Imperial Consorts VIII

Empress Fujiwara (Kenshi)

¶Emperor Shirakawa's Empress, of the Fujiwara clan, bore the personal name Kenshi. She was a daughter of Minamoto-no-Akifusa, Udaijin, Minister of the Right, and became an adopted daughter of Fujiwara-no-Morozane, Kampaku, Regent. In the third year of Enkyū (1071) she entered the household of the Crown Prince (Note: following the Fusō Ryakki, the Ichidai Yōki, the Imakagami, and the Eiga Monogatari). She became Miyasudokoro, Imperial Concubine (Note: following the Imakagami), and took the Reikeiden as her residence (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari).

¶When the emperor (Emperor Shirakawa) ascended the throne, she became Nyōgo, Consort, and was granted Junior Fourth Rank Lower (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki and the Imakagami). In the sixth month of the first year of Jōhō (1074) she was installed as Empress (Note: following the Fusō Ryakki, the Ichidai Yōki, the Imakagami, and the Eiga Monogatari). She bore Imperial Prince Atsufumi, Emperor Horikawa, Ikuhōmon'in, Imperial Princess Reishi, and Imperial Princess Junshi (the original text writes her name "Shinshi", with a different first character) (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Kōin Keizu).

¶In the ninth month of the first year of Ōtoku (1084) her illness grew grave (Note: following the Fusō Ryakki and the Eiga Monogatari), but the emperor would not allow her to withdraw from the palace. Kenshi died within the palace, at the age of twenty-eight. The emperor could not bear his grief; he held her body in his arms and would not let it go. Minamoto-no-Toshiaki, Gon-Chūnagon, Provisional Middle Counsellor, submitted a memorial saying, "One who is sovereign should not draw near the dead. Pray have her moved to another residence." The emperor answered, "Let me set the precedent myself" (Note: following the Kojidan. That she was twenty-eight follows the Fusō Ryakki and the Ichidai Yōki).

¶The mogari, the temporary entombment, was held at the Shijō Takakura mansion of the governor of Bingo (Tsunenari, whose family name is unknown) (Note: following the entry for the second year of Eikyū in the Chūyūki. The mention of the governor of Bingo follows the Imakagami). In the tenth month she was cremated at Toribeno (Note: following the Imakagami). The emperor built the Enkōin on Mount Daigo and had her remains enshrined there (Note: following the Hyakurenshō and the Kojidan), and the court suspended the conduct of government for three days. In his grief the emperor could scarcely sleep or eat (Note: following the Fusō Ryakki and the Eiga Monogatari).

¶After this the emperor no longer appeared at the various Sechie, court banquets (Note: following the Hyakurenshō and the Eiga Monogatari), for a full year he refrained from government (Note: following the Fusō Ryakki), and each month he had Buddhist images made (Note: following the Fusō Ryakki and the Eiga Monogatari). He founded the Entokuin and the Shōrakuin and set up a Jōgyōdō, a hall for perpetual practice, to pray for Kenshi's repose in the next world (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki and the Imakagami). When Emperor Horikawa ascended the throne, she was posthumously honored as Empress Dowager (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki, the Imakagami, and the Chūyūki).

Fujiwara-no-Michiko

¶The Nyōgo, Consort, Fujiwara-no-Michiko was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Yoshinaga, Naidaijin, Inner Minister (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki, the Chūyūki, and the Eiga Monogatari). In the first year of Enkyū (1069) she entered the household of the Crown Prince (Note: following the Fusō Ryakki and the Ichidai Yōki) and became Miyasudokoro, Imperial Concubine (Note: following the Imakagami). In the fifth year (1073) she became Nyōgo (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki and the Imakagami), was granted Junior Fourth Rank Lower (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki), and took the Jōkyōden as her residence (Note: following the Imakagami).

¶She bore Imperial Princess Yoshiko. Afterwards she withdrew to her own residence and never entered the palace again (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki and the Imakagami). In the second year of Jōhō (1075) she was granted the status of Jusangū, Quasi-Triple Honors (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki). When Imperial Princess Yoshiko became the Saiō, High Priestess of Ise, Michiko traveled with her to the Saigū, the Priestess's palace, in the same carriage (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki and the Imakagami). In the eighth month of the first year of Chōshō (1132) she died, at the age of ninety-one (Note: following the Chūyūki). She was known as the Jōkyōden Nyōgo (Note: following the Chūyūki and the Imakagami).

Fujiwara-no-Keishi

¶The Naishi-no-suke, Handmaid, Fujiwara-no-Keishi was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Tsunehira, of Junior Third Rank (Note: following the Chūyūki). She bore Imperial Prince Kakugyō (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku, the Ninnaji Goden, and the Chūyūki).

¶Minamoto-no-Moroko was a full younger sister of Empress Kenshi (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). She was in the service of Jōtōmon'in, but the emperor (Emperor Shirakawa) secretly favored her (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari). She bore Imperial Prince Kakuhō (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku, the Ninnaji Goden, the Imakagami, and the Eiga Monogatari).

Minamoto-no-Moroko

¶Minamoto-no-Moroko was a full younger sister of Empress Kenshi (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku). She was in the service of Jōtōmon'in, but the emperor (Emperor Shirakawa) secretly favored her (Note: following the Eiga Monogatari), and she bore Imperial Prince Kakuhō (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku, the Ninnaji Goden, the Imakagami, and the Eiga Monogatari).

Lady Fujiwara

¶Lady Fujiwara was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Morokane, Sangi, Counsellor (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki and the Rekidai Kōki). She bore Imperial Prince Shōe (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki, the Rekidai Kōki, the Kōin Shōunroku, and the Imakagami).

Lady Minamoto

¶Lady Minamoto was a daughter of Minamoto-no-Arimune, governor of Mutsu (Note: the mention of the governor of Mutsu follows the Imakagami; the name Arimune follows the Sonpi Bunmyaku). She was called Bizen and served Ikuhōmon'in (Note: following the Chūyūki). The emperor (Emperor Shirakawa) favored her, and she bore the monk Engyō (Note: following the Chūyūki and the Imakagami).

