Taira no Tokiko (平 時子, 1126–1185) was a Japanese aristocrat from the Heian period. She was the concubine of Taira no Kiyomori, mother of Taira no Tokuko, and grandmother of Emperor Antoku. Later she took the vows to become a nun, after which she was generally referred to by her Buddhist name as the "Nun of the Second Rank" (二位尼, Nii no Ama).[1]
After Kiyomori's death in 1181, Tokiko's son, Taira no Munemori, became the head of the Taira clan. After this, she became the representative pillar of the Taira clan. According to The Tale of the Heike, Taira no Tokiko drowned herself during the Battle of Dan-no-ura together with her grandson, Taira no Tokushi.[2]
- ^ McCullough, Helen Craig. (1988) The Tale of the Heike. Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-1418-1, p. 210.
- ^ Kitts, Margo (2018-05-01). Martyrdom, Self-Sacrifice, and Self-Immolation: Religious Perspectives on Suicide. Oxford University Press. p. 307. ISBN 978-0-19-065650-8.