Go-Fukakusain no Nijō (1258–c. 1307), also known simply as Nijō, was born in the ancient capital of Heian-kyo (modern-day Kyoto) into the Koga family, a branch of the Minamoto clan. Orphaned at the age of two, she was raised under the watchful eye of her father and received a rigorous poetic education.

From childhood, she served as a lady-in-waiting to Emperor Go-Fukakusa and was one of his favorite mistresses. However, in 1283, she was banished from the palace and fell into disgrace.

She then embraced Buddhism, becoming a wandering nun and dedicating herself to traveling throughout Japan and cultivating poetry. Everything we know about her life we ​​owe to her memoirs, Confessions of Lady Nijō, which were not discovered until the middle of the last century, immediately placing its author in the prominent place of classical Japanese literature where she should always have been, alongside brilliant and unique writers such as Sei Shōnagon or Murasaki Shikibu.