Lady Fujiwara

¶Lady Fujiwara was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Suezane, Moku-no-gon-no-kami, Provisional Director of the Bureau of Carpentry. She bore Imperial Princess Junshi (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku, the Imakagami, and the Chūyūki; the name Suezane follows the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

Lady Minamoto

¶Lady Minamoto was a daughter of Minamoto-no-Masanaga, governor of Bitchū. She bore the monk Gyōkei (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Imakagami).

Lady Minamoto

¶Lady Minamoto was a daughter of Minamoto-no-Yoritsuna, governor of Mikawa. She bore Imperial Princess Kanshi (Note: following the entry for the second year of Kyūan in the Taiki, the Imakagami, and the Chūyūki).

Gion-no-Nyōgo

¶The family name of the Gion-no-Nyōgo, the Gion Consort, is not known. After the Empress (Kenshi) died, there was no one in the rear palace who suited the emperor's heart. This consort was of lowly standing in the palace, but the emperor (Emperor Shirakawa) saw her and took a liking to her. She received favor without equal in the rear palace, raised Taikenmon'in, and took Gion as her residence. For that reason, although she never received a Senji, a formal edict of appointment, she was known in the world as the Gion-no-Nyōgo, and also as Shirakawa-dono (Note: following the Imakagami). She was also called Higashi-no-Onkata (Note: following the Ninnaji Shodōki).

¶Some say she had been the wife of Minamoto-no-Nakamune, a Kurōdo, Chamberlain, and that after the emperor abdicated she entered the palace and received his favor, and Nakamune was exiled to Oki (Note: following the Azuma Kagami. The mention of a Kurōdo follows the Sonpi Bunmyaku, which gives Sanuki in place of Oki). Others say that while the consort was at Gion the emperor visited her often in secret, and that when she became with child she was given to Taira-no-Tadamori (Note: following the Heike Monogatari). It is said that the consort once built a hall at the Ninnaji and installed a hundred Buddhist images there (Note: following the Ninnaji Shodōki).

Kamo-no-Nyōgo

¶The Kamo-no-Nyōgo, the Kamo Consort, was likewise of lowly origin. The elder sister was called Ureshiki and the younger Iwaio; they were the two daughters of Kamo-no-Agatanushi Shigesuke. Both entered the palace and received the emperor's favor. They were known in the world as the Kamo-no-Nyōgo (Note: following the Imakagami).

¶[Emperor Horikawa]

Empress Atsuko

¶Emperor Horikawa's Empress bore the personal name Atsuko. She was the fourth daughter of Emperor Go-Sanjō (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku, the Ichidai Yōki, the Kijosho, and the entry for the second year of Eikyū in the Chūyūki; the Saiin-ki calls her the seventh daughter). She became an adopted daughter of Yōmeimon'in (Imperial Princess Teishi). In the fourth year of Jiryaku (1068) she was made an Imperial Princess. In the first year of Enkyū (1069) she was granted Third Rank (Note: following the Chūyūki), and in the fifth year (1073) she became Saiin of Kamo, the High Priestess of the Kamo shrines (Note: following the Chūyūki, the Saiin-ki, the Kijosho, and the Ichidai Yōki; the Imakagami places this in the first year of Enkyū). When Emperor Go-Sanjō died, she left the office of Saiin (Note: following the Chūyūki and the Ichidai Yōki).

¶In the third year of Jōryaku (1079) she was granted the status of Jusangū, Quasi-Triple Honors (Note: following the Chūyūki and the Fusō Ryakki), and received the fief of one thousand households of Yōmeimon'in (Note: following the entry for the second year of Nin'an in the Heihanki, and the Fusō Ryakki). In the fifth year of Kanji (1091) she became Nyōgo, Consort (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki, the Rekidai Kōki, and the Chūyūki), and in the second month of the seventh year (1093) she was installed as Empress (Note: following the Fusō Ryakki and the Chūyūki). With the Kampaku Morozane as her nominal father (Note: following the Fusō Ryakki), a banquet lasting three days was held at the Kayain (Note: following the Fusō Ryakki and the Go-Nijō Kampaku-ki). At this time Atsuko was thirty-four years old, nineteen years older than the emperor (Emperor Horikawa) (Note: following the Chūyūki and the Imakagami).

¶In the first year of Chōji (1104) she moved to the Horikawa-in (Note: following the Hyakurenshō). In the second year of Kajō (1107) she cut her hair and became a nun (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki and the Chūyūki; some texts of the Ichidai Yōki give the third year of Kajō, which is mistaken). In the tenth month of the second year of Eikyū (1114) she died at the Horikawa-in, at the age of fifty-five (Note: following the Chūyūki, the Hyakurenshō, the Ichidai Yōki, the Teiō Hennenki, and the Go-Shūi Ōjōden).

¶The mogari was held in the Shōji-dō, the Hall of the Handmaids, at Unrin'in. The court suspended the conduct of government for five days. By her last testament, the carriage she ordinarily used was to carry her to the place of the mogari, with several officials of her household following. No ceremony of wailing was held and no mourning garments were worn; no gifts of funerary offerings were made, and no state anniversary or mausoleum was established (Note: following the Chūyūki). The Empress had deep faith in the Buddhist law; for more than forty years she recited the Amida Sutra and never let it lapse until her death (Note: following the Go-Shūi Ōjōden). Every day she made offerings to the Lotus Sutra (Note: following the Chūyūki), and she founded the Shōbodaiin (Note: following the Chūyūki, the Ichidai Yōki, and the Hyakurenshō).

Fujiwara-no-Shishi

¶The Nyōgo, Consort, Fujiwara-no-Shishi was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Sanesue, Dainagon, Major Counsellor (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki and the Kijosho). In the second year of Jōtoku (1098) she became Nyōgo (Note: following the Honchō Seiki and the Ichidai Yōki), and in the third year (1099) she was granted Junior Fourth Rank Upper (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki). She bore Emperor Toba.

¶When the consort first became with child, her mother went on pilgrimage to the Kamo shrine and prayed that a boy might be born. In a dream a god descended into the sleeve of her robe and told her, "A boy will be born. There is something among the rafters; take it." Startled, she woke and searched, and found a silver dragon. Later it was presented to Emperor Toba, and a shrine was built at Shijō Bōmon to enshrine the robe into which the god had descended.

