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Empress Go-Sakuramachi 後桜町天皇
Empress of Japan
Reign	15 September 1762 – 9 January 1771
Enthronement	31 December 1763
Predecessor	Momozono
Successor	Go-Momozono
Shōgun	Tokugawa Ieharu (1762–1771)
Born	Toshiko (智子) (1740-09-23)23 September 1740 Tokugawa shogunate
Died	24 December 1813(1813-12-24) (aged 73) Kyoto, Tokugawa shogunate
Burial	Tsuki no wa no misasagi, Kyoto
Issue	Emperor Kōkaku (adopted son)
Posthumous name Tsuigō: Empress Go-Sakuramachi (後桜町院 or 後桜町天皇)
House	Imperial House of Japan
Father	Emperor Sakuramachi
Mother	Nijō Ieko
Signature

Toshiko (Japanese: 智子, 23 September 1740 – 24 December 1813), posthumously honored as Empress Go-Sakuramachi (後桜町天皇, Go-Sakuramachi-tennō) was the 117th monarch of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. She was named after her father Emperor Sakuramachi, with the word go (後) before her name translating in this context as "later" or "second one". Her reign during the Edo period spanned the years from 1762 through to her abdication in 1771. The only significant event during her reign was an unsuccessful outside plot that intended to displace the shogunate with restored imperial powers. As of 2024, she remains the most recent empress regnant of Japan as the current constitution does not allow women to inherit the throne.

Empress Go-Sakuramachi and her brother Emperor Momozono were the last lineal descendants of Emperor Nakamikado. Her nephew succeeded her as Emperor Go-Momozono upon her abdication in 1771. Go-Momozono died eight years later after a serious illness with no heir to the throne. A possible succession crisis was averted when Go-Momozono hastily adopted an heir on his deathbed upon the insistence of his aunt. In her later years, Go-Sakuramachi became a "guardian" to the adopted heir, Emperor Kōkaku, until her death in 1813. In the history of Japan, Go-Sakuramachi was the last of eight women to take on the role of empress regnant.

Events of Go-Sakuramachi's life

Early life

Before Go-Sakuramachi's accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne, her personal name (imina) was Toshiko (智子). Toshiko was born into the Imperial family on 23 September 1740 she was the second daughter of Emperor Sakuramachi, and her mother was Nijō Ieko (二条 舎子). Toshiko had an older sister who died at a young age, and a brother named Toohito who became Emperor Momozono upon the death of their father in 1747. The empress and her Emperor brother were the last lineal descendants of Emperor Nakamikado. Toshiko's Imperial family lived with her in the dairi of the Heian Palace, her initial pre-accession title was Isa-no-miya (以茶宮) and later Ake-no-miya (緋宮).

Reign

On 15 September 1762 Princess Toshiko acceded to the throne as Empress when her brother Emperor Momozono abdicated in her favor. Momozono's son, Prince Hidehito (later to be known as Emperor Go-Momozono) was only 4 years old at this time. Hidehito's empress aunt was expected to occupy the throne until her nephew would be able to take on the burden of responsibility. While she held the political title of Empress, it was in name only as the shoguns (generalissimos) of the Tokugawa family controlled Japan. There was only one major incident during Go-Sakuramachi's reign in 1766, which involved unsuccessful plans to displace the shogunate with restored Imperial powers. While the attempt was thwarted, additional challenges to the shōgun's authority would come a decade or so later under the reign of Emperor Kōkaku. Other events in Go-Sakuramachi's life included the founding of a merchant association handling Korean ginseng in the Kanda district of Edo. The year 1770 saw a great comet (Lexell's Comet) with a very long tail light up the night skies throughout the summer and autumn. During the same year two major disasters unfolded which included a typhoon that flattened the newly built Imperial Palace in Kyoto, and the start of a 15 year consecutive drought. Go-Sakuramachi abdicated on 9 January 1771 in favor of her nephew Hidehito.

