The Women Who Sat on the Chrysanthemum Throne
The images above are of the legendary Chrysanthemum Throne of the Emperor of Japan. Also known as Takamikura Throne, it is kept in the former Imperial Palace of Kyoto. It has served three generations of emperors (Taisho, Showa and Heisei) and will be of service to the coronation of Prince Naruhito in May 2019. The Takamikura Throne has an octagonal structure that sits atop a rectangular platform. On the top of the roof is the statue of a large phoenix bird called Hō-ō, and at each octogonal corner stand smaller golden phoenixes. The chrysanthemum flower is the symbol of the Emperor and the emblem of the Imperial House.
There were eight female imperial reigns (six female emperors including two who reigned twice) in Japan’s early history between 593 and 770, and in the early Edo Period. Though, their successors were most often selected from amongst the males of the paternal Imperial bloodline, which is why some conservative scholars argue that the women’s reigns were temporary and that male-only succession tradition must be maintained. After many centuries, female reigns came to be officially prohibited when the Imperial Household Law was issued in 1889 alongside the new Meiji Constitution.
The legendary Empress Jingū (c. 200–269), the consort to the 14th Japanese Emperor Chūai, who, according to the Nihon Shoki, upon the death of her husband, led an army to an invasion of a promised land (supposedly the lands on the Korean Peninsula) and returned to Japan victorious after three years; is still a controversial character for modern historians and is not officially regarded as a historical figure. Because of the time of her appearance in history, historians associate her with the Queen Himiko, who was made a household name in the West by the Lara Croft’s adventures of Tomb Raider Hollywood blockbuster. Get a FREE download of her short-story book by clicking here.
Empress Suiko (593 to 628 CE)
Empress Suiko (born Princess Nukadabe) was the the 1st reigning Empress of Japan (rather than an empress-consort). She was born in the year 554 CE and reigned from 593 to her death in 628. Her father was Emperor Kinmei, the first Japanese emperor for whom contemporary historiography is able to assign verifiable dates. She was also the first case where a woman was chosen to accede to the throne to avert a power struggle. Suiko became at age eighteen the empress-consort of Emperor Bidatsu (her half-brother), who reigned from 572 to 585. After a short rule by the Emperor Yōmei, interclan warfare (Soga, Mononobe and Nakatomi) over the succession broke out. Suiko’s brother, Emperor Sujun reigned next, but was murdered in 592, most likely by his uncle Soga no Umako, a powerful clan leader, as Sujun had become too independent from Umako’s sway. Then, Umako persuaded Suiko to take the throne, placing another of Umako’s nephews, Prince Shōtoku as Prince Regent.
Suiko’s reign is marked by the introduction of several cultural and political innovations. She opened the diplomatic relations with the Chinese Sui court in 600; adopted the Twelve Level Cap and Rank System in 603; the Seventeen-article Constitution in 604; and introduced the Chinese Lunisolar Calendar. Though, her most significant change was the institutionalisation of Buddhism as a state religion in 594. Buddhism brought an immeasurable benefit to the Yamato court (based in Asuka, known today as Nara) and Japan.
The nigh inexistent construction industry grew rrapidly and the city was flooded with skilled immigrants from China and the Korean Peninsula. Buddhist cloisters, temples and multiple-level pagodas of white walls, vermillion columns and tiled roofs were being fast erected in various locations; completely transforming the landscape of the capital and breaking a new ground of size and splendour of religious structure. The fever spawned to the construction of roads, central government offices, palaces, and houses for the aristocrats. Suiko was a remarkably competent sovereign in a time and place in history where females did not occupy noteworthy public positions. The power of the emperor became stronger under her rule. She also sponsored the study of cosmopolitan cultures introduced by the new settlers, of arts, medicine, literature, and geography. She promoted engineering technologies that advanced the agriculture, especially the irrigation ponds of rice paddies.
Suiko had seven children, but upon her death she requested to be buried with her son Takeda, who had passed away at young age. She asked for a simple interment, with funds going instead to relieve the famine that disgraced the country at the time of her death. The Imperial Household Agency designated the Shintō Shrine, Shinaga no Yamada in Ōsaka, as Suiko’s mausoleum.
Empress Kogyoku/Saimei (642 to 645 CE and 655 to 661 CE)
The second empress-regnant, Empress Kōgyoku (594 – 661) reigned from 642 to 645. She reascended to the throne a second time as Empress Saimei in 655, reigning until her death in 661. She was a great-granddaughter of Emperor Bidatsu and became the wife and Empress-consort of her uncle Emperor Jōmei, though upon his death, she was crowned Empress-regnant. This marriage produced three children, from which two are deemed Japan’s formidable emperors: Prince Naka no Ōe (aka, Emperor Tenchi) and Prince Ōama (aka, Emperor Tenmu). Her reign is marked by the end of the Soga clan hegemony over the Imperial House (Isshi Incident) and ascension of the Fujiwara clan (formerly Nakatomi), whereby a coup d’etat enacted by her son Prince Naka no Ōe. Kōgyoku abdicated in response to the assassination of Soga no Iruka during a ceremony in the Yamato court.