¶On another occasion a woman came and said to the consort and her attendant, "The child in your womb is a prince, and his nobility cannot be put into words. There will be a black mole on his right buttock." The attendant told this to the Empress's elder brother Fujiwara-no-Kinzane. When Kinzane tried to see the woman, she vanished at once. When the child was born, it was just as she had said (Note: following the entry for the first year of Kōji in the Taiki, and the Zoku Kojidan).

¶In the first month of the fifth year of Kōwa (1103) she died, at the age of twenty-eight (Note: following the Hyakurenshō and the Ichidai Yōki; the year of her death follows the Honchō Seiki). She was posthumously granted Junior Second Rank (Note: following the Honchō Seiki, the Ichidai Yōki, and the Chūyūki). When Emperor Toba ascended the throne, she was posthumously honored as Empress Dowager. In the seventh month of the first year of Tennin (1108), by imperial order, a state anniversary was established at the Tenrin'in (Note: following the Chūyūki and the Hyakurenshō).

Lady Ō

¶Lady Ō was a daughter of Ō-no-Yasusuke, Jingihaku, Head of the Department of Divinities (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku, the Kijosho, and the Saiin-ki). She had been in the service of Emperor Go-Reizei's Fujiwara Empress (Note: following the Imakagami). The emperor (Emperor Horikawa) favored her, and she bore Imperial Princess Sōshi (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku, the Kijosho, and the Saiin-ki).

Lady Fujiwara

¶Lady Fujiwara was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Tokitsune, governor of Ise. She bore Imperial Prince Saiun (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki and the Imakagami; the Kōin Shōunroku writes Tokitsune as Tokitsuna).

Lady Fujiwara

¶Lady Fujiwara was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Takamune, governor of Ōmi. She bore the monk Kangyō (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Imakagami; the name Takamune follows the Sonpi Bunmyaku. One variant in the Kōin Shōunroku also says she was a daughter of Minamoto-no-Morotada, Dainagon, but it is not clear which is correct).

¶[Emperor Toba]

Empress Fujiwara (Shōshi)

¶Emperor Toba's Empress, of the Fujiwara clan, bore the personal name Shōshi. She was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Kinzane, Dainagon, Major Counsellor (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku, the Ichidai Yōki, the Kijosho, and the Nyoin Shōden). She was adopted by Emperor Shirakawa and raised within the palace. When she grew up there was talk of giving her in marriage to Fujiwara-no-Tadamichi, but for certain reasons it did not come about. It happened that Emperor Shirakawa, in choosing a consort for the emperor (Emperor Toba), commanded Tadamichi's father Tadazane to present his daughter, but Tadazane firmly declined. Emperor Shirakawa was displeased, and changed his plan, deciding to make Shōshi the emperor's consort (Note: following the Gukanshō).

¶In the fifth year of Eikyū (1117) she was granted Junior Third Rank and became Nyōgo (Note: following the Nyoin Shōden). In the first month of the first year of Genei (1118) she became Empress (Note: following the Gukanshō and the Nyoin Shōden). Since the Kanpyō era, the only cases of a Dainagon's daughter becoming Empress were Emperor Sanjō's Fujiwara Empress (Seishi) and Shōshi.

¶In the second year of Genei (1119) she became with child and withdrew to her family's residence. In the fifth month she gave birth to Emperor Sutoku. On the occasion of the birth, prisoners guilty of minor offenses were pardoned (Note: following the Chūyūki). The edict said, "In response to the rites to the god of fertility, and as the time of the august birth draws near, does not the Book of Documents also say, 'When the one man has cause for joy, the myriad people rely upon it'? Let the heavy net be loosened, and let us look for sacred auspices at the gate of Yao" (Note: following the Chōya Gunsai). She also ordered the monk Kanjo to perform the Kujaku-kyō rite in the western wing (Note: following the Chūyūki).

¶Soon afterwards she gave birth to Imperial Princess Kishi (Jōsaimon'in) (Note: following the entry for the first year of Chōshō in the Chūyūki, the Rekidai Kōki, and the Teiō Hennenki; the mention of Jōsaimon'in follows the Ichidai Yōki, the Nyoin Shōden, and the Kijosho).

¶In the second year of Daiji (1127) she became with child again and withdrew to her family's residence. Emperor Shirakawa made an imperial visit to the Izu-dō at Shirakawa, where he held the eye-opening ceremony for more than two hundred Buddhist images, and had rites performed at the Ninnaji to pray for a safe delivery (Note: following the Chūyūki). In the ninth month she gave birth to Emperor Go-Shirakawa. On the occasion of the birth, prisoners were pardoned (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). Imperial Prince Dōjin, Imperial Prince Kimihito, and Imperial Prince Motohito were all likewise born of Shōshi (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Hyakurenshō). In general, those of the Kan'in house who rose to eminence all owed it to this Empress (Note: following the Gukanshō and the Imakagami).

¶When Emperor Sutoku ascended the throne, she received the title Taikenmon'in (Note: following the Teiō Hennenki, the Nyoin Shōden, the Kijosho, and the Imakagami). The Empress had deep faith in the Buddhist law; she founded the Hōkongōin and the Enshōji, built a Buddha hall at the Kōfukuji and pagodas at the Entokuin, Izumi-dono, and several places in Kamo, and enshrined a Great Storehouse of Scriptures written in gold ink at the Hōkongōin (Note: following the Hyakurenshō). She accompanied the emperor (Emperor Toba) and Emperor Sutoku on pilgrimage to Kumano (Note: following the Chūyūki).

¶In the first year of Kōji (1142) she cut her hair at the Hōkongōin (Note: following the Taiki, the Hyakurenshō, and the Ichidai Yōki) and took the Dharma name Shinnyohō (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki and the Nyoin Shōden). The Retired Emperor Toba and Emperor Sutoku were present at the ceremony (Note: following the Taiki). She was called the Ninnaji Nyoin.

¶When the Empress was a small child, Emperor Shirakawa was exceptionally fond of her and raised her holding her in his arms (Note: following the Imakagami). As she grew a little older, they at length became intimate in secret. Even after she became Empress, scandal did not cease. The emperor (Emperor Toba) was largely aware of it, and for that reason did not love Emperor Sutoku, going so far as to call him "ojigo," his uncle-son (Note: following the Kojidan).

