, also known as Kichō (帰蝶), was the legal wife of Oda Nobunaga, a major daimyō during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. Her proper name was Kichō, but since she came from Mino Province, she is most commonly referred to as Nōhime ("Lady of Mino"; Nō is an abbreviation for Nōshū (濃州), other name of Mino Province, and hime means "lady, princess, noblewoman"). She was renowned for her beauty and cleverness. Nōhime's father was the daimyo Saitō Dōsan and her mother was known as Omi no Kata. Nō herself appears very little in any historical record, and there is little information on the dates of her birth or death; however, proposed dates for her birth fall in 1533–35. According to one historical record, Lady Nō was infertile, and when Nobunaga's concubine Lady Kitsuno gave birth to Oda Nobutada, the child was given to Lady Nō, Nobunaga's legal wife, to be raised as Nobunaga's heir. Marriage to Nobunaga Nō was said to be extremely intelligent and stunningly beautiful. At their wedding, Nobunaga described her as having "the mind of a genius and the appearance of a goddess." She was married to him in 1549, during a truce between his father, Nobuhide, and hers (Saitō Dōsan). The marriage is believed to have been a political gesture, with little actual love between them. Although she was his official wife, it is often believed that he focused his love on his concubine, Kitsuno, who bore him his first son, Nobutada. Nō was never able to conceive a child with Nobunaga, and it was believed that she was infertile. Due to the lack of historical record, there is not much information as to what became of Nō or even the date of her death. Overall, it can be said that her life as it is now known is more of a tentative mixture of legends, folktales and half-truths. Nō's official grave is at Sōken-in (), a subtemple of Daitoku-ji in Kyoto. Legends and speculation One theory posits that Nō was acting as a spy, or even assassin, for her father; at that time it was not an uncommon practice for a wife to relay information to her maiden family. Given Nobunaga's reputation at the time as the unruly "Fool of Owari" (Owari no Utsuke 尾張の虚け), it was also not impossible for Dōsan to want Nō to assassinate him, as she was skilled in both