In my book, Maki-no-kata is presented as Masako’s main female rival in the same generation, marked by her strong jealousy. This is one of the most original settings adopted by my story: previous works, both novels and more academic books written by historians, only briefly mention her as the third wife of Masako’s father Tokimasa and fail to see her as an important figure for the life of Masako. This is understandable, as so little is known about her. We do not know when she was born, when she got married with Tokimasa, and when she died.

This idea originated from my simple question: how old was Maki-no-kata, and when did she get married with Tokimasa? In the story, Maki-no-kata is presented as only one-year older than Masako. This is my fiction, as we do not know anything about her age. However, I examined some circumstantial facts and concluded that this should be not too far from the reality. Here are the reasons.

First, it is known that Maki-no-kata was the third wife of Tokimasa, while his first wife was the daughter of Sukechika Ito (the mother of Masako and Yoshitoki), and his second wife was the daughter of Tohmoto Adachi (Okada 2019: 30). The apparently last child from this second daughter, Tokifusa, was born in 1175. Given the fact that Mononofu living in the rural area of Japan usually did not have two wives at the same time, it is reasonable to assume that Maki-no-kata got married with Tokimasa after Tokifusa was born, i.e after 1175.

Second, it is known that she had at least two daughters, who got married with someone before Tokimasa went into priesthood in 1205: one got married with Yoritsuna Utsunomiya, born in 1172, and the other got married with Tomomasa Hiraga first, and later remarried Kunimichi Fujiwara, born in 1176. These daughters must have been ready for marriage in the years around 1190-1200. So, it is plausible to assume that she married Tokimasa rather soon after 1175 and started having daughters immediately: otherwise, she could not have two daughters ready for marriage in the years around 1200. Also, as she was from the family close to the Taira clan, it is not reasonable to assume that the marriage took place after Yoritomo’s uprising, in which Tokimasa joined. This means that Maki-no-kata was with Tokimasa and Masako during the period from 1175 to 1180.

Third, it is known that her only son Masanori was born in 1189. This means that Maki-no-kata could not be too old when she got married with Tokimasa. For example, even if we assume that Maki-no-kata was only one years older than Masako, who was born in 1157, then Maki-no-kata must have been 33 years old when Masanori was born. Thus, I believe that Maki-no-kata was probably only 5-6 years older than Masako at most. Indeed, one historical source mentions Maki-no-kata as Tokimasa’s “young wife” (Okada 2019: 31). So, it is reasonable to assume that Maki-no-kata was much younger than Tokimasa, and much closer to Masako in terms of her age.

Fourth, even though we do not know when Maki-no-kata died, it is known that Maki-no-kata held a ceremony of commemoration of the twelfth year after Tokimasa’s death, as her behavior at this ceremony is mentioned in the diary written by Teika Fujiwara. This means that she was still alive and active in 1227, and lived longer than Masako, who died in 1225. This again suggests that Maki-no-kata could not be so much older than Masako.

If we assume that Maki-no-kata was born in 1156 (only one year older than Masako) and got married with Tokimasa right after the killing of Chizumaru in 1175, she was 33 years old when Masanori was born, and she was 69 years old when she held a commemoration ceremony for Tokimasa, which indeed makes sense. Once I adopted the assumption that Maki-no-kata was as young as Masako and had a snobbish and jealous nature, I thought that this assumption could provide a more consistent explanation on the motivations behind her behavior recoded in the historical documents. What do you think?