¶After the death of the Cloistered Emperor Shirakawa, Shōshi's favor gradually declined. At that time Bifukumon'in had newly gained the emperor's love (Note: following the Imakagami). There was a man named Minamoto-no-Moriyuki, without office, whose wife Tsumori-no-Shimako was an attendant of the Empress. For this reason Moriyuki, acting on the Empress's wishes, summoned Suzaku, a shrine maiden of the Hirota shrine, and had her lay a curse on Bifukumon'in. The matter came to light; Kebiishi, police commissioners, were sent to seize Moriyuki and the others, and a silver box was found at the Nishinomiya shrine hall, and Moriyuki was sentenced to exile (Note: following the Taiki and the Hyakurenshō; the mention of Tsumori follows the Hyakurenshō). The monk Shinchō, a son of the Empress's wet nurse, also performed a curse at the Hiyoshi shrine and was seized by the Kebiishi. People of the time regarded this as the Empress's doing. For this reason the Empress at last cut her hair and lived together with the Retired Emperor Sutoku in the Sanjō Takakura mansion.

¶In the fourth month of the first year of Kyūan (1145) she fell ill, and, realizing that she would not recover, held a living memorial service (gyakushu). In the eighth month, when the Cloistered Emperor Toba came to visit her, she died then and there (Note: following the Taiki). She was forty-five years old (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki and the Nyoin Shōden). The Cloistered Emperor struck the kei, the Buddhist bell, and wept aloud, and, following her last wishes, buried her in a rock cave (Note: following the Taiki). The court suspended the conduct of government for five days (Note: following the Entairyaku).

¶The Cloistered Emperor had three Buddhist images made, copied the Gobu Daijō-kyō and the Lotus Sutra in gold ink, and collected what Shōshi had written during her life and, in gold ink, himself copied the Amida Sutra on the backs of the sheets. The Retired Emperor Sutoku likewise painted an image of Maitreya and himself copied the Maitreya Sutra. Emperor Konoe made offerings to a hundred monks at the Enshōji, and the Cloistered Emperor and the Retired Emperor Sutoku attended as well and prayed for her repose (Note: following the Taiki).

Empress Fujiwara (Taishi)

¶The Fujiwara Empress bore the personal name Taishi, and her first name was Kunshi. She was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Tadazane, Kampaku, Regent (Note: following the Chūyūki, the Kijosho, and the Nyoin Shōden). When the emperor (Emperor Toba) first ascended the throne, Emperor Shirakawa ordered Tadazane to present his daughter, but Tadazane declined and the matter was dropped. Even after the emperor abdicated, the Cloistered Emperor Shirakawa still sought to bring her into the household (Note: following the Gukanshō).

¶In the second year of Chōshō (1133) she at last entered the palace of the emperor (the Retired Emperor Toba). She was then thirty-nine years old (Note: following the Gukanshō and the Ichidai Yōki; the age of thirty-nine follows the Nyoin Shōden). In the third year of Chōshō (1134) she was granted Junior Fourth Rank Lower and the status of Jusangū. The edict said, "Where there is merit it must be repaid, and the model is left in the histories; where virtue is accumulated there is surplus blessing, and a fine way is handed down to descendants. Fujiwara-no-Kunshi, of Junior Fourth Rank Lower, is the eldest daughter of Tadazane, who assisted the court through three reigns, a gentle and beautiful woman of wisdom, endowed with the four virtues. Now we shall share the radiance of that favor by granting stipend and fief, and we shall grant her honor on the model of the rites of the rear palace. Let her be given a fief of five hundred households, together with one third of the yearly rank-nominations of the inner and outer officials" (Note: following the Chūyūki).

¶Soon she was installed as Empress (Note: following the Chūyūki and the Imakagami). When Bifukumon'in (Tokushi) entered the palace, Taishi's favor gradually declined (Note: following the Imakagami). In the fifth year of Hōen (1139) she received the title Kayain (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki, the Teiō Hennenki, and the Kijosho). In the first year of Eiji (1141) she cut her hair at Komatsu in Uji (Note: following the Rekidai Kōki) and took the Dharma name Shōjōri (Note: following the Nyoin Shōden).

¶In the second year of Ninpei (1152) she accompanied the emperor (the Cloistered Emperor Toba) together with Bifukumon'in on pilgrimage to the Tennōji (Note: following the Hyakurenshō). In the second year of Kyūju (1155) she fell ill, and in the twelfth month she died at the Tsuchimikado mansion, at the age of sixty-one (Note: following the Taiki and the Nyoin Shōden; the mention of the Tsuchimikado mansion follows the Hyakurenshō). She was buried in the Goma-dō, the fire-ritual hall, of the Fukushōin (Note: following the Taiki and the Hyakurenshō).

Empress Fujiwara (Tokushi)

¶The Fujiwara Empress bore the personal name Tokushi. She was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Nagazane, Chūnagon, Middle Counsellor (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku, the Ichidai Yōki, the Nyoin Shōden, and the Imakagami). After the emperor (the Retired Emperor Toba) had cut his hair, he heard of her beauty and took her into his household, and favored her greatly (Note: following the Imakagami).

¶In the second year of Hōen (1136) she was granted Junior Third Rank (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki and the Nyoin Shōden). She bore Imperial Princess Eishi, Hachijōin, Emperor Konoe, and Takamatsu-in (Note: following the Imakagami). In the fifth year of Hōen (1139) she became Nyōgo (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki, the Rekidai Kōki, and the Nyoin Shōden). In the first year of Eiji (1141) she was granted the status of Jusangū (Note: following the Nyoin Shōden). When Emperor Konoe ascended the throne, she was honored as Empress (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki, the Nyoin Shōden, and the Imakagami). In the fifth year of Kyūan (1149) she received the title Bifukumon'in (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki and the Nyoin Shōden).

¶When Emperor Nijō lost his birth mother soon after he was born, the Empress (Bifukumon'in) took him in and raised him (Note: following the Imakagami). When Emperor Konoe fell ill, the Empress believed it was the result of curses by the Retired Emperor Sutoku and Fujiwara-no-Yorinaga, and for this she came to bear a grudge against the Retired Emperor Sutoku. When Emperor Konoe died, the people of the time placed their hopes in the Retired Emperor Sutoku's son, Imperial Prince Shigehito, but the Empress, out of her earlier grudge, did not wish him to be set on the throne, and urged the emperor (the Cloistered Emperor Toba) to establish Emperor Go-Shirakawa (Note: following the Hōgen Monogatari). For this reason Emperor Go-Shirakawa revered and served the Empress as though she were his mother (Note: following the entry for the first year of Katei in the Gyokuyō, and the Imakagami). The Retired Emperor Sutoku was greatly disappointed. The Hōgen Disturbance in truth had its origin in this Empress.

