Taira no Tokiko (平 時子; 1126–1185) was a Japanese aristocrat from the Heian period. She was the daughter of Taira no Tokinobu, concubine of Taira no Kiyomori, mother of Taira no Tokuko, and grandmother of Emperor Antoku. Later she took the vows to become a nun, after which she was generally referred to by her Buddhist name as the "Nun of the Second Rank" (二位尼, Nii no Ama).
After Kiyomori's death in 1181, Tokiko's son, Taira no Munemori, became the head of the Taira clan. After this, she became the representative pillar of the Taira clan. According to The Tale of the Heike, Taira no Tokiko drowned herself during the Battle of Dan-no-ura together with her grandson, Taira no Tokushi.
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Life
It is speculated that she was taken as Kiyomori's concubine around the year 1145, based on the birth year of her first child, Munemori. After the Heiji Rebellion, she became the wet nurse of Emperor Nijō's son, and on December 24, 1160, she was promoted to Jusanmi by the recommendation of Yaso no Tsubone. Her role as the wet nurse of Emperor Nijō and Kiyomori's status as the foster father were seen as a gesture of allegiance to Emperor Nijō and a demonstration of political service during the conflict between Emperor Nijō and the retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa.
After the death of Emperor Nijō, she and her half-sister Shigeko, who became a favored concubine of Go-Shirakawa, mediated the political alliance between Kiyomori and Go-Shirakawa, and when Prince Norihito (later Emperor Takakura) was appointed Crown Prince on October 10, 1166, she was promoted to Jūni-i on October 21 of the same year.