(1258 – after 1307) was a Japanese noblewoman, poet and author. She was a concubine of Emperor Go-Fukakusa from 1271 to 1283, and later became a Buddhist nun. After years of travelling, around 1304–07 she wrote a memoir, Towazugatari ("An Unasked-For Tale", commonly translated into English as The Confessions of Lady Nijō), the work for which she is known today, and which is also the only substantial source of information on her life.
Court life
Lady Nijō was a member of the Koga family, a branch of the Minamoto clan descended from Emperor Murakami through Prince Tomohira, his seventh son. The clan's station at court was established through the allegiance made by Tomohira's son, Minamoto no Morofusa, with Emperor Go-Sanjō.
According to the Towazugatari, Emperor Go-Fukakusa was in love with Nijō's mother, Kinshi, the daughter of Shijô Takachika and a , who would have been the fourteen-year-old emperor's initiation to sex. It is unclear whether Nijō should be considered a formal wife (seisai) or a concubine (meshudo): there is evidence in the Confessions to support both interpretations. In the Towazugatari she describes being raped by Go-Fukakusa at age 14. Additionally, she was forced to have sexual relations against her will with court men, including Takatsukasa Kanehira. as well being a rare account of events not typically recorded in premodern Japanese literary works, such as sexual coercion.
Nijō's autobiography did not enjoy wide circulation, potentially due to later factionalism that split the imperial family or the fact that Nijō's portrayal of Emperor Go-Fukakusa was both intimate and humanising.) by Yamagishi Tokuhei, with several gaps in Book 5, noted by the scribe. The book was published in 1950, with a complete annotated edition following in 1966. There are two English translations:
- Karen Brazell. The Confessions of Lady Nijo. A Zenith book, published by Arrow Books Ltd., London, 1973.
- Wilfrid Whitehouse and Eizo Yanagisawa. Lady Nijo's own story; Towazugatari: the candid diary of a thirteenth-century Japanese imperial concubine. Tuttle, Rutland, Vt. 1974.
Genealogy
Ancestors
Issue
Partners and their respective issue:
- Emperor Go-Fukakusa (後深草天皇; 28 June 1243 – 17 August 1304)
- First son (1273 – 1274)
- Saionji Sanekane (西園寺 実兼; 1249 – 21 October 1322)
- First daughter (1275 – ?)
- Prince Shojo (d. 1281)
- Second son (1281 – ?)
- Third son (1282 – ?)
In contemporary culture
Lady Nijō appears as an important character in Act I of Caryl Churchill's play Top Girls.