¶In the first year of Hōgen (1156), when the Cloistered Emperor Toba fell ill, the Empress cut her hair at the Jōbodaiin at Toba (Note: following the Hōgen Monogatari) and took the Dharma name Shinshōjō (Note: following the Nyoin Shōden; this work notes, "one text writes it Shinjōkū"). As he lay dying, the Cloistered Emperor, anxious about what would follow, had ten warriors of the Hokumen, the Northern Guard, present written oaths to the Empress (Note: following the Gukanshō; this work lists the names of ten men including Minamoto-no-Tameyoshi and Taira-no-Kiyomori, but this does not agree with the account in the Hōgen Monogatari, and it is not clear which is correct). All matters concerning the Toba palace were left to the Empress's decision (Note: following the Imakagami).

¶When the disturbance broke out, troops were levied, and Minamoto-no-Yoshitomo and the other nine all obeyed her orders. The Empress also made a false testament and summoned Taira-no-Kiyomori. The disturbance was soon put down (Note: following the Hōgen Monogatari).

¶The Empress had earlier founded the Kanzen Kōin and the Kongō Shōin (Note: following the Hyakurenshō and the Teiō Hennenki), and held the eye-opening ceremony for a Great Storehouse of Scriptures in gold ink at the Hōshōji (Note: following the Taiki and the Hyakurenshō). In the eleventh month of the first year of Eiryaku (1160) she died at the Oshikōji mansion (Note: following the Sankaiki). She was forty-four years old (Note: following the Hyakurenshō and the Nyoin Shōden). The court suspended the conduct of government for three days (Note: following the Sankaiki).

¶Originally the emperor (the Cloistered Emperor Toba) had built a pagoda for the Empress at the Higashi-dono at Toba and made it the Kurōdo-dokoro (Note: following the Hyakurenshō and the Sankaiki). But the Empress had secretly built a hall on Mount Kōya and left instructions that her remains be placed there. At this time her younger brother Tokimichi, governor of Bingo, went to Mount Kōya and placed them there (Note: following the Imakagami).

Lady Tachibana

¶Lady Tachibana was a daughter of Tachibana-no-Toshitsuna, Shuri-no-daibu, Master of Palace Repairs. She was called the Fujitsubo Nyōgo. She bore the monk Shin'yo (Note: following the Senjūshō; the family name is missing from this work, so it has been supplied here from the Sonpi Bunmyaku).

Lady Fujiwara

¶Lady Fujiwara was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Saneyoshi, Sadaijin, Minister of the Left (Note: following the Taiki, the Sankaiki, and the Imakagami). She served Bifukumon'in and was called Kasuga-no-Tsubone (Note: following the Taiki and the Sankaiki). The emperor (the Cloistered Emperor Toba) favored her, and she bore Imperial Princess Shōshi (Note: following the Taiki, the Sankaiki, and the Imakagami).

Lady Fujiwara

¶Lady Fujiwara was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Saneshige, Chūnagon, Middle Counsellor. She bore the Takamatsu-no-Miya (Note: compiled from the Kōin Shōunroku, the Teiō Hennenki, and the Imakagami. The Kōin Shōunroku records one daughter born of Saneshige's daughter but gives no title; the Teiō Hennenki and the Imakagami say "Takamatsu-no-Miya" but do not state her birth mother. On examining the Sonpi Bunmyaku, both Saneshige's father and his younger brother bore the name Takamatsu, so the Takamatsu-no-Miya is thought to have been born of Saneshige's daughter, the title being taken from her mother's family name).

Lady Fujiwara

¶Lady Fujiwara was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Iemasa, Sangi, Counsellor (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku, the Ichidai Yōki, the Kōin Shōunroku, and the Imakagami). She was called Sanjō-no-Tsubone and served Taikenmon'in (Note: following the Hyakurenshō and the Imakagami). The emperor (the Cloistered Emperor Toba) favored her, and she bore Imperial Princess Kenshi (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki, the Kōin Shōunroku, and the Imakagami).

¶In the fourth year of Hōen (1138) she was killed at the Fugen-dō by Narikata, son of Toshikata (family name unknown), governor of Kawachi (Note: compiled from the Hyakurenshō, the Ichidai Yōki, and the Imakagami), and for this crime Toshikata was driven out from the capital (Note: following the Imakagami).

Lady Ki

¶Lady Ki was a daughter of Ki-no-Mitsukiyo, Bettō, Superintendent of the Iwashimizu shrine (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku, the Ki-shi Keizu, and the Imakagami). She was called Mino-no-Tsubone (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Ki-shi Keizu). She first served the Cloistered Emperor Shirakawa (Note: following the Imakagami), but the Cloistered Emperor Toba favored her, and she bore Imperial Prince Dōe, Imperial Prince Kakukai, and the Sōrinji-no-Miya (Note: following the Ki-shi Keizu and the Imakagami; one text of the Kōin Shōunroku makes Takamatsu-in her child, which is mistaken).

¶[Emperor Sutoku]

Empress Fujiwara (Seishi)

¶Emperor Sutoku's Empress, of the Fujiwara clan, bore the personal name Seishi. She was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Tadamichi, Kampaku, Regent. In the third year of Daiji (1128) she was granted Junior Third Rank (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki and the Nyoin Shōden), and in the fourth year (1129) she became Nyōgo. In the second month of the fifth year (1130) she was installed as Empress (Note: following the Chōshūki and the Nyoin Shōden). Since the Shijō Empress (Hiroko) of Emperor Go-Reizei, there had been no case in some eighty years of a regent's daughter becoming Empress. People of the time called Seishi's installation a revival of the Fujiwara (Note: following the Chūyūki).

¶The Empress suffered from a swelling of the belly, and it was thought that she was with child. When her time came, prayers were offered with rites, and soon something like water was discharged and she returned to her former condition (Note: following the Zoku Kojidan). In the end she bore no child, and she raised Emperor Konoe (Note: following the Imakagami).

