Nakayama Yoshiko

In this Japanese name, the family name is Nakayama.
Lady Yoshiko
Born (1836-01-16)16 January 1836
Died 5 October 1907(1907-10-05) (aged 71)
Burial Toshimagaoka Imperial cemetery, Bunkyo, Tokyo
Spouse Emperor Kōmei
Issue Emperor Meiji[1]
Full name
Yoshiko (慶子)
House Imperial House of Japan
Father Nakayama Tadayasu
Mother Matsura Aiko

Nakayama Yoshiko (中山慶子, 16 January 1836 – 5 October 1907) was a Japanese lady-in-waiting in the court of the Imperial House of Japan. She was a favourite concubine[2] of Emperor Kōmei[3] and the mother of Emperor Meiji.[4]

Biography

Lady Yoshiko

Parents

Nakayama Yoshiko was the daughter of Lord Nakayama Tadayasu, Minister of the Left (Sadaijin) and a member of the Fujiwara clan. Her mother was Matsura Aiko (1818–1906), the 11th daughter of the daimyo of the Hirado domain, Matsura Seizan.

At the court

She was born in Kyoto and entered service of the court at the age of 17. She became a concubine of Kōmei, and on November 3, 1852, gave birth to Mutsuhito, later known as Emperor Meiji, at her father’s residence outside of the Kyoto Imperial Palace. She returned with her son to the Palace five years later. Her son was the eldest of six born to Emperor Komei.

After the Meiji Restoration, she relocated to the new capital to Tokyo in 1870 at the behest of the Emperor. She is buried in Toshimagaoka cemetery in Bunkyo, Tokyo.

Honours

Order of precedence

Sources

  1. ↑ The Emperors of Modern Japan by Ben-Ami Shillony
  2. ↑ Japan's imperial conspiracy, Volume 2 by David Bergamini
  3. ↑ Births and rebirths in Japanese art: essays celebrating the inauguration of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures
  4. ↑ Keene 2002, p. 10.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, August 30, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.