Empress Dowager Shōken
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| Haruko Ichijō | ||
|---|---|---|
| Empress of Japan | ||
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| Empress Haruko in traditional court dress | ||
| Titles | HIM The Empress Dowager of Japan (1912-1914) HIM The Empress of Japan (1867-1912) Lady Masako Ichijō |
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| Born | May 28, 1849 | |
| Died | April 19, 1914 | |
| Consort | September 2, 1867 - July 30, 1912 | |
| Consort to | Emperor Meiji | |
| Father | Tadaka Ichijō | |
HIM Empress Shōken 昭憲皇太后 (jp: Shōken Kōtaigo), née Ichijō Haruko 一条美子 (born Ichijō Masako 一条勝子 28 May 1849 or 1850 - 19 April 1914) was the Kōgō (empress-consort) of the Meiji Emperor (1852-1912, reigned 1867-1912). She was also known as Empress Haruko. She was the first imperial consort to receive the title of Kōgō (literally, the emperor's wife, translated as Empress consort), in several hundred years.
She was the third daughter of Lord Ichijō Tadaka, sometime Minister of the Left and head of the Ichijo branch of the House of the Fujiwara. Her original given name was Masako. On 2 September 1867, Emperor Meiji married the young Lady Masako, and she adopted the name Haruko, which was intended to reflect her diminutive in size and serenely beautiful.
Although she was the first Japanese empress consort to play a public role, she bore no children. Emperor Meiji had fifteen children by five official ladies-in-waiting. As it had long been the custom in Japanese monarchy, she adopted Yoshihito, her husband's eldest son by a concubine. Yoshihito thus became the official heir to the throne, and at Emperor Meiji's death, succeeded as (Taisho Emperor).
As Empress, she assumed the role of helping the poor and promoted national welfare and women’s education. She was therefore also called the “Mother of the Nation”. During the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), she also worked for the establishment of the Japanese Red Cross Society. Especially concerned about Red Cross activities in peace time, she created a fund for the International Red Cross, which was later named “The Empress Shoken Fund”. It is presently used for international welfare activities.
On the death of Emperor Meiji, she was granted the title Shoken Kōgō by her stepson, the new emperor Emperor Yoshihito.
She died in 1914, and was buried in the East Mount of the Fushimi Momoyama Ryo in Kyoto, her soul being enshrined in Meiji Shrine in Tokyo.
She is posthumously known as Empress Shōken - or also as Empress Dowager Shōken, since her husband died before she did.
The railway-carriage of the empress, as well as that of Emperor Meiji, can be seen today in the Meiji Mura Museum, close to Nagoya.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Fujitani,T. Splendid Monarchy: Power and Pageantry in Modern Japan. University of California Press; Reprint edition (1998). ISBN: 0520213718
- Hoyt, Edwin P. Hirohito: The Emperor and the Man. Praeger Publishers (1992). ISBN: 0275940691
- Keane, Donald. Emperor Of Japan: Meiji And His World, 1852-1912. Columbia University Press (2005). ISBN: 0231123418
- Lebra, Sugiyama Takie. Above the Clouds: Status Culture of the Modern Japanese Nobility. University of California Press (1995). ISBN: 0520076028
