Emperor Higashiyama

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Emperor Higashiyama
東山天皇
Shōguns
BornAsahito (朝仁)
October 21, 1675
DiedJanuary 16, 1710 (aged 34)
Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Tokugawa shogunate
Burial
Spouse
(m. 1697)
Issue
among others...
Emperor Nakamikado
Posthumous name
Tsuigō:
Emperor Higashiyama (東山院 or 東山天皇)
HouseYamato
FatherEmperor Reigen
MotherMatsuki Muneko (Birth)
Takatsukasa Fusako (Adoptive)

Emperor Higashiyama (東山天皇, Higashiyama-

order of succession.[1][2] Higashiyama's reign spanned the years from 1687 through to his abdication in 1709 corresponding to the Genroku era.[3]
The previous hundred years of peace and seclusion in Japan had created relative economic stability. The arts flourished, including theater and architecture.

Events of Higashiyama's life

Early life

Before Higashiyama's ascension to the

imina) was Asahito (朝仁) or Tomohito.[4] Tomohito was born on October 21, 1675, and was the fifth son of Emperor Reigen; his birth mother was a lady-in-waiting named Matsuki Muneko. While Prince Tomohito was the son of a secondary consort, he was adopted by empress Takatsukasa Fusako (chief consort or Chūgū).[5] Tomohito's Imperial family lived with him in the Dairi of the Heian Palace. Events that took place before Tomohito became Crown Prince include a great flood that devastated Edo, a great famine that devastated Kyoto, and the Great Tenna Fire in Edo.[6] The Shingon Buddhist temple Gokoku-ji was also founded in Edo where it remains today as one of the few sites in Tokyo that survived World War II.[7] Tomohito-shinnō was proclaimed Crown prince in 1682, and given the pre-accession title of Go-no-miya (五宮). For the first time in over 300 years a ceremonial investiture was held for the occasion.[5] A fire burned the Kyoto Imperial Palace to ashes in 1684 prompting reconstruction that took a year to complete.[8] The effects from this fire on the Imperial family, if any, are unknown. Emperor Reigen's brother, former-Emperor Go-Sai, died on March 26, 1685, and a great comet was observed crossing the night sky.[9]

Reign

Prince Tomohito acceded to the throne on May 2, 1687, as Emperor when his father abdicated in his favor, the era's name was changed from Jōkyō to Genroku to mark this event.[10] While he held the political title of Emperor, it was in name only as the shoguns of the Tokugawa family controlled Japan. Initially, Emperor Reigen continued to rule in Higashiyama's name as a Cloistered Emperor as had been done in the Heian period. While this move caused trouble by provoking the ruling shogunate, Higashiyama's gentle character helped to improve relations with the Shōgun. This warmed relationship caused imperial property to be increased, and repairs carried out on Imperial mausoleums. Reigen meanwhile lived out his retirement in the Sentō-gosho (the palace for an ex-Emperor), and is now known for being the last "Cloistered Emperor" of Japan.[8] On December 20, 1688, the esoteric Daijō-sai ceremony was revived because of the shogunate's insistence.[11] This Shinto ritual had been in abeyance for over a century, and is performed only once by the emperor in the period of the enthronement ceremonies.[12]

Higashiyama is among those enshrined in the Imperial mausoleum, Tsuki no wa no misasagi, at Sennyū-ji in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto. Also enshrined in this location are this emperor's immediate Imperial predecessors since Emperor Go-MizunooMeishō, Go-Kōmyō, Go-Sai and Reigen. Higashiyama's immediate Imperial successors, including Nakamikado, Sakuramachi, Momozono, Go-Sakuramachi and Go-Momozono, are enshrined here as well.[20]

Eras of reign

The years of Higashiyama's reign are more specifically identified by more than one

nengō.[9]

Genealogy

Higashiyama's family included at least 11 children.

Spouse

Position Name Birth Death Father Issue
Chūgū Princess Yukiko (幸子女王)
(later: Shōshūmon’in - 承秋門院)
November 14, 1680 March 18, 1720 Arisugawa-no-miya Yukihito  • First daughter: Imperial Princess Akiko

Concubines

Name Birth Death Father Issue
Kushige Yoshiko (櫛笥賀子)
(later: Shin-syukenmon’in - 新崇賢門院)
Un­known Un­known Kushige Takatomo  • First son: Prince Ichi
 • Second son: Prince Ni
 • Fourth son: Prince Hisa
 • Second daughter: Princess Tomi
 • Fifth son: Imperial Prince Yasuhito
(later Emperor Nakamikado)
 • Sixth son: Imperial Prince Kan'in-no-miya Naohito
Reizei Tsuneko (冷泉経子) 1678 1755 Un­known  • Third son: Imperial Prince priest Kōkan
Un­known Un­known Un­known Takatsuji Nagakazu
(Aka: Sugawara - 菅原)
 • Third daughter: Princess Kōmyōjyō'in
 • Fourth daughter: Princess Syōsyuku

