Empress Go-Sakuramachi

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Empress Go-Sakuramachi (後桜町天皇 Go-Sakuramachi Tennō) (September 23, 1740 – December 24, 1813) was the 117th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. She is the last woman ever to reign as Empress regnant, out of eight in the history of Japan, ruling from September 15, 1762 to January 9, 1771 before abdicating in favor of her nephew, Emperor Go-Momozono. Her personal name was Toshiko (智子) and her original title was Isa-no-miya (以茶宮), later Ake-no-miya (緋宮).

1 Genealogy
2 Life
3 Eras of her reign
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Genealogy

She was the second daughter of Emperor Sakuramachi. Her mother was Nijō Ieko (二条舎子). Her older sister died young, and her younger brother was Emperor Momozono.

[edit] Life

In 1762, she acceded to the throne by a special decree of Emperor Momozono, whose son Prince Hidehito (later Emperor Go-Momozono) was only 5 years old.

By her enthronement, she became the first reigning empress in her own right in 119 years, since Empress Meishō.

In the ninth year of her reign, 1770, she abdicated in favor of Emperor Go-Momozono. However, that reign did not last long, ending in 1779 when Go-Momozono died without leaving a son. When her nephew was dying, the then-retired (Daijo Tenno) Go-Sakuramachi consulted with the senior courtiers and imperial guards, planning to accept Prince Fushimi-no-miya as an adopted son, but they eventually decided on Prince Morohito (師仁), sixth son of Prince Kan'in-no-miya Sukehito (閑院宮典仁), who was supported by the emperor's chief advisor (Kampaku). Prince Morohito, hastily adopted by Go-Momozono at deathbed, became Emperor Kōkaku.

After the throne had switched to that branch of the imperial line, Go-Sakuramachi, in her role as Retired Emperor, came to be referred to as the Guardian of the Young Lord (Emperor Kōkaku). In this role, in 1789, during a scandal involving an honorary title, she admonished the Emperor.

She died in 1813, at the age of 73. She is buried at Tsukinowanomisasagi (月輪陵) in Kyoto's Higashiyama section.

She left behind a book called Kinchū-nenjū no koto (禁中年中の事, roughly "Matters of Years in the Imperial Court"), consisting of poems, imperial letters, imperial chronicles, and so forth, excelling in literary merit.