¶When Emperor Konoe ascended the throne, she was honored as Empress Dowager (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki, the Nyoin Shōden, and the Imakagami). In the sixth year of Kyūan (1150) she received the title Kōkamon'in (Note: following the Taiki, the Ichidai Yōki, and the Nyoin Shōden). When the Retired Emperor Sutoku was moved to Sanuki, the Empress grieved, cut off her hair, and became a nun (Note: following the Hyakurenshō, the Ichidai Yōki, the Nyoin Shōden, and the Imakagami). Her Dharma name was Shōjōe (Note: following the Nyoin Shōden; the Nyoin-shō gives Renkaku).

¶In the first year of Yōwa (1181) she fell ill. Realizing that she would not recover, she received the precepts every day from the monk Tankyō. When her illness grew grave, the Cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa sent a letter asking whether she had anything to leave behind, but she only entrusted to him her nephew Fujiwara-no-Yoshimichi (Note: following the Gyokuyō). In the twelfth month she died at the Kujō mansion (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki and the Rekidai Kōki). She was sixty-one years old (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki, the Rekidai Kōki, and the Hōryaku Kanki; the Hyakurenshō, the Teiō Hennenki, and the Nyoin Shōden say sixty).

¶She was buried at the Saishō Kongōin. The Empress had had a stone pagoda made in advance and had written its inscription herself. At the funeral it was raised. By her last wishes, the funeral and the rites for her repose in the next world were all to be kept simple (Note: following the Gyokuyō).

Lady Minamoto

¶Lady Minamoto was a daughter of Minamoto-no-Morotsune, Mikawa-no-gon-no-kami, Provisional Governor of Mikawa. She bore the monk Gen'shō (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Imakagami).

Lady Fujiwara

¶Lady Fujiwara was a daughter of Nobuyori, Shikkō, Steward of the Hōshōji (Note: following the Taiki and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). She was called Hyōe-no-suke-no-Tsubone and served the Empress (Seishi). The emperor (Emperor Sutoku) favored her, and she received treatment without equal in the rear palace. Because she was a monk's daughter her standing was low, but at that time Minamoto-no-Yukimune, Ōkura-kyō, Minister of the Treasury, was skilled in waka and served as a close attendant of the emperor, and Lady Fujiwara relied on him as if he were her father. When Nobuyori died, for a time she had no one to rely on, but soon afterwards she bore Imperial Prince Shigehito, and the emperor's favor grew still deeper. Later she followed the emperor to Sanuki, but after his death she returned to the capital and cut her hair (Note: following the Imakagami).

¶[Emperor Konoe]

Empress Fujiwara (Tashi)

¶Emperor Konoe's Empress, of the Fujiwara clan, bore the personal name Tashi. She was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Kinyoshi, Udaijin, Minister of the Right. Fujiwara-no-Yorinaga, Sadaijin, Minister of the Left, the husband of her aunt, adopted her as his daughter (Note: following the Hyakurenshō, the Ichidai Yōki, the Rekidai Kōki, and the Imakagami). She was intelligent, excelled in calligraphy and painting, was versed in music, and was skilled on the koto and the biwa (Note: following the Imakagami).

¶In the fourth year of Kyūan (1148) she was granted Junior Third Rank. In the first month of the sixth year (1150) she became Nyōgo (Note: following the Taiki and the Bekki), and in the third month she was installed as Empress (Note: following the Taiki, the Bekki, the Ichidai Yōki, the Rekidai Kōki, and the Teiō Hennenki).

¶In the second year of Kyūju (1155) the emperor (Emperor Konoe) died. In the first year of Hōgen (1156), because of the affair of her adoptive father Yorinaga, she lived in seclusion at Konoe-gawara (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki). In that year, when Emperor Go-Shirakawa took the throne, Tashi was honored as Empress Dowager (Note: following the Teiō Hennenki). In the third year of Hōgen (1158) she became Grand Empress Dowager (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin).

¶Emperor Nijō heard of her beauty and tried, by imperial command, to have her father Kinyoshi bring her into the palace. The assembled ministers all held that it should not be done, and the Cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa remonstrated repeatedly, but the emperor would not listen. He said, "The Son of Heaven has no father or mother. Why will you not let me have my way?" In the first year of Eiryaku (1160) she at last entered the palace. People of the time called her "the Empress of two reigns."

¶At the end of the Jishō era, when the capital was moved to Fukuhara, Tashi remained at Konoe-gawara. Her elder brother Fujiwara-no-Sanesada returned to the capital from Fukuhara and visited her on a moonlit night (Note: following the Heike Monogatari and the Genpei Jōsuiki). Tashi held a biwa and played Shūfūraku; Sanesada played the flute, and her attendant Ko-Jijū played the koto. The sound was so sorrowful and moving that all who were present shed tears (Note: following the Genpei Jōsuiki).

¶In the twelfth month of the first year of Kennin (1201) she died, at the age of sixty-two (Note: following the Teiō Hennenki. This work gives sixty-three, but here it has been corrected on the basis of the Taiki and the Bekki, which give her age as nine in the fourth year of Kyūan, and of this work's own statement that she was eleven in the sixth year of Kyūan).

Empress Fujiwara (Teishi)

¶The Fujiwara Empress bore the personal name Teishi. She was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Koremichi, Dajō-daijin, Chancellor (Note: following the Taiki, the Ichidai Yōki, the Rekidai Kōki, the Nyoin Shōden, the Sonpi Bunmyaku, and the Imakagami). She had at first been an adopted daughter of Bifukumon'in (Note: following the Taiki). The Cloistered Emperor Toba wished to have the emperor (Emperor Konoe) take her in. At that time the wife of the Kampaku Tadamichi was Teishi's aunt, so the Cloistered Emperor had Tadamichi adopt Teishi as his daughter, and then she entered the palace (Note: following the Taiki and the Imakagami).

