Emperor Nakamikado

Nakamikado
Emperor of Japan
Reign 1709–1735
Born January 14, 1702
Died May 10, 1737 (aged 35)
Buried Tsukinowa no misasagi (Kyoto)
Predecessor Higashiyama
Successor Sakuramachi
Father Higashiyama

Emperor Nakamikado (中御門天皇 Nakamikado-tennō?, January 14, 1702 – May 10, 1737) was the 114th emperor of Japan,[1] according to the traditional order of succession.[2]

Nakamikado's reign spanned the years from 1709 through 1735.[3]

Contents

Genealogy

Before Nakamikado's ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (imina) was Yoshihito (慶仁?)[4] or Yasuhito;[2] and his pre-accession title was Masu-no-miya (長宮).

Nakamikado was the fifth son of Emperor Higashiyama. He was the son of Fujiwara no Yoshiko, but he was brought up as if he were the son of the chief consort, Arisugawa no Yukiko.[2]

Nakamikado's Imperial family lived with him in the Dairi of the Heian Palace. This family included at least 16 children:

Events of Nakamikado's life

In 1708, Nakamikado became Crown Prince.

Immediately after the abdication, Prince Yashuhito became the emperor. Because of his youth, first his father, the retired Emperor Higashiyama, and then his grandfather, the retired Emperor Reigen exercised Imperial powers in his name.

Nakamikado reign corresponded to the period from the sixth shōgun, Tokugawa Ienobu, to the eighth shōgun, Tokugawa Yoshimune. During this period, relations with the Bakufu were fairly good. Talk of a marriage between Imperial Princess Yaso-no-miya Yoshiko (八十宮吉子内親王), daughter of Retired Emperor Reigen and the seventh shōgun, Tokugawa Ietsugu were halted by the sudden death of the shogun in Edo.[7]

In 1737, Nakamikado died.[2] His kami is enshrined in an Imperial mausoleum (misasagi), Tsukinowa no misasagi, at Sennyū-ji in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto. Also enshrined in this location are his immediate Imperial predecessors since Emperor Go-Mizunoo -- Meishō, Go-Kōmyō, Go-Sai, Reigen, and Higashiyama. Nakamikado's immediate Imperial successors, including Sakuramachi, Momozono, Go-Sakuramachi and Go-Momozono, are enshrined here as well.[21]

Kugyō

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. Even during those years in which the court's actual influence outside the palace walls was minimal, the hierarchic organization persisted.

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 Nakamikado's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:

Eras of Nakamikado's reign

The years of Nakamikado's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō.[19]

Notes

  1. ^ Imperial Household Agency (Kunaichō): 中御門天皇 (114)
  2. ^ a b c d e Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan, p. 118.
  3. ^ a b Titsingh, Issac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, pp. 416-417.
  4. ^ Ponsonby-Fane, p. 10.
  5. ^ Meyer, Eva-Maria. (1999). Japans Kaiserhof in der Edo-Zeit, pp. 45-46.
  6. ^ a b c d e Titsingh, p. 416; Meyer, p. 46.
  7. ^ Titsingh, p. 415; Ponsonby-Fane, p. 118.
  8. ^ National Archives of Japan: Ryūkyū Chuzano ryoshisha tojogyoretsu, scroll illustrating procession of Ryūkyū emissary to Edo, 1710 (Hōei 7)
  9. ^ Northeast Asia History Foundation: Korea-Japan relations citing Dongsarok by Jo Tae-eok et al.
  10. ^ Screech, Timon. (2006). Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns, p. 98.
  11. ^ Bowman, John Stewart. (2000). Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture, p. 142.
  12. ^ a b c Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1956). Kyoto: the Old Capital, 794-1869, p. 320.
  13. ^ Brownlee, John S. (1999). Japanese Historians and the National Myths, p. 29.
  14. ^ Foreign Press Center. (1997). Japan: Eyes on the Country, Views of the 47 Prefectures, p. 127.
  15. ^ Adams, Thomas. (1953). Japanese Securities Markets: A Historical Survey, p. 11.
  16. ^ Adams, p. 12.
  17. ^ Hayami, Akira et al. (2004) The Economic History of Japan: 1600-1990, p. 67.
  18. ^ Hall, John. (1988). The Cambridge History of Japan, p. 456.
  19. ^ a b Titsingh, p. 417.
  20. ^ a b Titsingh, p. 418.
  21. ^ Ponsonby-Fane, p. 423.

References

See also

Regnal titles
Preceded by
Emperor Higashiyama
Emperor of Japan:
Nakamikado

1709–1735
Succeeded by
Emperor Sakuramachi