Stories of the Japanese 00438 [Late Heian Period] Gio and Hotoke Gozen

The Tale of the Heike records an episode illustrating the cruelty of Kiyomori during this period.
Kiyomori, who was in Fukuhara, kept sisters named Gio and Gijo, who were shirabyoshi dancers, as his favorites. Shirabyoshi were female entertainers who would dress in men's clothing and dance while singing imayo and roei.
A shirabyoshi named Hotoke Gozen visited, saying, "I would very much like you to see my dance." Since Kiyomori already had his favorite shirabyoshi, he was about to turn her away, but Gio suggested,
"Let's just watch her dance."
Kiyomori reluctantly allowed Hotoke Gozen to perform.
Hotoke Gozen's dance was so magnificent that Kiyomori took her into his service, and eventually, he came to favor her more than Gio. When Hotoke Gozen said, "I feel terrible for Gio," Kiyomori replied,
"Then it would be better if Gio were not here."
He then banished Gio back to the capital. On her way back to the capital, Gio composed a poem about her state of mind:
"Whether they sprout or wither, they are all grasses of the field; which of them will not meet the autumn and perish?"
After that, while Gio and her sister Gijo were living lonely lives in the capital, a messenger from Kiyomori arrived. The instruction was,
"Hotoke Gozen has lost her spirit, so perform a dance to cheer her up."
Gio tried to ignore this, but her mother said,
"You never know what might happen if you defy someone so powerful."
She urged her to go. Gio reluctantly went to Fukuhara and danced before Hotoke Gozen while holding back her tears.
Upon returning to the capital, Gio became a nun along with Gijo. While the three of them, including their mother, were living together, one day they heard a knock at the door. When they opened it, Hotoke Gozen was standing there. Hotoke Gozen said,
"Thanks to you, I was taken into Lord Kiyomori's service, but when you were driven out, I felt unbearable pain. Thinking that I would eventually meet the same fate, I could not sit still, so I secretly slipped out of the mansion."
She took off her hood, and to their surprise, she had already shaved her head and become a nun.
It is said that from then on, Hotoke Gozen and Gio spent their days and nights chanting the Nembutsu in the mountains of Saga. Kiyomori's arrogance had changed the lives of many people.