¶In the sixth year of Kyūan (1150) she was granted Junior Third Rank and became Nyōgo (Note: following the Taiki, the Nyoin Shōden, and the Sonpi Bunmyaku), and soon she became Empress. After the emperor's death she cut her hair and took the Dharma name Shōjōkan (Note: following the Nyoin Shōden and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). When Emperor Go-Shirakawa ascended the throne, she was honored as Empress, and in the third year of Hōgen (1158) she became Empress Dowager (Note: following the Teiō Hennenki, the Nyoin Shōden, and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). In the third year of Nin'an (1168) she received the title Kujōin (Note: following the Gyokuyō, the Nyoin Shōden, and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). In the ninth month of the second year of Angen (1176) she died (Note: following the Gyokuyō, the Hyakurenshō, and the Akihiro-ō-ki). She was forty-six years old (Note: following the Hyakurenshō and the Akihiro-ō-ki; the Nyoin Shōden and the Kōkyū Ryakuden say forty-two).

¶[Emperor Go-Shirakawa]

Empress Fujiwara (Kinshi)

¶Emperor Go-Shirakawa's Empress, of the Fujiwara clan, bore the personal name Kinshi. She was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Kinyoshi, Udaijin, Minister of the Right, and an elder sister of Konoe's Empress (Tashi) (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki, the Rekidai Kōki, and the Imakagami). In the second year of Kyūju (1155) she entered the palace (Note: following the Taiki and the Teiō Hennenki; the record of her becoming Nyōgo is missing and cannot be verified).

¶In the tenth month of the first year of Hōgen (1156) she was installed as Empress and took the Jōkyōden as her residence (Note: following the Imakagami). In the first year of Heiji (1159) her title was changed to Kōgō, Empress (Note: following the Teiō Hennenki and the Imakagami). In the second year of Jōan (1172) she became Empress Dowager (Note: following the Gyokuyō and the Teiō Hennenki). In the eighth month of the third year of Jōgen (1209) she died, at the age of seventy-six (Note: following the Teiō Hennenki).

Empress Taira (Shigeko)

¶The Taira Empress bore the personal name Shigeko. She was a daughter of Taira-no-Tokinobu, Hyōbu-no-shō, Junior Assistant Minister of Military Affairs (Note: following the Nyoin Shōden and the Taira Keizu). She was first called Ko-ben (Note: following the Gukanshō and the Kokon Chomonjū) and later Higashi-no-Onkata (Note: following the Gyokuyō). She received exceptional favor (Note: following the Gukanshō and the Kokon Chomonjū).

¶In the first year of Nin'an (1166) she was granted Junior Third Rank (Note: following the Nyoin Shōden), and in the second year (1167) she became Nyōgo (Note: following the Gyokuyō, the Hyakurenshō, and the Nyoin Shōden). She bore Emperor Takakura. When Emperor Takakura ascended the throne, she was honored as Empress Dowager (Note: following the Teiō Hennenki, the Nyoin Shōden, the Imakagami, and the Kokon Chomonjū). The following year she received the title Kenshunmon'in (Note: following the Kugyō Bunin, the Ichidai Yōki, and the Kijosho).

¶When Emperor Takakura visited Shigeko's residence, he bowed to her from beyond the blinds. The court officials lavishly praised her splendor, but the Empress said, "It is the result of ties from a former life, and none of my doing," and all who heard it were moved (Note: following the Kokon Chomonjū).

¶The Empress had once accompanied the emperor (the Cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa) on journeys to Itsukushima in Aki and to the hot springs of Arima (Note: following the Gyokuyō and the Hyakurenshō). She had deep faith in the Buddhist law and founded the Saishō Kōin (Note: following the Hyakurenshō and the Genkō Shakusho).

¶In the first year of Angen (1175) she went on pilgrimage to Kumano to repay the favor of the gods and to pray for a long-held wish. Wearing straw sandals, she made her way on foot for forty days to the Hongū, and before the shrine she danced the Kon'nushu herself. A heavy rain suddenly fell and soaked her robes through, but she paid it no heed and danced on to the end (Note: following the Nagato-bon Heike Monogatari).

¶In the sixth month of the following year, the second year of Angen (1176), she fell ill. By edict a great amnesty was proclaimed throughout the realm, and even those who would not be pardoned in an ordinary amnesty were all forgiven. Realizing that she would not recover, the Empress declined her cloistered title, her yearly appointments, her yearly rank-nominations, and her fief households (Note: following the Gyokuyō and the Kikki), and she cut her hair and received the precepts (Note: following the Kikki).

¶In the seventh month she died at the Hōshōji-dono. She was thirty-five years old (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki). She had earlier built a Hokke Zanmaidō, a Lotus Samadhi hall, beside the Rengeōin, and as it happened to be completed about the time of her death, she was buried there (Note: following the Gyokuyō and the Hyakurenshō). By edict the ceremony of wailing was carried out throughout the realm, and the taking of life was forbidden (Note: following the Nagato-bon Heike Monogatari). Emperor Takakura himself copied the Lotus Sutra and prayed for her repose (Note: following the Hyakurenshō).

Minamoto-no-Ishi

¶The Nyōgo, Consort, Minamoto-no-Ishi was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Tsunezane, Dainagon, Major Counsellor. She became an adopted daughter of Minamoto-no-Arihito, Sadaijin, Minister of the Left (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Imakagami). She was taken in by the emperor (Emperor Go-Shirakawa) when he had not yet ascended the throne (Note: following the Imakagami) and became Nyōgo (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki and the Sonpi Bunmyaku). In the sixth month of the second year of Kōji (1143) she gave birth to Emperor Nijō. A few days later she died. When Emperor Nijō ascended the throne, she was posthumously honored as Empress Dowager (Note: following the Imakagami). In the first year of Heiji (1159) a state anniversary was established (Note: following the Nenjū Gyōji).

Fujiwara-no-Sōshi

¶The Nyōgo, Consort, Fujiwara-no-Sōshi was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Norinori, Naidaijin, Inner Minister (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku, the Ichidai Yōki, the Rekidai Kōki, and the Imakagami; one variant in the Ichidai Yōki and the Kōin Shōunroku make her a daughter of Kinyoshi, which is mistaken). She became Nyōgo, took the Gyōkasha as her residence, and was called the Umetsubo Nyōgo (Note: following the Imakagami). Later she cut her hair and became a nun (Note: following the Ichidai Yōki).

Lady Fujiwara

¶Lady Fujiwara was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Kinyoshi, Udaijin, Minister of the Right, and a full younger sister of the Empress (Kinshi) (Note: following the Imakagami). She bore Imperial Princess Junshi (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Kōin Keizu).

