Empress Go-Sakuramachi
Empress Go-Sakuramachi (後桜"天皇
Go-Sakuramachi Tennō) (
September 23,
1740 –
December 24,
1813) was the 117th
imperial ruler of
Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. She was the last empress 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).Go-Sakuramachi is currently the last woman ever to reign as Empress Regnant of Japan. However, this will change if a bill (announced in January 2006) rescinds the Meiji-era restriction against female successors, thus going to allow the sole child,
Princess Aiko, of Crown Prince
Naruhito to ascend the throne, is passed by the Japanese diet. (See
Japanese Imperial succession controversy).
She was the second daughter of
Emperor Sakuramachi. Her older sister died young, and her younger brother was
Emperor Momozono.
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 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.
Eras of her reign
*
Hōreki*
Meiwa
