Empress Kōken
Kōken/Shōtoku | |
---|---|
Memorial Shinto shrine and mausoleum honoring Kōken | |
|
|
Reign | 749–758 |
Enthronement | August 19, 749 |
Predecessor | Shōmu |
Successor | Junnin |
|
|
Reign | 764–770 |
Enthronement | January 26, 765 |
Predecessor | Junnin |
Successor | Kōnin |
Era name and dates | |
Tenpyō-kanpō, Tenpyō-shōhō, Tenpyō-hōji, Tenpyō-jingo, Jingo-keiun: 749, 749–757, 757–765, 765–767, 767–770 | |
Father | Shōmu |
Mother | Kōmyō |
Born | 718 |
Died | 770 |
Burial | Takano no misasagi (Nara) |
Empress Kōken (孝謙天皇 Kōken-tennō , 718 – August 28, 770), also known as Empress Shōtoku (称徳天皇 Shōtoku-tennō ), was the 46th and the 48th monarch of Japan respectively,[1] according to the traditional order of succession.[2] Empress Kōken first reigned from 749 to 758, then she reascended the throne as Empress Shōtoku from 765 until her death in 770.
In the history of Japan, Kōken/Shōtoku was the sixth of eight women to take on the role of empress regnant. The five female monarchs before Kōken/Shōtoku were (a) Suiko, (b) Kōgyoku/Saimei, (c) Jitō, (d) Gemmei, and (e) Genshō; and the two women sovereigns reigning after Kōken/Shōtoku were (f) Meishō, and (g) Go-Sakuramachi.
Contents
Traditional narrative[edit source | edit]
Empress Kōken's personal name (imina) was Abe (阿倍 ).[3] Her father was Emperor Shōmu, and her mother was Empress Kōmyō.[4]
Kōken is traditionally venerated at her tomb; the Imperial Household Agency designates Takano no Misasagi (高野陵?, Takano Imperial Mausoleum), in Nara, Nara, as the location of Kōken's mausoleum.[1] The site is publicly accessible.[5][6]
Events of Kōken's life[edit source | edit]
- August 19, 749[7] (Tenpyō-kanpō 1, 2nd day of the 7th month[8]): In the 25th year of Shōmu-tennō 's reign (聖武天皇25年), the emperor died; and the succession (senso) was received by his daughter. Shortly thereafter, Kōken is said to have acceded to the throne.[9]
- 757: Conspiracy to overthrow Empress Kōken was not successful.[10]
- 758: Koken abdicated in favor of a cousin who would become known as Emperor Junnin. The Empress had reigned as for ten years.
- 764: In the sixth year of Junnin-tennō 's reign, the emperor was deposed by his adoptive mother, and the succession was received by former-Empress Kōken.
- January 26, 765 (Tenpyō-hōji 9, 1st day of the 1st month[11]): Kōken formally reascended the throne (sokui) as Empress Shōtoku.[12]
- August 28, 770 (Jingo-keiun 4, 4th day of the 8th month[13][14]: Empress Shōtoku died of smallpox[citation needed] at age 57,[15] leaving the throne vacant.[16] She was succeeded by her first cousin twice removed, Emperor Kōnin. Empress Shōtoku had reigned for five years.[15]
Eras of her reigns[edit source | edit]
The years of Kōken's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name.[17]
- Tenpyō-kanpō (749)
- Tenpyō-shōhō (749–757)
- Tenpyō-hōji (757–765)
The years of Shōtoku's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name.[18]
- Tenpyō-hōji (757–765)
- Tenpyō-jingo (765–767)
- Jingo-keiun (767–770)
Legacy[edit source | edit]
Koken's reign was turbulent, and she survived coup attempts by both Tachibana Naramaro and Fujiwara no Nakamaro.[19] Today, she is remembered chiefly for her alleged affair with a Buddhist monk named Dōkyō (道鏡), a man she honored with titles and power. An oracle from Usa Shrine, the shrine of the kami Hachiman (八幡 ) in Usa, is said to have proclaimed that the monk should be made emperor; but when the empress sent Wake no Kiyomaro (和気清麻呂 ) to verify the pronouncement, Hachiman decreed that only one of imperial blood should ascend to the throne.[20]
As with the seven other reigning empresses whose successors were most often selected from amongst the males of the paternal imperial bloodline, she was followed on the throne by a male cousin, which is why some conservative scholars argue that the women's reigns were temporary and that male-only succession tradition must be maintained in the 21st century.[21] Empress Gemmei, who was followed on the throne by her daughter, Empress Genshō, remains the sole exception to this conventional argument.
