Born around 1202, daughter of the second shogun Minamoto no Yoriie. Her mother was said to be the daughter of Kamo Shigenaga. As the Hojo consolidated power and members of the Minamoto shogunal family were killed one by one, she became the last living woman with Yoritomo's direct blood, giving her special symbolic importance. Her father Yoriie was killed in 1204, and her uncle Sanetomo was assassinated in 1219, extinguishing the male Minamoto shogunal line. Treasured as a guarantor of the shogunate's legitimacy, she lived for a time as a nun, then married the fourth shogun Fujiwara Yoritsune in 1230 (around age 28) at the arrangement of Hojo Yasutoki and others. This union, joining Yoritomo's lineage with that of the Fujiwara regent family, carried important symbolic weight for the shogunate's authority. But in 1234, she died in difficult childbirth along with her stillborn child at age 33. With her death, Yoritomo's direct bloodline was completely extinguished, and all subsequent Kamakura shoguns were drawn from the Kyoto nobility or imperial family.

A woman burdened with the heavy fate of being the last Minamoto heir. She accepted her political marriage and served the shogunate's stability. Her life symbolized the rise and fall of the Minamoto.

Her death ended Yoritomo's direct line. Subsequent shoguns came from the Fujiwara or Imperial family. The extinction of Minamoto blood fundamentally changed the shogunate's character.