fbpx
Wikipedia

Empress Go-Sakuramachi

January 06, 2023

Empress Go-Sakuramachi (後桜町天皇, Go-Sakuramachi-tennō, 23 September 1740 – 24 December 1813) was the 117th monarch of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.[1][2] She was named after her father Emperor Sakuramachi, the word go- (後) before her name translates in this context as "later" or "second one". Her reign spanned the years from 1762 through to her abdication in 1771.[3] The only significant event during her reign was an unsuccessful outside plot, that intended to displace the shogunate with restored imperial powers.

Empress Go-Sakuramachi
後桜町天皇
Empress of Japan
Reign15 September 1762 – 9 January 1771
Coronation31 December 1763
PredecessorMomozono
SuccessorGo-Momozono
ShōgunTokugawa Ieharu
BornToshiko (智子)
(1740-09-23)23 September 1740
Died24 December 1813(1813-12-24) (aged 73)
Burial
Tsuki no wa no misasagi, Kyoto
Posthumous name
Tsuigō:
Empress Go-Sakuramachi (後桜町院 or 後桜町天皇)
HouseYamato
FatherEmperor Sakuramachi
MotherNijō Ieko
Signature

Empress Go-Sakuramachi and her brother Emperor Momozono were the last lineal descendants of Emperor Nakamikado. Her nephew succeeded her as Emperor Go-Momozono upon her abdication in 1771. Go-Momozono died eight years later after a serious illness with no heir to the throne. A possible succession crisis was averted when Go-Momozono hastily adopted an heir on his deathbed upon the insistence of his aunt. In her later years, Go-Sakuramachi became a "guardian" to the adopted heir, Emperor Kōkaku, until her death in 1813. In the history of Japan, Go-Sakuramachi was the last of eight women to take on the role of empress regnant.

Events of Go-Sakuramachi's life

Early life

Before Go-Sakuramachi's accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne, her personal name (imina) was Toshiko (智子).[4] Toshiko was born into the Imperial family on 23 September 1740 she was the second daughter of Emperor Sakuramachi, and her mother was Nijō Ieko (二条 舎子).[5] Toshiko had an older sister who died at a young age, and a brother named Toohito who became Emperor Momozono upon the death of their father in 1747. The empress and her Emperor brother were the last lineal descendants of Emperor Nakamikado.[6] Toshiko's Imperial family lived with her in the dairi of the Heian Palace, her initial pre-accession title was Isa-no-miya (以茶宮) and later Ake-no-miya (緋宮).

Reign

On 15 September 1762 Princess Toshiko acceded to the throne as Empress when her brother Emperor Momozono abdicated in her favor.[4][7] Momozono's son, Prince Hidehito (later to be known as Emperor Go-Momozono) was only 4 years old at this time. Hidehito's empress aunt was expected to occupy the throne until her nephew would be able to take on the burden of responsibility. While she held the political title of Empress, it was in name only as the shoguns (generalissimos) of the Tokugawa family controlled Japan. There was only one major incident during Go-Sakuramachi's reign in 1766, which involved unsuccessful plans to displace the shogunate with restored Imperial powers.[8] While the attempt was thwarted, additional challenges to the shōgun's authority would come a decade or so later under the reign of Emperor Kōkaku. Other events in Go-Sakuramachi's life included the founding of a merchant association handling Korean ginseng in the Kanda district of Edo.[9] The year 1770 saw a great comet (Lexell's Comet) with a very long tail light up the night skies throughout the summer and autumn.[10] During the same year two major disasters unfolded which included a typhoon that flattened the newly built Imperial Palace in Kyoto, and the start of a 15 year consecutive drought.[10] Go-Sakuramachi abdicated on 9 January 1771 in favor of her nephew Hidehito.[5]