Daijō Tennō

Go-Sakuramachi became a Daijō-tennō (Retired Empress) upon her abdication, but her nephew's reign as Emperor did not last long. Emperor Go-Momozono became deathly ill in 1779, and having no heir to the throne this created a potential succession crisis. Go-Sakuramachi consulted with the senior courtiers and imperial guards, and planned to accept Prince Sadayoshi of Fushimi-no-miya as an adopted son. For one reason or another the choice went instead to Prince Morohito, who was a member of the Kanin branch of the Imperial family. Morohito was the sixth son of Prince Kan'in-no-miya Sukehito (閑院宮典仁), and was supported by the Emperor's chief advisor (aka the Kampaku). Go-Momozono hastily adopted Prince Morohito, who became Emperor Kōkaku upon his death on 6 December 1779. After the throne had switched to that branch of the imperial line, Go-Sakuramachi came to be referred to as the Guardian of the Young Lord, referred to the Emperor. The largest event that took place before her death occurred in 1789, when she admonished Kōkaku for his role in a scandal involving his father's honorary title. The former empress Go-Sakuramachi died on 24 December 1813 at the age of 73.

Go-Sakuramachi's kami is enshrined in the Imperial mausoleum (misasagi), Tsuki no wa no misasagi, at Sennyū-ji in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto. Also enshrined in this location are this empress's immediate Imperial predecessors since Emperor Go-Mizunoo – Meishō, Go-Kōmyō, Go-Sai, Reigen, Higashiyama, Nakamikado, Sakuramachi and Momozono, along with her four immediate successors – Go-Momozono, Kōkaku, Ninkō, and Kōmei.

Legacy

In the history of Japan, Go-Sakuramachi was the last of eight women to take on the role of empress regnant. She is also credited with creating a book called Matters of Years in the Imperial Court (禁中年中の事, Kinchū-nenjū no koto), which consists of poems, Imperial letters and Imperial chronicles. Although there were seven other reigning empresses, their successors were most often selected from amongst the males of the paternal Imperial bloodline. For this reason, some scholars have suggested that these reigns were temporary, and argued that the male-only succession tradition must be maintained in the 21st century. The sole exception to this tradition occurred when Empress Genmei was followed on the throne by her daughter, Empress Genshō. The other five women to rule as empress with male heirs include: Suiko, Kōgyoku (Saimei), Jitō, Kōken (Shōtoku), and Meishō. After the Meiji Restoration (1868), Japan imported the Prussian model of imperial succession, in which princesses were explicitly excluded from succession. The debate to allow succession laws to be changed allowing for a possible future empress continue to this day, most recently with Princess Toshi in 2005.

Eras and Kugyō

The years of Go-Sakuramachi's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō. While 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.

The following eras occurred during Go-Sakuramachi's reign:

• Hōreki (1751–1764)
• Meiwa (1764–1772)

During Go-Sakuramachi's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:

• Sadaijin
• Udaijin
• Naidaijin
• Dainagon

Ancestry

See also

• Empress of Japan
• Emperor of Japan
  • List of emperors of Japan
• Japanese imperial succession debate
• Imperial cult
• Modern system of ranked Shinto shrines

Notes

1. Imperial Household Agency (Kunaichō): 後桜町天皇 (120)
2. Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan, p. 120.
3. Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon, pp. 419–420.
4. ^ Titsingh, p. 419.
5. ^ Meyer, Eva-Maria. (1999). Japans Kaiserhof in der Edo-Zeit, p. 186.
6. Brinkley, Frank. (1907). A History of the Japanese People, p. 621.
7. Meyer, p. 186; Titsingh, p. 419.
8. Screech, T. Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns, pp. 139–145.
9. Hall, John. (1988). The Cambridge History of Japan, p. xxiii.
10. ^ Hall, John. (1955). Tanuma Okitsugu, 1719–1788, p. 120.
11. Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). Imperial House, p. 423.
12. "Life in the Cloudy Imperial Fishbowl," Japan Times. 27 March 2007.
13. "Genealogy". Reichsarchiv (in Japanese). 30 April 2010. Retrieved 20 January 2018.

