Emperor Go-Shirakawa
Emperor Go-Shirakawa 後白河天皇 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Emperor of Japan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Reign | August 23, 1155 – September 5, 1158 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coronation | November 22, 1155 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Predecessor | Konoe | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Successor | Nijō | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | October 18, 1127 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | April 26, 1192 Rokujō-den (六条殿), Heian-kyō | (aged 64)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Burial | Hōjū-ji no Misasagi (Kyoto) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Emperor Go-Shirakawa (後白河天皇, Go-Shirakawa-tennō, October 18, 1127 – April 26, 1192) was the 77th Hōgen Rebellion undermined the imperial position.[1] However, it is broadly acknowledged that by politically outmaneuvering his opponents, he attained greater influence and power than the diminished authority of the emperor's position during this period would otherwise allow.
Posthumously, this 12th-century sovereign was named after the 11th-century Emperor Shirakawa. Go- (後), translates literally as "later"; and thus, he is sometimes called the "Later Emperor Shirakawa", or in some older sources, may be identified as "Shirakawa, the second" or as "Shirakawa II". Unusually, the years of Go-Shirakawa's reign are more specifically identified by more than one He was de facto the last true emperor, before the shogun became the actual head of the country after Go-Shirakawa's death in 1192 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Political careerAccessionOn August 22, 1155 ( The resulting effect of disinheriting Sutoku's line, after Sutoku had already previously been made to abdicate in favour of Konoe, infuriated the retired Emperor.[4][5] Cementing PowerOn July 20, 1156 ( In 1158 Go-Shirakawa abdicated to his son Nijō and became the cloistered emperor (the term used here out of practicality rather than as a validation of one point of view on the aforementioned issue), maintaining this position through the reigns of five emperors (Nijō, Rokujō, Takakura, Antoku, and Go-Toba) until his death in 1192. Rule of KiyomoriGo-Shirakawa was initially an ally of Kiyomori – the latter began trade with China and supported Go-Shirakawa, not just militarily but also financially. The tension between the aforementioned foremost military clans, the Taira and Minamoto, led to the Heiji Rebellion of 1160. The Minamoto lost and the Taira attained ascendancy. As Kiyomori's power reached its zenith, the good relations between him and Go-Shirakawa ended – Kiyomori's reign became hubristic and indeed despotic, with the Taira showing unequivocal disrespect not only towards the imperial clan, but towards the other high-ranking families as well. For example, in 1170 Taira men humiliated the reigning Fujiwara Regent, Fujiwara no Motofusa, after his retinue and that of Kiyomori's son, Shigemori , collided.
This meant that in 1169 ( It could be argued that Go-Shirakawa himself further increased Kiyomori's power even after their relationship fell apart. He deposed his son Rokujō in 1168 and elevated Takakura to the imperial throne. Takakura was the son of Kiyomori's sister-in-law, and so he attained a familial link to the imperial clan in a manner not dissimilar to that of the Fujiwara. Indeed, Kiyomori could have seized the power of Regent and Go-Shirakawa would have been powerless to stop him, due to this marital link. Genpei WarGo-Shirakawa planned to regain power through the Taira's old rivals, the Minamoto. They had been steadily recovering their strength in the provinces following their defeat in 1160. In May 1180, Minamoto no Yorimasa sent a call to arms to his clan in the eastern and northern provinces. The call to arms was issued in the name of Prince Mochihito, Yorimasa's candidate for the imperial throne. Kiyomori became aware of this and subsequently confined Go-Shirakawa even more closely and called for the arrest of his son, Mochihito. Although the rebellion was defeated, it was the first of many and would eventually lead to the Taira's downfall. In short, the Minamoto won after a hard-fought war and with the continual support of Go-Shirakawa, who had been in contact with Minamoto no Yoritomo since Kiyomori's death in 1181. In 1183 the army of Minamoto no Yoshinaka entered the capital, allowing for Go-Shirakawa's re-entry into the city – he had made a pilgrimage to various shrines, accompanied by armed monks, in order to avoid capture by the Taira. Go-Shirakawa then issued a mandate for Yoshinaka to join with Minamoto no Yukiie in "destroying Munemori and his army", as well as the entire Taira clan.