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Born the third daughter of Akechi Mitsuhide, she married Hosokawa Tadaoki. After her father killed Nobunaga in the Honnoji Incident of 1582, she was confined by her husband as the daughter of a rebel and forced to live under house arrest for several years. During this lonely period she encountered Christianity and received baptism through a lady-in-waiting, taking the baptismal name Gracia (Grace). Although Tadaoki disliked Christianity, her faith was unshakeable. On the eve of the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, when Ishida Mitsunari attempted to take the families of pro-Tokugawa generals hostage, Gracia refused to allow herself to be captured by the enemy. Because Christian doctrine prohibited suicide, she ordered her chief retainer Ogasawara Shosai to kill her with a spear, after which the mansion was set ablaze. She was 37. News of her death reached Christians in Europe, where she was honored as a martyr who died for her faith.

A woman of indomitable spirit and deep faith. She maintained her beliefs through adversity and demonstrated unyielding resolve in the face of external pressure. Though she suffered under the jealous and violent temperament of her husband Tadaoki, she never lost her dignity. Intellectual and accomplished in poetry, she was a rare individual in whom delicate sensitivity coexisted with a will of steel.

Her willingness to give her life for her faith as a woman of the warring states period holds a special place in the history of Japanese Christianity. Her life has been depicted in many artistic works including dramas, novels, and operas and is widely known internationally. Places associated with her in Osaka, Etchu, and Bungo preserve her memory, and she continues to be honored in churches to this day.