References

• Brinkley, Frank. (1907). A History of the Japanese People from the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era. New York: Encyclopædia Britannica. OCLC 413099
• Hall, John Whitney. (1988). The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 4. Early Modern Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-22355-3; OCLC 489633115
• Meyer, Eva-Maria. (1999). Japans Kaiserhof in der Edo-Zeit: unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Jahre 1846 bis 1867. Münster: LIT Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8258-3939-0; OCLC 42041594
• Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1956). Kyoto: The Old Capital of Japan, 794–1869. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 182637732
• __________. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 194887
• Screech, Timon. (2006). Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822. London: RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 978-0-203-09985-8; OCLC 65177072
• Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon (Nihon Ōdai Ichiran). Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691

v t e Emperors of Japan (list)
Legendary	Jōmon 660 BC–291 BC Jimmu Suizei Annei Itoku Kōshō Kōan Yayoi 290 BC–269 AD Kōrei Kōgen Kaika Sujin Suinin Keikō Seimu Chūai Jingū
Yamato	Kofun 269–539 Ōjin Nintoku Richū Hanzei Ingyō Ankō Yūryaku Seinei Kenzō Ninken Buretsu Keitai Ankan Senka Asuka 539–710 Kinmei Bidatsu Yōmei Sushun Suiko Jomei Kōgyoku Kōtoku Saimei Tenji Kōbun Tenmu Jitō Monmu Genmei
Nara	710–794 Genmei Genshō Shōmu Kōken Junnin Shōtoku Kōnin Kanmu
Heian	794–1185 Kanmu Heizei Saga Junna Ninmyō Montoku Seiwa Yōzei Kōkō Uda Daigo Suzaku Murakami Reizei En'yū Kazan Ichijō Sanjō Go-Ichijō Go-Suzaku Go-Reizei Go-Sanjō Shirakawa Horikawa Toba Sutoku Konoe Go-Shirakawa Nijō Rokujō Takakura Antoku Go-Toba
Kamakura	1185–1333 Go-Toba Tsuchimikado Juntoku Chūkyō Go-Horikawa Shijō Go-Saga Go-Fukakusa Kameyama Go-Uda Fushimi Go-Fushimi Go-Nijō Hanazono Go-Daigo
Northern Court	1333–1392 Kōgon Kōmyō Sukō Go-Kōgon Go-En'yū Go-Komatsu
Muromachi	1333–1573 Go-Murakami Chōkei Go-Kameyama Go-Komatsu Shōkō Go-Hanazono Go-Tsuchimikado Go-Kashiwabara Go-Nara Ōgimachi
Azuchi-Momoyama	1573–1603 Ōgimachi Go-Yōzei
Edo	1603–1868 Go-Yōzei Go-Mizunoo Meishō Go-Kōmyō Go-Sai Reigen Higashiyama Nakamikado Sakuramachi Momozono Go-Sakuramachi Go-Momozono Kōkaku Ninkō Kōmei Meiji
Empire of Japan	1868–1947 Meiji Taishō Shōwa
Japan	1947–present Shōwa Akihito Naruhito
Unless otherwise noted (as BC), years are in CE / AD  Imperial Consort and Regent Empress Jingū is not traditionally listed. Imperial family tree Imperial House Order of succession Imperial tombs Category

• Japanese emperors who abdicated
• 1740 births
• 1813 deaths
• Japanese empresses regnant
• People of Edo-period Japan
• 1740s in Japan
• 1760s in Japan
• 1770s in Japan
• 18th-century women monarchs
• 18th-century Japanese women
• 18th-century Japanese people
• 18th-century Japanese monarchs
• 19th-century Japanese people
• Daughters of Japanese emperors