Tokiwa Gozen [常盤御前] (Japanese, historical figure, 1138 – c. 1180)

Japanese noblewoman of the late Heian period; consort of Minamoto no Yoshitomo (源義朝) and mother of three sons, including Ushiwakamaru (牛若丸), later known as Minamoto no Yoshitsune (源義経). Following the defeat of the Minamoto clan in the Heiji Rebellion (1160), she is said to have fled through the snow with her children, an episode that became one of the best-known legends of medieval Japan. She is frequently depicted in ukiyo-e and other Japanese art as the embodiment of maternal devotion and endurance.