Kugyō[edit source | edit]
Kugyō (公卿 ) is a collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in pre-Meiji eras.
In general, this elite group included only three to four men at a time. These were hereditary courtiers whose experience and background would have brought them to the pinnacle of a life's career. During Kōken's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:
- Taihō, Emi no Oshikatsu (formerly Fujiwara no Nakamaro).[4]
- Daijō-daijin
- Sadaijin, Tachibana no Moroe (formerly Katsuragi-ō, Prince Katsuragi) (half brother of Empress Kōmyō).[4]
- Udaijin, Fujiwara no Toyonari (first son of Fujiwara no Muchimaro).[4]
- Udaijin, Fujiwara no Nakamaro (second son of Fujiwara no Muchimaro).[4]
- Nadaijin
- Dainagon
The kugyō during Shōtoku's reign included:
Notes[edit source | edit]
- ^ a b Emperor Kōnin, Takano Imperial Mausoleum, Imperial Household Agency
- ^ Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan, pp. 58, 59.
- ^ Brown and Ishida, p. 274; Varley p. 149.
- ^ a b c d e Brown and Ishida, p. 274
- ^ Shōtoku's misasagi – image
- ^ Shōtoku's misasagi – map (top left)
- ^ Julian dates derived from NengoCalc
- ^ 天平感宝一年七月二日
- ^ Brown and Ishida, pp. 274; Varley, p. 44; a distinct act of senso is unrecognized prior to Emperor Tenji; and all sovereigns except Jitō, Yōzei, Go-Toba, and Fushimi have senso and sokui in the same year until the reign of Emperor Go-Murakami.
- ^ Bender, Ross. (2009). "The Suppresion of the Tachibana Naramaro Conspiracy," Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 37/2:223–245; compare mirrored full-text; retrieved 2012-10-23.
- ^ 天平宝字九年一月一日
- ^ Brown and Ishida, pp. 276; Varley, p. 44, 145.
- ^ Brown and Ishida, p. 276 has the year as 769, 4th day of the 8th month, instead of 770. Believe this to be a typo, because Brown-Ishida's own timeline gives 770, and the Japanese Wikipedia article on Empress Kōken is using the 4th day of the 8th month of 770.
- ^ 神護景雲四年八月四日
- ^ a b c d e Brown and Ishida, p. 276.
- ^ Bender, Ross. "The Hachiman Cult and the Dōkyō Incident," Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 34, No. 2 (1979). pp. 125–153.
- ^ Titsingh, p. 73.
- ^ Titsingh, p. 78.
- ^ Bender, Ross. (2009). "The Suppresion of the Tachibana Naramaro Conspiracy," Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 37/2:223–245; compare mirrored full-text; retrieved 2012-10-22.
- ^ Titsingh, pp. 78–81.
- ^ "Life in the Cloudy Imperial Fishbowl," Japan Times. March 27, 2007.
References[edit source | edit]
- Brown, Delmer M.; Ishida, Ichirō (1979). The Future and the Past (a translation and study of the Gukanshō, an interpretive history of Japan written in 1219). Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03460-0. OCLC 251325323.
- Imperial Household Agency (2004). "称徳天皇 高野陵" [Empress Shōtoku, Takano Imperial Mausoleum] (in Japanese). Retrieved February 4, 2011.
- Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 194887
- Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Odai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691
- Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki: A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns. New York: Columbia University Press. 10-ISBN 0-231-04940-4; 13-ISBN 978-0-231-04940-5; OCLC 59145842
See also[edit source | edit]
Regnal titles | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by Emperor Shōmu |
Empress of Japan: Kōken 749–758 |
Succeeded by Emperor Junnin |
Preceded by Emperor Junnin |
Empress of Japan: Shōtoku 764–770 |
Succeeded by Emperor Kōnin |
|
|