Who Is Lady Tokiwa (Tokiwa Gozen)?
Mother of Ushiwaka (Yoshitsune)
Tokiwa
Lady Tokiwa is one of the wives of Minamoto no Yoshitomo and the mother of Ushiwaka (Minamoto no Yoshitsune). She is said to have been famous in the capital for her beauty.
When Yoshitomo is defeated in the Heiji Rebellion, she flees through the snow with her three small sons, Imawaka, Otowaka, and Ushiwaka. Later she presents herself to Taira no Kiyomori, moves his heart, and saves her children's lives. Ushiwaka is sent to Kurama Temple at about the age of seven.
The image of Tokiwa fleeing along a snowy road with her children in her arms later became a favorite subject of paintings and plays.
Episodes featuring this character3
NEWEpisode 1
Why the Temple Boy Sneaks Out at NightUshiwakamaru at Mount Kurama
The Legend of Yoshitsune, Episode 1. At a mountain temple, a boy named Shanaō is loved by everyone. One night a traveling monk visits him and reveals the truth: Shanaō is the son of the great Genji general Minamoto no Yoshitomo, who was murdered by a retainer hungry for a Heike reward. The monk hands him his father's sword. From that day on, Shanaō lives a double life: a model student by day, and by night a lone swordsman training in Sōjōgatani, the valley of the tengu.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 2
The Bandits Picked the Wrong GuestYoshitsune's Coming of Age at Kagami Inn
When Shanaō hears that a great lord in the far north is waiting to welcome a young Minamoto prince, he slips away from Mount Kurama in the spring of his sixteenth year without telling a soul. At the Kagami Inn he single-handedly drives off a bandit raid. Then, gazing at his own acolyte's reflection in the inn's old mirror, he travels on to Atsuta Shrine. With no grown-up there to give him a name, he holds his own coming-of-age ceremony and names himself Minamoto no Kurō Yoshitsune.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 6
Each Win Pushed His Brother Further AwayThe Reunion at Kisegawa and the Koshigoe Letter
When Yoshitsune hears his brother Yoritomo has risen against the Heike, he rushes to join him, and the two brothers, meeting for the first time, weep together. But after winning battle after battle and wiping out the Heike, Yoshitsune finds the road to his brother barred.
19 pages