Kenreimon'in Tokuko (Kiyomori's daughter and Emperor Antoku's mother), who had thrown herself into the sea at Dannoura, was pulled up by her hair with a rake by Minamoto soldiers, the only one to survive. Sent back to the capital, she took vows, and before long moved to Jakkoin in the mountain village of Ohara north of the city, spending her days praying for her dead son and her clan.
In late spring of 1186, the Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa visited her dwelling. The white clouds on the distant mountains recalled the fallen blossoms, and in the green treetops one regretted the last of spring. The young grass in the garden grew thick, the threads of the green willow tangled in the wind, and the floating weeds on the pond drifted on the ripples. The wisteria on the bank bloomed purple, and double kerria bloomed in profusion.
Ivy and morning glories crept along the eaves of her hut, and daylilies grew among the hare's-foot ferns. The bamboo pillars were mossy, and moonlight leaked in through gaps in the roof. She had gone into the hills to pick flowers, and after a while returned in her black nun's robe, carrying a flower basket.
Before the retired emperor, she told her life as the six realms of rebirth. Born Kiyomori's daughter, becoming an emperor's consort and the mother of a sovereign: that glory was the realm of heaven. The sad days of fleeing the capital and wandering on the sea were the human realm. Having neither food nor water was the realm of hungry ghosts. The battles from Ichinotani on were the realm of warring demons. And at Dannoura, watching her son and her mother sink into the sea, was the realm of hell. "Because my life has been such, I have seen all six realms while still alive."
The retired emperor and his attendants all wet their sleeves with tears. As the sun sank and the bell of Jakkoin sounded, the retired emperor returned to the capital.
In the second month of 1191, she faced west, chanting the name of Amida Buddha, and quietly breathed her last. It is said that purple clouds trailed across the sky, and a wondrous fragrance filled the hut. So the Tale of the Heike, which began with the bell of Gion Shoja, ends with the bell of Jakkoin.