Along with the rise of Hideyoshi under Oda Nobunaga, her husband was elevated to the status of a bushi and adopted the name of Saji Hyūga-no-kami.
In 1586, the retainers of Oda Nobukatsu were dispatched as messengers to Yoshida in Mikawa and, via Sakai Tadatsugu, proposed a marriage to appease Tokugawa Ieyasu.
As a result, Saji Hyūga committed suicide, in order to not pose an obstacle to such a powerful political marriage, and the two were married soon afterwards.
Days later, the procession reached Nishino in Mikawa, and, in May 14, arrived in Hamamatsu whereupon she was married into the Tokugawa family as the formal (second) wife of Ieyasu.
Suffering from ill health in her later years, Suruga Gozen became a follower of the Rinzai sect of Buddhism, and her posthumous name is Nanmei-in.