Her brother became the next emperor – Kōtoku – but died nine years later. Although her son Prince Naka no Ōe had been designated the crown prince, his refusal to ascend to the throne compelled her to become empress-regnant for the second time as Saimei. In the fifth year of Saimei’s reign (660 CE), Baekje of Korea was conquered by Silla. Japan agreed to assist the Baekje royals in an attempt to revive their dynasty. Early in 661, Saimei responded to the situation by leaving her capital in Yamato Province to lead a military expedition to Korea. In May of 661, she arrived at Asakura Palace in the north part of Tsukushi. The allied army of Japan and Baekje was preparing for war against Silla, but the death of the Empress thwarted those plans. In October her body was brought from Tsukushi by sea to Port Naniwa-zu (today Ōsaka city); and her state funeral was held in early November.
Empress Jito (686 to 697 CE)
Empress Jitō, the third empress-regnant, was born in 645 CE and died in 702. Her reign spanned from 686 through 697. She was the daughter of Emperor Tenchi and married her uncle Emperor Tenmu, the brother of Tenchi. After her husband’s death, Jitō took responsibility for court administration in order to hold the place for her son Kusakabe until he came to age. Though, Prince Kusakabe died before ascending to the throne and his son, Karu-no-o, was named as Jitō’s successor and became Emperor Monmu. One of the biggest events of her reign was the transfer of the Yamato court from Asuka to Kashihara, in Nara (on the site, where presumably the first Emperor Jimmu erected his palace). The construction of the site of the new palace, Fujiwara-kyō started in 682, initiated by Emperor Tenmu. With a brief halt upon Tenmu‘s death, construction resumed under Empress Jitō, who officially moved the capital in 694. Fujiwara-kyō remained the capital for the reigns of Emperor Monmu and Empress Genmei, until 710.
Empress Genmei (707 to 715 CE)
The reign of Empress Genmei, (661 – 721) the fourth Empress-Regnant, spanned from 707 through 715. Genmei was a younger sister of Empress Jitō and married her nephew Prince Kusakabe, the son of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō. In 707, her son, the Emperor Monmu died at the age of twenty-four, leaving a son and heir of six years old. Hence, Genmei took the crown temporarily until her grandson came to age.
Under Genmei’s reign the capital moved again in 710, this time to the Heijō-kyō in Nara, initiating the Nara Period. Heijō-kyō was located at the north-central location of the city and also designed in accordance with the Chinese models used for their capital. Merchants and traders from China, Korea and India introduced various foreign cultures to Heijō-kyō through the Silk Road. As a result, Heijō-kyō flourished as Japan’s first international and political capital, with a peak population of approximately 100,000. The overall form of the city was an irregular rectangle, and it covered an area of more than 25 km2. The capital remained in Nara throughout the succeeding seven reigns, lenting its name to the historical Nara period (710 – 794).
Prior to his death, Emperor Tenmu had commissioned the compilation of the Kojiki (the Record of Ancient Matters). The work should chronicle the history of Japan from a mythological period of god-rulers up through the 28th day of the 1st month of the fifth year of Empress Suiko’s reign (597). Empress Genmei, along with other court officials, deserve the credit for continuing to patronise and encourage the mammoth project, which was published in 712 in three volumes. Genmei had initially planned to remain on the throne until her grandson reached maturity. However, in 715, she abdicated in favour of her daughter, Monmu’s older sister, who became known as Empress Genshō. Empress Genmei, who was followed on the throne by her daughter, remains the sole exception to this conventional argument.
Empress Gensho (715 to 724 CE)
Empress Genshō (680 – 748), the fifth female sovereign was the only empress regnant in Japan’s history to have inherited her title from another empress regnant (Empress Genmei, her mother), rather than from a male predecessor. Her reign spanned the years 715 through 724. Under Genshō’s reign, the Nihon Shoki (Nihongi), aka the Chronicles of Japan, was completed in 720. This was the first Japanese history book, made up of thirty chapters. In 724, Genshō abdicated in favour of her nephew, who would become known as Emperor Shōmu. Genshō lived for 25 years after she stepped down from the throne. She never married and had no children. She died at age 65.
