Emperor Takakura
Emperor Takakura | |||||
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Emperor of Japan | |||||
Reign | April 9, 1168 – March 18, 1180 | ||||
Enthronement | April 29, 1168 | ||||
Predecessor | Rokujō | ||||
Successor | Antoku | ||||
Born | September 20, 1161 | ||||
Died | January 30, 1181 | (aged 19)||||
Burial | Nochi no Seikan-ji no Misasagi ( | ||||
Spouse | |||||
Issue |
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House | Imperial House of Japan | ||||
Father | Emperor Go-Shirakawa | ||||
Mother | Taira no Shigeko [ja] |
Emperor Takakura (
Genealogy
[edit]Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (his imina)[2] was Norihito-shinnō (
Takakura was the fourth son of Emperor Go-Shirakawa, and thus uncle to his predecessor, Emperor Rokujō. His mother was Empress Dowager Taira no Shigeko, the younger sister of Taira no Tokiko, the concubine of Taira no Kiyomori. His empress consort was Taira no Tokuko (later Empress Dowager Kenrei), the regent of Taira no Kiyomori, and thus his first cousin (as his mother and Tokuko's mothers were sisters).
- Empress consort: Taira no Tokuko (
平徳子 ) – later Kenreimon-in- First Son: Imperial Prince Tokihito (
言 仁 親王 ) – later Emperor Antoku
- First Son: Imperial Prince Tokihito (
- Lady-in-waiting: Bōmon Shokushi (
坊門 殖 子 ; 1157–1228) later Shichijō-in (七 条 院 ), Bomon Nobutaka's daughter- Second son: Imperial Prince Morisada (
守 貞 親王 ; 1179–1223) – later Go-Takakura In (後 高倉 院 ) – father of Emperor Go-Horikawa - Fourth son: Imperial Prince Takahira (
尊 成 親王 ) – later Emperor Go-Toba
- Second son: Imperial Prince Morisada (
- Consort: Konoe Michiko (
近衛 通子 ; b. 1163) or Rokujō-no-tsubone (六 条 局 ), Konoe Motozane’s daughter.
- Lady-in-waiting: Horikawa Toyoko (
堀河 豊子 ) or Azechi-Naishi (按察典侍 ), Horikawa Yorisada’s daughter
- Court Lady: Taira no Noriko (
平 範子 ) or Shōshō-Naishi (少将 内侍 ), Taira Yoshisuke’s daughter- Third son: Imperial Prince Koreaki (
惟 明 親王 ; 1172–1221) later Imperial Prince Priest Shōen (聖 円 入道 親王 )
- Third son: Imperial Prince Koreaki (
- Court Lady: Fujiwara Kimiko (
藤原 公子 ) or Sochi-no-Tsubone (帥 局 ), Fujiwara no Kimishige’s daughter – former nanny of Takakura- First daughter: Imperial Princess Isako (
功子 内親王 ; b. 1176) – Saigū of Ise
- First daughter: Imperial Princess Isako (
- Court Lady: Kogō-no-Tsubone (
小 督 局 ; b. 1157), Fujiwara no Shigenori’s daughter- Second daughter: Imperial Princess Hanshi/ Noriko (
範子 内親王 ; 1177–1210) later Empress Dowager Bōmon-in (坊門 院 )
- Second daughter: Imperial Princess Hanshi/ Noriko (
Events of Takakura's life
[edit]Although Takakura was formally enthroned, the reality was that government affairs were controlled by his father and his father-in-law.
- 1168 (Nin'an 3, 19th day of the 2nd month): In the 3rd year of Rokujō-tennō's reign (
六 条 天皇 3年 ), the emperor was deposed by his grandfather, and the succession (‘‘senso’’) was received by his cousin, the third son of the retired-Emperor Go-Shirakawa.[4] - 1168 (Nin'an 3, 19th day of the 2nd month): Emperor Takakura is said to have acceded to the throne (‘‘sokui’’), and he is proclaimed emperor.[5]
Takakura had his own views on the role of Emperor. He is said to have written:
- "The Emperor is a ship. His subjects are water. The water enables a ship to float well, but sometimes the vessel is capsized by it. His subjects can sustain an Emperor well, but sometimes they overthrow him."[6]
Ex-Emperor Go-Shirakawa exercised the powers attendant the well-settled patterns of cloistered rule. Taira no Kiyomori, who was the father of the Empress, did whatever he pleased as de facto Regent.
