Background
Though no dates are available Tokiwa is said to have lived during the Heian Period.
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Tokiwa Gozen
Edit Profile常盤 御前
Career
Sources disagree as to whether Tokiwa Gozen was a concubine or wife to Minamoto no Yoshitomo, to whom she bore three sons, of which the youngest was Yoshitsune. She was later captured by Taira no Kiyomori, whom she served as a concubine in exchange for assurances of the safety of her family. After leaving Kiyomori, Tokiwa married Fujiwara no Naganari.
Lady Tokiwa is primarily associated, in literature and art, with an incident in which she fled through the snow, protecting her three young sons within her robes, during the 1160 Heiji Rebellion.
When she was a lady-in-waiting to Chugu Kujo-in, she met Yoshitomo Minamoto who fell in love with her graceful figure. She bore him three sons, Imawaka, Otowaka and Ushiwaka. Later when her lover was defeated during the battle with the Heike (1159), she fled with her children and sought sanctuary at her uncle's house in Yamato (Nara Prefecture). When she heard that Kiyomori Taira had imprisoned her mother and was seeking her, she boldly presented herself before him at Rokuhara and prayed for mercy. Kiyomori not only pardoned her but made her his mistress. When Kiyomori's power began to wane she married Nagashige Ichijo and sent her three sons into a monastery under Buddhist names: Imawaka came to be called Zensei Ano; Otowaka became Ensei, and Ushiwaka became Yoshitsune Minamoto.
