Kakusan-ni

Kakusan-ni (Japanese: , August 10, 1252 – November 15, 1306), also known as Kakusan Shidō (覚山志道), was a Japanese Buddhist nun and widow of Hōjō Tokimune (1251–1284), the eighth Shikken regent of the Kamakura shogunate. She was the founding abbess of Tōkei-ji temple in Kamakura, noted for its long history as a refuge for women seeking divorce from their husbands.

Early life and family Lady Horiuchi was born in 1252 to the powerful Adachi clan. Her father was Yoshikage, the commander of Akita Castle; She was the last of Yoshikage's eleven children, according to Lineages of the Higher and Lesser Aristocracy.

In 1274 and in 1281, Tokimune successfully repelled the Mongol invasions of Japan, who emigrated from Song dynasty China and became the founding abbott of Engaku-ji. were assassinated in what came to be called the Shimotsuki ("Eleventh Month") incident. Kakusan was the founding abbess, while Sadatoki was the lay patron. One historical text suggests that Kakusan-ni had asked her son Sadatoki to enact a temple law at Tōkei-ji to help women seeking separation from their husbands, and that he in turn asked the emperor, who approved the request. Other historians have pointed to the short story, Karaito-zōshi, which depicts Tōkei-ji as a sanctuary, as evidence that it had already developed a reputation as a safe haven for women as early as the Muromachi period. The divorce law was abolished in 1871 due to anti-Buddhist sentiment, and the temple ceased to be a nunnery in 1902. In the series, Kakusan-ni is called , although her actual given name is unknown. She was portrayed by Hikaru Nishida, with other actors playing her as a child and as an older woman.