Daijō Tennō

 
The kami of Go-Sakuramachi is enshrined in Tsuki no wa no misasagi

Go-Sakuramachi became a Daijō-tennō (Retired Empress) upon her abdication, but her nephew's reign as Emperor did not last long. Emperor Go-Momozono became deathly ill in 1779, and having no heir to the throne this created a potential succession crisis. Go-Sakuramachi consulted with the senior courtiers and imperial guards, and planned to accept Prince Sadayoshi of Fushimi-no-miya as an adopted son. For one reason or another the choice went instead to Prince Morohito, who was a member of the Kanin branch of the Imperial family. Morohito was the sixth son of Prince Kan'in-no-miya Sukehito (閑院宮典仁), and was supported by the Emperor's chief advisor (aka the Kampaku). Go-Momozono hastily adopted Prince Morohito, who became Emperor Kōkaku upon his death on 6 December 1779. After the throne had switched to that branch of the imperial line, Go-Sakuramachi came to be referred to as the Guardian of the Young Lord, referred to the Emperor. The largest event that took place before her death occurred in 1789, when she admonished Kōkaku for his role in a scandal involving his father's honorary title. The former empress Go-Sakuramachi died on 24 December 1813 at the age of 73.[5]

Go-Sakuramachi's kami is enshrined in the Imperial mausoleum (misasagi), Tsuki no wa no misasagi, at Sennyū-ji in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto. Also enshrined in this location are this empress's immediate Imperial predecessors since Emperor Go-Mizunoo – Meishō, Go-Kōmyō, Go-Sai, Reigen, Higashiyama, Nakamikado, Sakuramachi and Momozono, along with her four immediate successors – Go-Momozono, Kōkaku, Ninkō, and Kōmei.[11]

Legacy

See also: Japanese imperial succession debate

In the history of Japan, Go-Sakuramachi was the last of eight women to take on the role of empress regnant. She is also credited with creating a book called Matters of Years in the Imperial Court (禁中年中の事, Kinchū-nenjū no koto), which consists of poems, Imperial letters and Imperial chronicles. Although there were seven other reigning empresses, their successors were most often selected from amongst the males of the paternal Imperial bloodline. For this reason, some scholars have suggested that these reigns were temporary, and argued that the male-only succession tradition must be maintained in the 21st century.[12] The sole exception to this tradition occurred when Empress Genmei was followed on the throne by her daughter, Empress Genshō. The other five women to rule as empress with male heirs include: Suiko, Kōgyoku (Saimei), Jitō, Kōken (Shōtoku), and Meishō. After the Meiji Restoration (1868), Japan imported the Prussian model of imperial succession, in which princesses were explicitly excluded from succession. The debate to allow succession laws to be changed allowing for a possible future empress continue to this day, most recently with Princess Toshi in 2005.

Eras and Kugyō

The years of Go-Sakuramachi's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō.[4] While Kugyō (公卿), is a collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in pre-Meiji eras. Even during those years in which the court's actual influence outside the palace walls was minimal, the hierarchic organization persisted. In general, this elite group included only three to four men at a time. These were hereditary courtiers whose experience and background would have brought them to the pinnacle of a life's career.

The following eras occurred during Go-Sakuramachi's reign:

During Go-Sakuramachi's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:

Ancestry

Notes

 
Japanese Imperial kamon—a stylized chrysanthemum blossom
  1. ^ Imperial Household Agency (Kunaichō): 後桜町天皇 (120)
  2. ^ Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan, p. 120.
  3. ^ Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon, pp. 419–420.
  4. ^ a b c Titsingh, p. 419.
  5. ^ a b c Meyer, Eva-Maria. (1999). Japans Kaiserhof in der Edo-Zeit, p. 186.
  6. ^ Brinkley, Frank. (1907). A History of the Japanese People, p. 621.
  7. ^ Meyer, p. 186; Titsingh, p. 419.
  8. ^ Screech, T. Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns, pp. 139–145.
  9. ^ Hall, John. (1988). The Cambridge History of Japan, p. xxiii.
  10. ^ a b Hall, John. (1955). Tanuma Okitsugu, 1719–1788, p. 120.
  11. ^ Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). Imperial House, p. 423.
  12. ^ "Life in the Cloudy Imperial Fishbowl," Japan Times. 27 March 2007.
  13. ^ "Genealogy". Reichsarchiv (in Japanese). Retrieved 20 January 2018.

