Empress Michiko of Japan
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| Michiko Shōda | ||
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| Empress of Japan | ||
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| Titles | HIM The Empress of Japan (1989-) HIH The Crown Princess of Japan (1959-1989) Miss Michiko Shōda (1934-1959) |
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| Born | October 20, 1934 (age 72) | |
| Tokyo, Japan | ||
| Consort | January 7, 1989 - present | |
| Consort to | Akihito | |
| Issue | Naruhito, Fumihito, Sayako | |
| Father | Hidesaburo Shoda | |
| Mother | Fumiko Soejima | |
Empress Michiko of Japan, (born October 20, 1934) formerly Michiko Shōda (正田 美智子 Shōda Michiko?) and later the Crown Princess of Japan (April 10, 1959 to January 7, 1989), is the wife and consort of the reigning Emperor of Japan, HIM Emperor Akihito. She was the first commoner to marry into the Japanese imperial family. As crown princess and later as empress, she has become the most visible and widely travelled imperial consort in Japanese history. Her full title is Her Imperial Majesty Empress Michiko of Japan.
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[edit] Early life
Empress Michiko was born in Tokyo, the eldest daughter of Hidesaburo Shōda, president and later honorary chairman of Nisshin Flour Milling Company, and his wife, Fumiko Soejima. She attended Futaba Elementary School in Tokyo, but was obliged to leave during the fourth grade because of the American bombing during World War II. She returned to school after the war ended and attended the Seishin (Sacred Heart) High School in Tokyo.
She earned a bachelor of arts in English literature from the Faculty of Literature at the University of the Sacred Heart, Tokyo in 1957.
Biographers of the writer Yukio Mishima report that he had considered marrying Michiko Shoda, and was introduced to her for that hopeful purpose sometime in the 1950s.
[edit] Engagement
In August 1957, she met then-Crown Prince Akihito on a tennis court at Karuizawa. The Imperial Household Council (a body composed of the prime minister of Japan, the presiding officers of the two houses of the Diet of Japan (or parliament), the chief judge of the Supreme Court, and two members of the imperial family) formally approved the engagement of the Crown Prince to Michiko Shōda on November 27, 1958.
Although the future crown princess was the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, she was a commoner. During the 1950s, the media and most persons familiar with the Japanese monarchy had assumed the powerful Imperial Household Agency (Kunaicho) would select a bride for Crown Prince Akihito from among the daughters of the former court nobility (kuge) or from one of the former branches of the imperial family. Some traditionalists opposed the engagement, and it was widely rumored that Empress Kōjun also was against her son's engagement. When the dowager empress died in 2000, Reuters news agency reported that she had bullied her effervescent new daughter-in-law into a rumored nervous breakdown in the early 1960s. The young couple nonetheless proved widely popular among the Japanese public.
[edit] Marriage and family
The couple married on April 10, 1959.
Three children were born to the couple:
- HIH Naruhito, Crown Prince of Japan, b. February 23, 1960;
- HIH Prince Akishino (Fumihito), b. November 30, 1965; and
- The former HIH Princess Nori (Sayako), b. April 18, 1969.
Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko again broke precedent by preferring to raise their children instead of entrusting them to the care of court chamberlains; the crown princess even breastfed. Her efforts to break free of suffocating court etiquette regarding childrearing may have been even more serious than is popularly known. An article written by Sheila K. Johnson and published in 1997 in the JPRI Critique, the journal of the Japan Policy Research Institute -- "Sad Lives: A Tale of Two Princesses," Vol. 4, No. 9 -- reported that in the 1960s, rumors abounded that Crown Princess Michiko underwent an abortion partly to spite her controlling father-in-law, Emperor Hirohito.
| Styles of The Empress of Japan |
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| Reference style | Her Imperial Majesty |
| Spoken style | Your Imperial Majesty |
| Alternative style | Ma'am |
Upon the death of the Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) on January 7, 1989, her husband became Japan's 125th emperor and she became empress (consort). The new Emperor and Empress were enthroned (Sokui Rei Seiden no Gi) at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on November 12, 1990.
As Crown Prince and Crown Princess, Akihito and Michiko made official visits to thirty-seven countries. Since their enthronement, the Imperial couple have visited an additional eighteen countries, and have done much to make the Imperial family more visible and approachable in contemporary Japan.
Having lost her voice for seven months during a nervous breakdown in the 1960's, the empress again lost her voice for several months in the Fall of 1993. Court doctors attributed this to "strong feelings of distress". In fact, it was a reaction to personal attacks by Japanese media.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Kunaicho | Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress
- Hello! Magazine | Empress breaks her silence over Masako's illness
- Japan 101 | Empress Michiko
| Preceded by Empress Kōjun |
Empress consort of Japan 1989- |
Succeeded by — |