Issue

Status Name Birth Death Mother Marriage Issue
01 First son Prince Ichi (一宮) 1693 1694 Kushige Yoshiko
02 Second son Prince Ni (二宮) 1696 1698 Kushige Yoshiko
03 Third son Imperial Prince priest Kōkan (公寛法親王) 1697 1738 Reizei Tsuneko Un­known Un­known
01 First daughter Imperial Princess Akiko (秋子内親王) 1700 1756 Princess Yukiko Fushimi-no-miya Sadatake
(Imperial Prince)
Un­known
04 Fourth son Prince Hisa (寿宮) 1700 1701 Kushige Yoshiko
05 Fifth son Imperial Prince Yasuhito (慶仁親王)
(later Emperor Nakamikado)
1702 1737 Kushige Yoshiko Konoe Hisako  • Imperial Prince Teruhito
(later: Emperor Sakuramachi)
 • Princess Syōsan
 • Imperial Prince Priest Jyun'nin
 • among 14 children...
02 Second daughter Princess Tomi (福宮) 1703 1705 Kushige Yoshiko
06 Sixth son Prince Kan'in-no-miya Naohito (閑院宮直仁親王) 1704 1753 Kushige Yoshiko Saemon-no-suke Sanuki Prince Kan'in-no-miya Sukehito (閑院宮典仁親王)
(father of: Emperor Kōkaku)
03 Third daughter Princess Kōmyōjyō'in (光明定院宮)
(
stillbirth
)
1707 1707 Takatsuji Nagakazu's daughter
04 Fourth daughter Princess Syōsyuku (聖祝女王) 1709 1721 Takatsuji Nagakazu's daughter

Fictional portrayals

Higashiyama appears under the name of Tomohito in the novel The Samurai's Wife by author Laura Joh Rowland. In the novel, detective Sano Ichiro is sent to investigate the murder of an important official in the Imperial Court. Tomohito is labelled as a suspect, and is portrayed as a childish oaf at the start of the novel. He is later revealed to be the instigator behind a coming revolution against the Tokugawa regime, so he can seize control of Japan himself. However, his plan fails, and he is once again placed in the Imperial Palace, where he seems to have accepted his fate to never leave the palace.

Ancestry

[21]

See also

References

Japanese Imperial kamon — a stylized chrysanthemum blossom
  1. ^ Imperial Household Agency (Kunaichō): 東山天皇 (113)
  2. ^ Ponsonby-Fane, Richard (1959). The Imperial House of Japan. pp. 117–118.
  3. ^ Titsingh, Isaac (1834). Annales Des Empereurs Du Japon (in French). Royale de France. pp. 415–416. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  4. ^ Ponsonby-Fane, Imperial House, p. 10.
  5. ^ a b Ponsonby-Fane, Imperial House, p. 117.
  6. ^ Titsingh, Isaac (1834). Annales Des Empereurs Du Japon (in French). Royale de France. pp. 414–415. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  7. ^ Titsingh, Isaac (1834). Annales Des Empereurs Du Japon (in French). Royale de France. p. 414. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  8. ^ a b Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1956). Kyoto: The Old Capital of Japan, 794–1869, p. 342.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Titsingh, Isaac (1834). Annales Des Empereurs Du Japon (in French). Royale de France. p. 415. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  10. ^ Titsingh, p. 415; Varley, H. Paul. (1959). A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki, p. 44; n.b., 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.
  11. ^ Ponsonby-Fane, Old Capital, p. 318.
  12. JSTOR 2384496
    .
  13. ^ Smith, Robert et al. (2004). Japanese Culture: Its Development And Characteristics, p. 28.
  14. ^ Screech, T. (2006). Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns, p. 73.
  15. ^ Traganeou, Jilly. (2004). The Tokaido Road: Traveling and Representation in Edo and Meiji Japan, p. 230.
  16. ^ a b Hammer, Joshua. (2006). Yokohama Burning, p. 63.
  17. ^ a b c d e Titsingh, p. 416.
  18. ^ Ponsonby-Fane, Imperial House, p. 118.
  19. ^ Meyer, Eva-Maria. (1999). Japans Kaiserhof in der Edo-Zeit, pp. 45–46.
  20. ^ Ponsonby-Fane, Imperial House, p. 423.
  21. ^ "Genealogy". Reichsarchiv (in Japanese). 30 April 2010. Retrieved 20 January 2018.

Further reading

Regnal titles
Preceded by
Emperor of Japan
:
Higashiyama

1687–1709
Succeeded by