Empress Dowager Eishō

Empress Dowager Eishō
英照皇太后
Empress Dowager Eishō; 英照皇太后
	Empress dowager of Japan
Tenure	1868–1897
Born	Asako Kujō (九条夙子); 11 January 1835; Heian-kyō, Japan
Died	11 January 1897 (aged 62); Tokyo City, Japan
Burial	Sennyū-ji, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Japan
Spouse	Emperor Kōmei
Issue	Princess Yoriko; Princess Fuki
House	Yamato
Father	Hisatada Kujō
Mother	Karahashi Meiko
Religion	Shinto

Asako Kujō (九条夙子, Kujō Asako, 11 January 1835 – 11 January 1897), posthumously honoured as Empress Dowager Eishō (英照皇太后, Eishō-kōtaigō), was the consort of Emperor Kōmei of Japan.^[1]

Early life

As the daughter of

Emperor Kammu.^[3]

Consort

Asako had two daughters, who both died in infancy; but she became the official mother of Komei's heir, Crown Prince Mutsuhito, later Emperor Meiji. He developed a strong emotional attachment to her, which became especially important in the unsettled period after Emperor Kōmei died unexpectedly.^[4]

Empress dowager

Soon after the death of Emperor Kōmei, his successor Emperor Meiji conferred upon her the title of

Meiji imperial court relocated from Kyoto to Tokyo, she followed, living first in the Akasaka Palace and then in the Aoyama Palace.^[4]

The empress dowager died in 1897 at age 62 and was buried at

Senyū-ji, which is in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto.^[4] Her memory is officially honored at her husband's mausoleum in Kyoto, which is known as Nochi-no-tsukinowa no higashiyama no misasagi.^[6]

Franz Eckert composed "Trauermarsch" ("Deep mourning" funeral march or "Kanashimi no kiwami") for the funeral of Empress Dowager Eishō.

Emperor Meiji and his wife could not attend the funeral, but they traveled to Kyoto to pay graveside respects in the spring after her death.^[7]

Ancestry

^[8]

Ancestors of Empress Dowager Eishō

16. Kujō Yukinori (1700-1728)

8. Nijō Munemoto (1727–1754)

17. Tokugawa Sen-hime

4. Nijō Harutaka (1754–1826)

2. Kujō Hisatada (1798–1871)

20. Higuchi Yasuhiro (1677-1723)

10. Higuchi Motoyasu (1706–1780)

21. Yoshida

5. Higuchi Nobuko (1751–1845)

1.Empress Eishō

6. Shōbai

3. Karahashi Meiko (1796–1881)

Notes

^ Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1859). The Imperial House of Japan, p. 334-335.
^ Ponsonby-Fane, p. 334.
^ Ponsonby-Fane, p. 302.
^ ^a ^b ^c Ponsonby-Fane, p. 335.
^ Keene, Donald. (2002). Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852-1912, p. 531.
^ Ponsonby-Frane, p. 423.
^ Keene, p. 532.
^ "Genealogy". Reichsarchiv (in Japanese). Retrieved 2 July 2018.

References

ISBN 978-0-231-12340-2; OCLC 46731178

Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 194887

Japanese royalty
Preceded by Takatsukasa Yasuko	Empress dowager of Japan 1868–1897	Succeeded by Ichijō Masako

[1] Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1859). The Imperial House of Japan, p. 334-335.

[2] Ponsonby-Fane, p. 334.

[3] Ponsonby-Fane, p. 302.

[pf335-4] Ponsonby-Fane, p. 335.

[5] Keene, Donald. (2002). Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852-1912, p. 531.

[6] Ponsonby-Frane, p. 423.

[7] Keene, p. 532.

[descent-8] "Genealogy". Reichsarchiv (in Japanese). Retrieved 2 July 2018.

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