Empress Kōjun

Kōjun
香淳皇后
Empress Consort of Japan
Empress consort of Japan
Tenure 25 December 1926 – 7 January 1989
Predecessor Empress Teimei
Successor Empress Michiko
Spouse Emperor Hirohito
Issue
Shigeko, Princess Teru
Sachiko, Princess Hisa
Kazuko, Princess Taka
Atsuko, Princess Yori
Akihito, Prince Tsugu
  (The Crown Prince)
Masahito, Prince Yoshi
  (The Prince Hitachi)
Takako, Princess Suga
Father Kuniyoshi, Prince Kuni
Mother Chikako Shimazu
Born 6 March 1903(1903-03-06)
Tokyo, Japan
Died 16 June 2000(2000-06-16) (aged 97)
Tokyo, Japan

Empress Kōjun (香淳皇后 Kōjun Kōgō?) (6 March 1903 – 16 June 2000) was empress consort of Emperor Hirohito of Japan. Born Princess Nagako (良子女王 Nagako Joō?), she was the mother of the present Emperor (Akihito).

Her posthumous name is Kōjun,[1] which means "fragrant purity". Empress Kōjun was empress consort (kōgō) from 25 December 1926 to 7 January 1989, making her the longest lived empress consort in Japanese history.[2]

Contents

Early life

Princess Nagako was born on 6 March 1903 in Tokyo, the eldest daughter of Kuniyoshi, Prince Kuni (1873–1929), by his wife, Chikako (19 October 1879 - 9 September 1956), the 7th daughter of Prince Shimazu Tadayoshi, former lord of Satsuma, 29th and last daimyo of the line. Prince Kuni Kuniyoshi, a son of Prince Kuni Asahiko, was the head of one eleven cadet branches of the Imperial Family during the Meiji and Taishō periods. Nagako's formative years were insulated deep inside a Japan which no longer exists. She would become one of the last Japanese who could remember what life was like inside the aristocracy early in the 20th century.[3]

Princess Nagako attended the Girls' Department of Peers' School in Tokyo (now Gakushuin) with her first cousin, Princess Masako Nashimoto, who became Crown Princess Bangja of Korea. After her betrothal was announced, she began a six-year training program in order to develop the accomplishments deemed necessary for an empress.[2]

Marriage and children

The January 1919 engagement of Princess Nagako to her distant cousin (then-Crown Prince Hirohito, the future Shōwa Emperor), was unusual in two respects. First, she was a princess of the Imperial line (albeit a minor one), whereas for centuries the chief consorts of Japanese emperors and crown princes had come from 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.[4]

In a small step away from tradition, Hirohito was allowed to choose his own bride. Nagako herself had no choice in the matter. At the age of 14, she and other eligible young noble women participated in a tea ceremony at the Imperial Palace while the Crown Prince watched unseen through a peephole.[2] On the basis of this brief glimpse in January 1917, Hirohito selected his future wife.[5]

Princess Nagako married Crown Prince Hirohito on 26 January 1924 and became Crown Princess of Japan.[1] She became Empress upon Hirohito's accession to the throne on 25 December 1926. Unlike his predecessors, Emperor Hirohito decided to abandon his 39 court concubines, limiting himself to one wife. After nearly 10 years of marriage, there was still no son, though Nagako had produced four daughters. Then, in 1933, Nagako became pregnant again, giving birth to the present emperor, Akihito.[2] The Imperial couple had seven children, five daughters and two sons:

  1. Princess Teru (Shigeko) (照宮成子 Teru-no-miya Shigeko), 9 December 1925 – 23 July 1961; married Prince Higashikuni Morihiro (he lost his title in 1947, due to the American reforms of the Imperial Household).
  2. Princess Hisa (Sachiko) (久宮祐子 Hisa-no-miya Sachiko), 10 September 1927 – 8 March 1928
  3. Princess Taka (Kazuko) (孝宮和子 Taka-no-miya Kazuko), 30 September 1929 – 28 May 1989; married Takatsukasa Toshimichi
  4. Princess Yori (Atsuko) (順宮厚子 Yori-no-miya Atsuko), born 7 March 1931; married Ikeda Takamasa
  5. Crown Prince Tsugu (Akihito) (継宮明仁 Tsugu-no-miya Akihito) became the present Emperor of Japan, Akihito, born 23 December 1933
  6. Prince Yoshi (Masahito) (義宮正仁 Yoshi-no-miya Masahito), born 28 November 1935, titled Prince Hitachi (常陸宮 Hitachi-no-miya) since 1 October 1964
  7. Princess Suga (Takako) (清宮貴子 Suga-no-miya Takako), born 3 March 1939; married 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 Teru) 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). Since the Princesses married men who were or who would become commoners, they lost their titles as well as their Imperial status.

Life as empress

Empress Nagako performed her ceremonial duties in a traditional manner. She initially came to live in the palace during the time when people spoke an archaic imperial form of Japanese that has largely disappeared.[3] Her role required her to attend special ceremonies such as those for the 2600th anniversary of the legendary foundation of the Empire of Japan in 1940 or the conquest of Singapore in 1942.[6]

The Empress was the first Japanese Imperial Consort to travel abroad. She accompanied Emperor Hirohito 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's death on 7 January 1989, she assumed the title of Empress Dowager.[1] At that time, she was in failing health herself and did not attend her husband's funeral; and she remained in seclusion for the rest of her life. In 1995, she became the longest-living dowager empress, breaking the record of Empress Kanshi, who died 873 years ago.[2]

At the time of her death at the age of 97 in 2000, she had been an empress for 74 years. In her final days, the Imperial Household Agency announced that Nagako was suffering breathing problems but that the illness was not serious. The next day, with her family at her side, she died.[3]

Emperor Akihito granted his mother the posthumous title of Empress Kōjun. Her final resting place is in a mausoleum named Musashino no Higashi no Misasagi, near that of her husband within the Musashino Imperial Graveyard.[1]

Titles and Styles

Across the arc of her life and death, Empress Kōjun has been known by number of related, but distinct titles:[1]

Ancestors

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Imperial Household Agency: Empress Kojun
  2. ^ a b c d e Downer, Lesely. Obituary: "Nagako, Dowager Empress of Japan," The Guardian (London). 17 June 2000.
  3. ^ a b c Kristof, Nicholas D. "Dowager Empress Nagako, Hirohito's Widow, Dies at 97," New York Times. 17 June 2000.
  4. ^ Large, Stephen S. Emperor Hirohito and Shōwa Japan: Political Biography, pp. 25-26.
  5. ^ Connors, Leslie. (1987). The Emperor's Adviser: Saionji Kinmochi and Pre-war Japanese Politics, pp. 79-80.
  6. ^ David C. Earhart, Certain Victory, 2008, pp.22, 23, 65

References

External links

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Empress_K%C5%8Djun Empress Kōjun] at Wikimedia Commons
Japanese royalty
Preceded by
Empress Teimei		 Empress consort of Japan
1926–1989		 Succeeded by
Empress Michiko