[8] The emperor bestowed upon Yoshinaka the title of Asahi Shōgun (旭 将軍). Go-Shirakawa also contributed to the Taira's defeat by attempting to persuade them to lower their guard; in 1184 he promised that if the Taira returned the Imperial Regalia and the emperor he would facilitate a truce with the Minamoto. This meant that they were unprepared for the rapid attack of Minamoto no Noriyori and Minamoto no Yoshitsune at the Battle of Ichi-no-Tani, a decisive battle in the war. Throughout the entire war there were disagreements and struggles for power within the Minamoto clan, which was barely held together by Minamoto no Yoritomo. When Yoritomo secured the support of Go-Shirakawa in this power struggle, Yoshinaka seized the cloistered emperor and burned his palace. After continued internal struggles within the Minamoto clan and fighting with the Taira, Yoshitsune finally destroyed the Taira clan entirely in 1185 at the naval Battle of Dan-no-ura. Later life and deathAlthough Yoritomo and Go-Shirakawa disagreed in the late 1180s, again related to internal Minamoto issues, after the death of Yoshitsune, Go-Shirakawa and Yoritomo reconciled. Go-Shirakawa allowed Yoritomo to form a shogunate – the imperial authority and validation was required to attain the position of Shogun. In 1192 (Kenkyū 3, 13th day of the 3rd month) Go-Shirakawa died at the age of 66.[9] He had been father to two emperors – Nijō, the 78th emperor; Takakura, the 80th emperor and grandfather to three emperors – Rokujō, the 79th emperor; Antoku, the 81st emperor; and Go-Toba, the 82nd emperor.[10] The Imperial Household has designated Hōjū-ji no Misasagi at Kyoto as the emperor's official mausoleum.[11] PersonalityGo-Shirakawa is usually characterised as manipulative and deceptive, as well as being inconstant and following whatever was the fashion of the day, whether politically or otherwise. Yoritomo called him "the biggest GenealogyBefore his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (his imina)[14] was Masahito-shinnō (雅仁親王).[15] He was the fourth son of Emperor Toba.[16] His mother was Fujiwara no Tamako, Fujiwara no Kinzane‘s daughter. Major consorts and children:
Ancestry
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See also
- Emperor of Japan
- List of Emperors of Japan
- Imperial cult
Notes
- ^ Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon, pp. 188–190; Brown, Delmer et al. (1979). Gukanshō, pp. 326–327; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki. pp.205–208.
- ^ Titsingh, pp. 188–194; Brown, pp. 326–327.
- ^ Brown, p. 326.
- ^ Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 189. , p. 189, at Google Books; Brown, Delmer et al. (1979). Gukanshō, p. 326; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki, p. 44; a distinct act of senso is unrecognized prior to Emperor Tenji; and all sovereigns except Jitō, Yōzei, Go-Toba, and Fushimi have senso and sokui in the same year until the reign of Emperor Go-Murakami.
- ^ Saeki, Tomohiro. (2015). Part 2 chapter 1.
- ^ Keene, p. 616. , p. 616, at Google Books; Kitagawa, p. 783; Brown, p. 327.
- ^ [see above]
- ISBN 1854095234.
- ^ Brown, p. 327; Kitagawa et al. (1975). The Tale of the Heike, p. 788.
- ^ Varley, p. 208.
- ^ Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan, p. 421.
- JSTOR 2384679.
- JSTOR 30234019.
- ^ Brown, pp. 264; n.b., up until the time of Emperor Jomei, the personal names of the emperors (their imina) were very long and people did not generally use them. The number of characters in each name diminished after Jomei's reign.
- ^ Titsingh, p. 188; Brown, p. 326; Varley, p. 205.
- ^ Titsingh, p. 190.
- ^ "Genealogy". Reichsarchiv (in Japanese). 30 April 2010. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
References
- Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979). Gukanshō: The Future and the Past. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Helmolt, Hans Ferdinand and James Bryce Bryce. (1907). The World's History: A Survey of Man's Progress. Vol. 2. London: William Heinemann.OCLC 20279012
- Kitagawa, Hiroshi and Bruce T. Tsuchida, ed. (1975). The Tale of the Heike. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.
- Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 194887
- Nihon Odai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691
- Saeki, Tomohiro. (2015). Political Structure and the Royal Family in the Early Middle Ages (University of Tokyo Press, 2015) ISBN 978-4-13-026238-5