Himiko (Civ6)/Civilopedia

Though a figure of legend today, Queen Himiko was likely a real person. She was the queen of Yamatai, on the islands that the Chinese called Wa – present-day Japan. In Chinese records, Himiko sent gifts to the Cao Wei kingdom: the northernmost of the three states that divided China between them in the 3rd century A.D. In these records Himiko is dubbed "Queen of Wa (Japan), and friend of Wei" by the Chinese emperor.
Where Himiko’s story gets interesting is in the accusations of sorcery. Chinese sources recount that she bewitched all of the residents of Wa into submitting to her rule, how she lived in a great castle served entirely by female attendants and guards (excepting one man, who brought her food), and rarely left. This mystical reputation is compounded in Japanese records, which identify Himiko with a number of divine beings: as the high shaman of the Japanese sun-goddess Amaterasu, or a shamanic wife of a divine snake. In this latter story, Himiko (identified by the name Yamato-toto-hi-momo-so-bime no Mikoto) is happily married to a clearly divine being, but who only visits at night. She begs him to stay until morning so that she can see him in the sunlight, but he demurs. Eventually, she convinces him, and he tells her that she will see him in her toilet-case, but she must promise not to be shocked at his appearance. The next morning, when she opens the case, there is a beautiful white snake coiled inside. Himiko gasps in alarm, and the god-snake changes back to his human form. He is angry, tells her that she had been warned not to react, and that now he must leave her. Himiko, in her grief, stabs herself.
The wide range of storied surrounding Himiko paint a portrait of an extraordinary woman. She combined the features of a queen and shaman, something which must have disturbed the largely-patriarchal chroniclers in her time. Her story speaks to the almost otherworldly hold that charismatic people can have over us. In popular representations in Japan, she is occasionally a seductress and occasionally a wise old queen, but she remains as popular as ever.