Takashina-no-Eishi

¶Takashina-no-Eishi was a daughter of the monk Shōjin (Note: following the Teiō Hennenki). She was first the wife of Taira-no-Narifusa, governor of Sagami (Note: following the Sonpi Bunmyaku and the Nyoin Shōden). She entered the palace and was called Tango-no-Tsubone (Note: following the Gyokuyō and the Nyoin Shōden. The Gyokuyō says, "Tanba was at first a courtesan, but she entered the palace and took the name Rokujō-dono," and also, "the emperor bestowed on Tanba a plaque for the Jōdoji," and also, "he made an imperial visit to the house at the Jōdoji in Tango." From this it seems that Tanba and Tango are one and the same person. This work writes Tanba for the period before Juei (the text here reads "Eiju," an inversion of the era name) and Tango from Bunji onward. As for the report that, at the time of the Juei disturbance, when the emperor had divination made about whom to set on the throne, a favorite consort submitted the words she had seen in a dream, the Gyokuyō names Tanba, while the Teiō Hennenki, the Azuma Kagami, the Heike Monogatari, the Genpei Jōsuiki, and other works all name Tango. It is therefore not certain whether Eishi was first called Tanba and later changed to Tango. On the other hand, the Sankaiki says, "the mother of Imperial Prince Shōnin was a courtesan, who entered the palace and took the name Tanba," and the endnotes of the Rekidai Kōki say, "Shōnin's mother is Rokujō-dono." By this, the one called Tanba and Rokujō would be the mother of Shōnin and not Eishi. As no judgment can be made for the present, this is added for reference).

¶She was granted Junior Third Rank (Note: following the Gyokuyō) and advanced to Junior Second Rank, and she bore Senyōmon'in (Note: following the Gyokuyō, the Kōin Shōunroku, and the Nyoin Shōden. The Teiō Hennenki says, "the mother of Inpumon'in was Eishi, and the mother of Senyōmon'in was Nariko," but since Senyōmon'in lived together with the emperor and Rokujō-dono, and Eishi was herself also called Rokujō-in, the account of the Gyokuyō and others is followed here, and she is taken as Eishi's child).

¶The emperor (the Cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa) favored Eishi greatly, and because her residence was at the Jōdoji, he bestowed a plaque on it. In the world she was called the Jōdoji Nii, the Lady of Second Rank of the Jōdoji (Note: following the Gukanshō and the Genpei Jōsuiki). After the emperor's death she cut her hair and became a nun (Note: following the Azuma Kagami).

¶Eishi was on intimate terms with Imperial Prince Shōnin, and there was considerable scandal. Even in the reign of Emperor Go-Toba she continued to go in and out of the palace. By nature she was skilled at flattery and at pleasing her lord. She also made it her habit to sound out the intentions of Minamoto-no-Yoritomo and secretly report the state of the court to Kamakura. She courted both sides and won the favor of each (Note: following the Gukanshō). In the sixth year of Kenkyū (1195), when Yoritomo came up to the capital and stayed at Rokuhara, he invited Eishi, entertained her lavishly, and presented her with three hundred ryō of gold dust (Note: following the Azuma Kagami).

Fujiwara-no-Nariko

¶Fujiwara-no-Nariko was a daughter of Fujiwara-no-Suenari, Dainagon, Major Counsellor. She was granted Junior Third Rank and called Takakura-no-Sanmi-no-Tsubone (Note: following the Ninnaji Goden). She bore Imperial Prince Shukaku, Prince Mochihito, Inpumon'in, Imperial Princess Shokushi, Imperial Princess Yoshiko, and Imperial Princess Kyūshi (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku; the Teiō Hennenki says she bore Senyōmon'in).

Bōmon-no-Tsubone

¶Bōmon-no-Tsubone was a daughter of Nobunari, Hyōe-no-jō, of the Left Guards (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Shomonzeki Fu; the family name of Nobunari is missing, and the Kōin Keizu gives Nobushige). She bore Imperial Prince Enne, Imperial Prince Jōe, Imperial Prince Seie, and the monk Kōe (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku. The Ichidai Yōki says, "the mother of Jōe and Kōe was a daughter of Ōe-no-Nobutada, governor of Bitchū, and the mother of Seie was Tanba," and the Kōin Keizu also says, "the mother of Seie was the same as Shōnin's." The Rekidai Kōki says, "Jōe was an elder brother by the same mother as Shōnin," but it is not clear which is correct).

Lady Ki

¶Lady Ki was a daughter of Ki-no-Takasuke, of the Naizenshi, Palace Table Office. She had at first been a courtesan, but was summoned into the palace and bore Imperial Prince Shōnin (Note: following the Tendai Zasu-ki. The Kōin Shōunroku says, "her mother was Tanba, a daughter of Ninsō," and does not record that she was a courtesan. The Sankaiki says, "her mother was the courtesan Lady Tanba." The endnotes of the Rekidai Kōki say, "her mother was Rokujō-dono," and none of these records that she was a daughter of Ninsō. According to the Gyokuyō, Tanba was also called Rokujō, and was none other than the Jōdoji Nii, Eishi. As the various accounts are in confusion and cannot be verified for the present, the account of the Tendai Zasu-ki is followed for the time being).

Lady Minamoto

¶Lady Minamoto was a daughter of the monk Ninsō of the Enryakuji (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku and the Sankaiki). She was called Sanjō-no-Tsubone and bore Imperial Prince Dōhō and the monk Chōtei (Note: following the Kōin Shōunroku. This work says, "the mother of Shōnin was Tanba, a daughter of Ninsō," but the Sankaiki says, "the mother of Shōnin was the courtesan Tanba." The Gyokuyō says, "the courtesan Tanba was called Rokujō," but does not say she was a daughter of Ninsō. According to the Ninnaji Goden, Ninsō was a younger brother of Minamoto-no-Arihito, Sadaijin. According to the Sonpi Bunmyaku, Arihito was a son of Imperial Prince Sukehito, a son of Emperor Go-Sanjō. If so, Ninsō would be a great-grandson of the emperor and a nephew of Arihito. It is hard to think that his daughter was a courtesan; moreover, the Fujiwara Empress Isshi was an adopted daughter of Arihito, so that Ninsō's daughter would also be a niece of Isshi, and the theory that she was a courtesan remains doubtful. At present there is no way to verify it).