References

  • Brinkley, Frank. (1907). A History of the Japanese People from the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era. New York: Encyclopædia Britannica. OCLC 413099
  • Hall, John Whitney. (1988). The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 4. Early Modern Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-22355-3; OCLC 489633115
  • Meyer, Eva-Maria. (1999). Japans Kaiserhof in der Edo-Zeit: unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Jahre 1846 bis 1867. Münster: LIT Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8258-3939-0; OCLC 42041594
  • Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1956). Kyoto: The Old Capital of Japan, 794–1869. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 182637732
  • __________. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 194887
  • Screech, Timon. (2006). Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822. London: RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 978-0-203-09985-8; OCLC 65177072
  • Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon (Nihon Ōdai Ichiran). Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691

See also

Regnal titles
Preceded by Empress of Japan:
Go-Sakuramachi
1762–1771 		Succeeded by

January 06, 2023
empress, sakuramachi, 後桜町天皇, sakuramachi, tennō, september, 1740, december, 1813, 117th, monarch, japan, according, traditional, order, succession, named, after, father, emperor, sakuramachi, word, before, name, translates, this, context, later, second, reign,. Empress Go Sakuramachi 後桜町天皇 Go Sakuramachi tennō 23 September 1740 24 December 1813 was the 117th monarch of Japan according to the traditional order of succession 1 2 She was named after her father Emperor Sakuramachi the word go 後 before her name translates in this context as later or second one Her reign spanned the years from 1762 through to her abdication in 1771 3 The only significant event during her reign was an unsuccessful outside plot that intended to displace the shogunate with restored imperial powers Empress Go Sakuramachi後桜町天皇Empress of JapanReign15 September 1762 9 January 1771Coronation31 December 1763PredecessorMomozonoSuccessorGo MomozonoShōgunTokugawa IeharuBornToshiko 智子 1740 09 23 23 September 1740Died24 December 1813 1813 12 24 aged 73 BurialTsuki no wa no misasagi KyotoPosthumous nameTsuigō Empress Go Sakuramachi 後桜町院 or 後桜町天皇 HouseYamatoFatherEmperor SakuramachiMotherNijō IekoSignatureEmpress Go Sakuramachi and her brother Emperor Momozono were the last lineal descendants of Emperor Nakamikado Her nephew succeeded her as Emperor Go Momozono upon her abdication in 1771 Go Momozono died eight years later after a serious illness with no heir to the throne A possible succession crisis was averted when Go Momozono hastily adopted an heir on his deathbed upon the insistence of his aunt In her later years Go Sakuramachi became a guardian to the adopted heir Emperor Kōkaku until her death in 1813 In the history of Japan Go Sakuramachi was the last of eight women to take on the role of empress regnant Contents 1 Events of Go Sakuramachi s life 1 1 Early life 1 2 Reign 1 3 Daijō Tennō 1 4 Legacy 2 Eras and Kugyō 3 Ancestry 4 Notes 5 References 6 See alsoEvents of Go Sakuramachi s life EditEarly life Edit Before Go Sakuramachi s accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne her personal name imina was Toshiko 智子 4 Toshiko was born into the Imperial family on 23 September 1740 she was the second daughter of Emperor Sakuramachi and her mother was Nijō Ieko 二条 舎子 5 Toshiko had an older sister who died at a young age and a brother named Toohito who became Emperor Momozono upon the death of their father in 1747 The empress and her Emperor brother were the last lineal descendants of Emperor Nakamikado 6 Toshiko s Imperial family lived with her in the dairi of the Heian Palace her initial pre accession title was Isa no miya 以茶宮 and later Ake no miya 緋宮 Reign Edit