- 1172 (Jōan 2, 10th day of the 2nd month): Taira Kiyomori's daughter, Tokuko, becomes Takakura's consort.[7]
- May 27, 1177 (Jishō 1, 28th day of the 4th month): A great fire in the capital was spread by high winds; and the palace was reduced to cinders.[8]
- 1178 (Jishō 2, 12th day of the 11th month): Takakura's consort, Taira-no Tokuko, gave birth to a son. Kiyomori rejoiced; and all the officers of the court congratulated the parents. In the next month, this infant was declared heir to Emperor Takakura.[9]
- 1180 (Jisho 4, 21st day of the 2nd month): Emperor Takakura abdicated.[10]
- 1180 (Jisho 4, 22nd day of the 4th month): Emperor Antoku's coronation ceremony.[10]
- 1180 (Jisho 4, 2nd day of the 6th month): Former-emperor Go-Shirakawa-in, former-emperor Takakura-in and Emperor Antoku leave Kyoto for Fukuhara-kyō.[10]
- 1180 (Jisho 4, 26th day of the 11th month): The capital is moved back to Kyoto from Fukuhara.[10]
- 1180 (Jisho 4): A devastating whirlwind causes havoc in Heian-kyō, the capital.[11]
- 1181 (Jisho 5, 14th day of the 1st month): Emperor Takakura died.[10]
Soon after the birth of Emperor Takakura's son, Prince Tokihito, he was pressured to abdicate. The one-year-old infant would become Emperor Antoku.
Kugyō
[edit]Kugyō (
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. During Takakura's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:
- Sesshō, Matsuo Motofusa, 1144–1230.[12]
- Kampaku, Konoe Motomichi, 1160–1233.[12]
- Daijō-daijin, Fujiwara Tadamasa.[12]
- Daijō-daijin, Fujiwara Moronaga, 1137–1192.[12]
- Sadaijin, Ōimikado Tsunemune, 1119–1189.[12]
- Udaijin, Kujō Kanezane, 1149–1207.[12]
- Nadaijin, Konoe Motomichi.[12]
- Nadaijin, Minamoto Masamichi, died 1175.[12]
- Nadaijin, Taira Shigemori, 1138–1179.[13]
- Dainagon
Eras of Takakura's reign
[edit]The years of Takakura's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō.[14]
Cultural references
[edit]Takakura is the "Imperial Sovereign" of the Japan-inspired land of Akatsurai in Book 6: "The Lords of the Rising Sun" in the Fabled Lands adventure gamebook series. He is portrayed as a young man with little real power, it being largely in the hands of his chancellor, "Lord Kiyomori".
Ancestry
[edit]Ancestors of Emperor Takakura[15] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon, pp. 195–200; Brown, Delmer et al. (1979). Gukanshō, pp. 330–333; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki. pp. 212–214.
- ^ Brown, pp. 264; n.b., up until the time of Emperor Jomei, the personal names of the emperors (their imina) were very long and people did not generally use them. The number of characters in each name diminished after Jomei's reign.
- ^ Titsingh, p. 195; Varley, p. 212.
- ^ Brown, p. 330; Varley, p. 44; n.b., a distinct act of senso is unrecognized prior to Emperor Tenji; and all sovereigns except Jitō, Yōzei, Go-Toba, and Fushimi have senso and sokui in the same year until the reign of Emperor Go-Murakami.
- ^ Titsingh, p. 195; Varley, p. 44.
- ^ Kitagawa, Hiroshi et al. (1975). The Tale of the Heike, p. 220.
- ^ Kitagawa, p. 783.
- ^ Titsingh, p. 198.
- ^ Titsingh, p. 199.
- ^ a b c d e Kitagawa, p. 784.
- ^ Kamo no Chōmei. (1212). Hōjōki.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Brown, p. 331.
- ^ Brown, p. 332.
- ^ Titsingh, p. 195; Brown, pp. 330–331.
- ^ "Genealogy". Reichsarchiv (in Japanese). 30 April 2010. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
References
[edit]- Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979). Gukanshō: The Future and the Past. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03460-0; OCLC 251325323
- Helmolt, Hans Ferdinand and James Bryce Bryce. (1907). The World's History: A Survey of Man's Progress. Vol. 2. London: William Heinemann.OCLC 20279012
- Kitagawa, Hiroshi and Bruce T. Tsuchida, ed. (1975). The Tale of the Heike. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press. ISBN 0-86008-128-1 OCLC 164803926
- Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 194887
- Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Odai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691
- Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki: A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-04940-5; OCLC 59145842