Tamae Hojo

Tamae Hojo is a villainess from Higurashi no Naku Koro ni who is Teppei Hojo's wife and the aunt/foster mother of Satoko and Satoshi.

Tamae was beaten to death on the night of last year's Watanagashi Festival, causing Teppei, her husband, to flee Hinamizawa. At first, in Onikakushi-hen and in Watanagashi-hen, it seems like she was beaten to death by a drug addict, however in Tatarigoroshi-hen it was hinted while in Meakashi-hen it was revealed that Satoshi was her real murderer.

She is voiced by Wakako Matsumoto in Japanese and Lori Petty in English.

Summary
Just like her husband, Hōjō Teppei, Tamae was a violent women who abused Satoko and Satoshi nonstop which caused Satoko to break mentally and Satoshi to get tired out due to the stress. Until Tatarigoroshi-hen, Only minimal information is known about Tamae, but in Meakashi-hen, the reason of her abusive personality is revealed. Because she was part of the Hojo family, the villiage started to hate her for a short time during the dam war, however after the dam project stopped the hostility toward the Hojos also started to decrease. Unfortunately, Tamae was paranoid and thought that the villiagers hated her so she hated the villiage in return (because of this, the villiage actually started to hate her). The tension in the Hojo house started to grow when Tamae found out that her husband has a lover. The couple's violent arguing became a daily habit, which made Satoko and Satoshi's life more miserable and stressful. Teppei and Tamae bullied Satoko and Satoshi whenever they were upset (because of their daily arguings and that they were upset all the time) and this caused Satoshi to slowly get tired out and eventually succumb to the Hinamizawa Syndrome. Whenever Teppei came home late Tamae yelled at him in the entrance which caused another fight. After a while Teppei realized that it's not necessary for him to come home since he will only end up in a fight with his wife. At that time, Satoshi hoped that the abuse will stop since his uncle isn't here anymore.

Unfortunately, Tamae's frustration was only growing because she lost her opponent to fight with. It was due to this that she started to bully Satoko and Satoshi to the point of Satoko's mental breakdown. Satoshi was unable to bear with the abuse anymore so he came to a conclusion: if he wants to save his little sister then he has to murder their aunt. Tamae liked to bring useful trash home (such as furnitures) so Satoshi told her he found a wardrobe in the forest and if she likes it they can bring it home. Tamae walked into Satoshi's trap: while she was checking the furniture Satoshi picked up his metal bat from the bushes and hit Tamae's head. Tamae was lying face down on the ground unconsciously until Satoshi flipped her over and smashed her face with the metal bat (Oishi revealed that this kind of act is a sign of hatred). After her death, Teppei finally moved to his lover in Okinomiya and Satoshi disappeared. Her death and Satoshi's disapperance added another crime to the series of mysterious deaths.