On 15 September 1762 Princess Toshiko acceded to the throne as Empress when her brother Emperor Momozono abdicated in her favor 4 7 Momozono s son Prince Hidehito later to be known as Emperor Go Momozono was only 4 years old at this time Hidehito s empress aunt was expected to occupy the throne until her nephew would be able to take on the burden of responsibility While she held the political title of Empress it was in name only as the shoguns generalissimos of the Tokugawa family controlled Japan There was only one major incident during Go Sakuramachi s reign in 1766 which involved unsuccessful plans to displace the shogunate with restored Imperial powers 8 While the attempt was thwarted additional challenges to the shōgun s authority would come a decade or so later under the reign of Emperor Kōkaku Other events in Go Sakuramachi s life included the founding of a merchant association handling Korean ginseng in the Kanda district of Edo 9 The year 1770 saw a great comet Lexell s Comet with a very long tail light up the night skies throughout the summer and autumn 10 During the same year two major disasters unfolded which included a typhoon that flattened the newly built Imperial Palace in Kyoto and the start of a 15 year consecutive drought 10 Go Sakuramachi abdicated on 9 January 1771 in favor of her nephew Hidehito 5 Daijō Tennō Edit The kami of Go Sakuramachi is enshrined in Tsuki no wa no misasagi Go Sakuramachi became a Daijō tennō Retired Empress upon her abdication but her nephew s reign as Emperor did not last long Emperor Go Momozono became deathly ill in 1779 and having no heir to the throne this created a potential succession crisis Go Sakuramachi consulted with the senior courtiers and imperial guards and planned to accept Prince Sadayoshi of Fushimi no miya as an adopted son For one reason or another the choice went instead to Prince Morohito who was a member of the Kanin branch of the Imperial family Morohito was the sixth son of Prince Kan in no miya Sukehito 閑院宮典仁 and was supported by the Emperor s chief advisor aka the Kampaku Go Momozono hastily adopted Prince Morohito who became Emperor Kōkaku upon his death on 6 December 1779 After the throne had switched to that branch of the imperial line Go Sakuramachi came to be referred to as the Guardian of the Young Lord referred to the Emperor The largest event that took place before her death occurred in 1789 when she admonished Kōkaku for his role in a scandal involving his father s honorary title The former empress Go Sakuramachi died on 24 December 1813 at the age of 73 5 Go Sakuramachi s kami is enshrined in the Imperial mausoleum misasagi Tsuki no wa no misasagi at Sennyu ji in Higashiyama ku Kyoto Also enshrined in this location are this empress s immediate Imperial predecessors since Emperor Go Mizunoo Meishō Go Kōmyō Go Sai Reigen Higashiyama Nakamikado Sakuramachi and Momozono along with her four immediate successors Go Momozono Kōkaku Ninkō and Kōmei 11 Legacy Edit See also Japanese imperial succession debate In the history of Japan Go Sakuramachi was the last of eight women to take on the role of empress regnant She is also credited with creating a book called Matters of Years in the Imperial Court 禁中年中の事 Kinchu nenju no koto which consists of poems Imperial letters and Imperial chronicles Although there were seven other reigning empresses their successors were most often selected from amongst the males of the paternal Imperial bloodline For this reason some scholars have suggested that these reigns were temporary and argued that the male only succession tradition must be maintained in the 21st century 12 The sole exception to this tradition occurred when Empress Genmei was followed on the throne by her daughter Empress Genshō The other five women to rule as empress with male heirs include Suiko Kōgyoku Saimei Jitō Kōken Shōtoku and Meishō After the Meiji Restoration 1868 Japan imported the Prussian model of imperial