Empress Koken/Shotoku (749 to 758 CE and 765 to 770 CE)
Empress Kōken (713 – 770) first reigned from 749 to 758, then, following the Fujiwara no Nakamaro Rebellion, she reascended the throne as Empress Shōtoku from 765 until her death in 770, becoming the sixth and eighth empress-regnant. She was the only princess in the Japanese history who became empress, not to ‘hold a place’ for a young apparent male-heir, but was meant to become sovereign from birth; thus, was appointed at early age the Crown Princess. She was probably the most controversial empress in Japanese history, as under her government the descendants of the Sun Goddess – Amaterasu, almost lost the prerogative to the Chrysanthemum Throne. She was involved in a love-affair with priest Yuge no Dōkyō and appointed him Grand Minister in 764. In 766, he was promoted to Hōō (priestly emperor) and in 770 had tried to ascend the throne by himself. The death of the Empress and resistance from the aristocracy destroyed his plans. This incident was one of the reasons for the later move of the Japanese capital from Nara to Kyōtō and the prohibition of female royals to take the high office. Like her father, Emperor Shōmu, she was a religious fanatic. She enabled the Buddhist monks to interfere on secular affairs and acquire power to corrupt the entire country.
One of her legacies is the Hyakumantō Darani project (the one million small wooden pagodas, each containing a small paper scroll printed by woodblock with a Buddhist text), which costed a colossal amount of money to the Imperial coffers, as well as to the population. Yuge no Dōkyō was a spiritual heir to the East Asian Yogacara school, which was known in Japan as the Hossō Sect. He represented the Yogacara school as the beloved and favoured courtier to the Empress Kōken. He apparently had healed an illness afflicting the Empress and gained her confidence. Empress Kōken and Dōkyō’s story is a common trope in the history of powerful women and Rasputin-like priestly figures: a female sovereign or aristocrat loves a younger, attractive, and talented man, and their affair brings about the collapse of their empire. It is, however, also a story of politics, power, and romance: a remarkable tennō who reputedly asked her ladies-in-waiting why male emperors could take as many women as they wanted, while complaining — with a certain monk in mind — why empresses could not marry whom they wished.
A team of archaeologists in Ōsaka Prefecture have discovered the square foundation of a giant pagoda at the Higashi-Yuge archaeological site in the city of Yao. The discovery was believed to have supported an imposing pagoda that would have been part of a mysterious temple called Yuge-ji, which was said to have been built by a powerful Buddhist monk named Dōkyō (c. 700–72). Shoku Nihongi, an official historical text of the Nara Period, published during the Heian Period (794–1185), contains a record of Yuge-ji. Empress Kōken died in 770. Dōkyō was exiled to what is today Tochigi Prefecture. She was succeeded by her first cousin twice removed, Emperor Kōnin.
Empress Meisho (1629 to 1643 CE)
Empress Meishō (1624 – 1696) was the seventh Empress-Regnant of Japan. She was the second daughter of Emperor Go-Mizunoo and Tokugawa Masako, a daughter of the second Tokugawa Shōgun, Tokugawa Hidetada, the son of Tokugawa Ieyasu. This was the era the shōgun held absolutely power over the country and the Imperial House had become just a symbol. In 1627, Emperor Go-Mizunoo was accused of having bestowed honorific purple garments to more than ten priests despite the shogun‘s edict banning them for two years (probably in order to break the bond between the Emperor and religious circles). The shogunate intervened and invalidated the bestowal of the garments. Two years later, the emperor renounced the throne in favour of his daughter, who became Empress Meishō and was only five years old. In 1639, the next shōgun, Iemitsu decrees the policy of sakoku, which banned all foreigners from the country (especially Christians) and forbids the population to establish any contact with abroad. In 1643 Empress Meishō abdicates and her brother Prince Tsuguhito becomes Emperor Go-Kōmyō. The Empress had no children of her own and in 1696, she dies at age 72.
As any marriage of aristocrats and powerful families of that time, her mother Masako’s was a conventional one. The Tokugawa Bakufu was at its zenith of power and wealth. Masako brought political union and riches into the marriage, which the broken Imperial finances were in dire need. Thanks to her, the Kyōtō court was able to restore part of its high standard of living and several buildings of the Imperial Palace that had been damaged by the war.
Empress Go-Sakuramachi (1762 to 1771 CE)
Empress Go-Sakuramachi (1740 – 1813) was the eighth and so far, the last female sovereign of Japan. This 18th-century empress was named after her father Emperor Sakuramachi. The prefix go– (後), translates as ‘later’; thus, it means the ‘second one’, which in Western style would become ‘Sakuramachi II’. Prior to her coronation she was known as Princess Toshiko. She acceded to the throne when Emperor Momozono, her brother abdicated. Momozono’s son, Prince Hidehito (later to be known as Emperor Go-Momozono) was only five years old at the time; therefore, her aunt was expected to occupy the throne until he would be able to take on the burden of responsibility. Empress Go-Sakuramachi is credited with creating a book called ‘Matters of Years in the Imperial Court’ (禁中年中の事 Kinchū-nenjū no koto). The work consists of poems, Imperial letters and Imperial chronicles. In 1813 she dies at the age of 73.