciation to the scattered Akechi, he sought to care for them and to ensure the safety of Mitsuhide's remaining lineage to the best of his ability.

Koshōshō isn't recorded to have been among the refugees, but legends will insist as much when Yoritoki enters the Chōsokabe's service. Yoritoki, his wife and daughters perish four years later during the early movements of Hideyoshi's invasion of Kyushu. Motochika had suffered immensely himself as his treasured son, Nobuchika, had perished only days before. Hearing the news of Yoritoki's demise was said to have broken his spirit. It is during this fragile time that Koshōshō came to his side to comfort him. He was able to overcome his grief as he remembered the tragedy which befell the Akechi and was encouraged by Koshōshō to once again fight for his clan's safety. Forever grateful for her presence, Koshōshō quickly became Motochika's concubine.

Proponents for this legend argue that it would fix problems for feasible childbearing since Koshōshō would roughly be in her mid thirties. It does, however, roughly contradict with the historical note of Koshōshō being older than Motochika. Again, other interpretations of this scenario insist that she was actually in close proximity to Mitsuhide's age, thereby rearing the issue of her low childbearing success rate. This story has also been argued to likely be a romanticized tale of Yoritoki's unnamed daughter and Motochika's mistress; Koshōshō and her imposed ties to the Akechi is believed to have been added after the fact in fiction. Another argument against this story is that her alleged family ties to the Saitō is being confused and twisted with another Koshōshō (Asakura Yoshikage's consort).

Regardless of the incarnation, Koshōshō's fate after giving birth to Motochika's children remains disputed. She may have perished due to complications from childbirth or she could have died to illness before Motochika's death. She could have become a nun to continue living past her lord for a time or could have lived to see past her clan's political demise. Koshōshō's blank slate for her origins and life will remain littered with stories until more historical records mentioning her are discovered.