Parents Nakayama Yoshiko was the daughter of Lord
Nakayama Tadayasu, Minister of the Left (
Sadaijin) and a member of the
Fujiwara clan. Her mother was Matsura Aiko (1818–1906), the 11th daughter of the
daimyō of the
Hirado domain,
Matsura Seizan.
At the court She was born in
Kyoto and entered service of the court at the age of 16. She became a concubine of Kōmei, who was also her third cousin once removed, and on 3 November 1852, gave birth to her only offspring Mutsuhito, later known as
Emperor Meiji, at her father’s residence outside of the
Kyoto Imperial Palace. She returned with her son to the Palace five years later. Her son was the only child born to
Emperor Kōmei surviving to adulthood. After the
Meiji Restoration, she relocated to the new capital to
Tokyo City in 1870 at the behest of her son the Emperor. She is buried in
Toshimagaoka cemetery in
Bunkyō, Tokyo. ==Honours==