Empress Kojun
Empress Kōjun of Japan was born
Princess Kuni Nagako (
jp: 久邇宮良子女王
kuni no miya nagako joō) (
March 6,
1903 -
June 16,
2000). She was the consort of the
Showa Emperor, and mother of
Emperor Akihito.
The Empress Nagako, known posthumously as
Empress Kōjun (香淳皇后
kōjun kōgō), was the longest lived empress consort (
kōgo) in Japanese history. She was Crown Princess from
26 January 1924 to
25 December 1926, Empress from
25 December 1926 to
7 January 1989, and Empress Dowager from
7 January 1989 to
16 June 2000.
Princess Nagako was born on
6 March 1903 in
Tokyo, the eldest daughter of
Prince Kuni Kuniyoshi (久邇宮邦彦
kuni no miya kuniyoshi ō, born at
Kyoto,
23 July 1873 -
29 January 1929), by his wife,
Chikako ("子
chikako, born at Kagoshima,
19 October 1879 -
10 September 1956), the 7th daughter of Prince Shimazu Tadayoshi, former lord of
Satsuma, 29th and last
daimyo of the line. Prince Kuniyoshi Kuni, a son of
Prince Kuni Asahiko, was the head of one eleven cadet branches of the imperial family during the
Meiji and
Taisho periods. Princess Nagako attended the Girls' Department of Peers' School in Tokyo (now
Gakushuin) with her first cousin, Princess Masako Nashimoto known later as
Princess Bangja of Korea.
 |
Empress Kōjun (Nagako) at her coronation ceremony 1926 |
The January
1919 engagement of Princess Nagako to her distant cousin then-Crown Prince
Hirohito was unusual in two respects. First, she was a princess of the imperial blood (albeit a minor one), whereas for centuries the chief consorts of Japanese emperors and crown princes had come one of the five senior branches of the
Fujiwara clan (Konoe, Ichijō, Nijō, Takatsukasa, and Kujō), the most illustrious families of the court nobility or
kuge. Second, although Princess Nagako's father was an offshoot of the imperial family, her mother descended from
daimyo, the feudal or military aristocracy.
Children
Princess Nagako married then Crown Prince
Hirohito on 26 January 1924 and became empress upon his accession to the throne on 25 December 1925. The Emperor and Empress had seven children, five daughters and two sons:
#
Princess Teru (Shigeko) (照宮成子
teru no miya shigeko), b.
9 December 1925, d.
23 July 1961, later Mrs.
Higashikuni Morihiro; #
Princess Hisa (Sichiko) (久宮祐子
hisa no miya sichiko), b.
10 September 1927, d.
8 March 1928; #
Princess Taka (Kazuko) (孝宮'子
taka no miya kazuko), b.
30 September 1929, d.
28 May 1969, later Mrs.
Takatsukasa Toshimichi; #
Princess Yori (Atsuko) (順宮厚子
yori no miya atsuko), b.
7 March 1931, now Mrs.
Ikeda Takamasa; #
Crown Prince Tsugu (Akihito) (継宮明仁
tsugu no miya akihito) became the present
Emperor of Japan,
Akihito, b.
23 December 1933; #
Prince Yoshi (Masahito) (義宮正仁
yoshi no miya masahito), b.
28 November 1935, titled
Prince Hitachi (常陸宮
hitachi no miya) since
1 October 1964; and #
Princess Suga (Takako) (清宮貴子
suga no miya takako), b.
3 March 1939, now Mrs.
Shimazu Hisanaga.
The daughters who lived to adulthood, left the imperial family as a result of the American reforms of the Japanese imperial household in October 1947 (in the case of Princess Higashikuni) or under the terms of the 1947 Imperial Household Law at the moment of their subsequent marriages (in the cases of Princesses Yori, Taka, and Suga).
Although she performed her ceromonial duties as empress in a traditional way, the Empress was the first Japanese imperial consort to travel abroad. She accompanied Emperor Showa on his European tour in
1971 and later on his state visit to the United States in
1975. She became known as the "smiling Empress".
After the Emperor
Hirohito's death in
1989, she assumed the title of
Empress Dowager. At that time she was in failing health herself and did not attend Hirohito's funeral. Her last public appearance was in 1988. She was in seclusion for the rest of her life. In 1996 official photos of the Dowager Empress were distributed upon popular demand. At the time of her death at the age of 97 in 2000 she had been an empress for 75 years. Akihito granted his mother the posthumous title of
Empress Kōjun.
*
Kunaicho | Empress Kojun*
BBC News | Japan mourns Empress Nagako*
BBC News | In pictures: Japan's imperial funeral