succession in which princesses were explicitly excluded from succession The debate to allow succession laws to be changed allowing for a possible future empress continue to this day most recently with Princess Toshi in 2005 Eras and Kugyō EditThe years of Go Sakuramachi s reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō 4 While Kugyō 公卿 is a collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in pre Meiji eras Even during those years in which the court s actual influence outside the palace walls was minimal the hierarchic organization persisted In general this elite group included only three to four men at a time These were hereditary courtiers whose experience and background would have brought them to the pinnacle of a life s career The following eras occurred during Go Sakuramachi s reign Hōreki 1751 1764 Meiwa 1764 1772 During Go Sakuramachi s reign this apex of the Daijō kan included Sadaijin Udaijin Naidaijin DainagonAncestry EditAncestors of Empress Go Sakuramachi 13 16 Emperor Reigen 1654 1732 8 Emperor Higashiyama 1675 1710 17 Matsuki Muneko 1658 1732 4 Emperor Nakamikado 1702 1737 18 Kushige Takayoshi 1652 1733 9 Kushige Yoshiko unknown 19 Nishinotōin2 Emperor Sakuramachi 1720 1750 20 Konoe Motohiro 1648 1722 10 Konoe Iehiro 1667 1736 21 Princess Tsuneko 1642 1702 5 Konoe Hisako 1702 1720 22 Machijiri Kanekazu 1662 1742 11 Machijiri Ryōko1 Empress Go Sakuramachi24 Kujō Kaneharu 1641 1677 12 Nijō Tsunahira 1672 1732 6 Nijō Yoshitada 1689 1737 26 Emperor Reigen 1654 1732 13 Princess Masako 1673 1746 27 Takatsukasa Fusako 1653 1712 3 Nijō Ieko 1716 1790 28 Maeda Mitsutaka 3rd Lord of Kaga 1616 1645 14 Maeda Tsunanori 4th Lord of Kaga 1643 1724 29 Seitai in 1627 1656 7 Maeda Toshiko 1693 1749 30 Tsuda Yasumasa15 Tsuda HojuinNotes Edit Japanese Imperial kamon a stylized chrysanthemum blossom Imperial Household Agency Kunaichō 後桜町天皇 120 Ponsonby Fane Richard 1959 The Imperial House of Japan p 120 Titsingh Isaac 1834 Annales des empereurs du Japon pp 419 420 a b c Titsingh p 419 a b c Meyer Eva Maria 1999 Japans Kaiserhof in der Edo Zeit p 186 Brinkley Frank 1907 A History of the Japanese People p 621 Meyer p 186 Titsingh p 419 Screech T Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns pp 139 145 Hall John 1988 The Cambridge History of Japan p xxiii a b Hall John 1955 Tanuma Okitsugu 1719 1788 p 120 Ponsonby Fane Richard 1959 Imperial House p 423 Life in the Cloudy Imperial Fishbowl Japan Times 27 March 2007 Genealogy Reichsarchiv in Japanese Retrieved 20 January 2018 References EditBrinkley Frank 1907 A History of the Japanese People from the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era New York Encyclopaedia Britannica OCLC 413099 Hall John Whitney 1988 The Cambridge History of Japan Vol 4 Early Modern Japan Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 22355 3 OCLC 489633115 Meyer Eva Maria 1999 Japans Kaiserhof in der Edo Zeit unter besonderer Berucksichtigung der Jahre 1846 bis 1867 Munster LIT Verlag ISBN 978 3 8258 3939 0 OCLC 42041594 Ponsonby Fane Richard 1956 Kyoto The Old Capital of Japan 794 1869 Kyoto Ponsonby Memorial Society OCLC 182637732 1959 The Imperial House of Japan Kyoto Ponsonby Memorial Society OCLC 194887 Screech Timon 2006 Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns Isaac Titsingh and Japan 1779 1822 London RoutledgeCurzon ISBN 978 0 203 09985 8 OCLC 65177072 Titsingh Isaac 1834 Annales des empereurs du Japon Nihon Ōdai Ichiran Paris Royal Asiatic Society Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland OCLC 5850691See also EditJapanese empresses Japanese succession debate Imperial cult List of Emperors of Japan Modern system of ranked Shinto shrinesRegnal titlesPreceded byEmperor Momozono Empress of Japan Go Sakuramachi1762 1771 Succeeded byEmperor Go Momozono Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Empress Go Sakuramachi amp oldid 1129576964, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.