She was a daughter of and Yūgiri (夕霧), a daughter of and a renowned
koto player. It has been postulated that she was born in
Hōgen 5 (1157). In 1173, she entered the service of
Taira no Tokuko, then empress to
Emperor Takakura. She may have come to court under the patronage of
Fujiwara no Shunzei. Her mother had previously given birth to a son, Son'en (尊円), by Shunzei, before marrying Koreyuki and taking Son'en with her into Koreyuki's house, and Ukyō no Daibu's nickname (literally "
Ukyō High Steward") comes from the political post held by Shunzei at the time she came to court. She served less than six years as a lady-in-waiting, but during this time she began a love affair with , and also took
Fujiwara no Takanobu as a lover. Takanobu was the son of and , who later married Shunzei, so it is possible that Takanobu's mother and foster-father were involved in the relationship. In around the autumn of 1178, she left court and went to live with her mother, but the following year her mother fell ill and died, and Ukyō no Daibu went to live with her half-brother Son'en in the
Nishiyama district of the Capital. Her relationship with Takanobu came to an end around this time, and she came to rely on the love of Sukemori. With the growing tensions between the
Taira and their rival
Minamoto clan, however, their relationship was short-lived. The Taira were driven from the Capital in the seventh month of 1183 (according to the traditional
Japanese calendar), and Sukemori left her, before drowning at the
Battle of Dan-no-Ura in 1185. Ukyō no Daibu heard the news of her lover's death, and later entered religious orders along with her brother at
Hosshō-ji (
ja). She went on treasuring the memory of her lover Sukemori, but around a decade later, in 1196 or 1197, she went back to the court of
Emperor Go-Toba, and then entered the service of the empress dowager
Shichijō-in. She lived until at least 1233, but her date of death is unknown. == Writings ==