From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|
Emperor Shirakawa |
| 72nd Emperor of
Japan |
| Reign |
1073-1087 |
| Born |
1053 |
| Died |
1129[aged 76] |
| Buried |
Jōbodai-in no Misasagi (Kyōto) |
| Predecessor |
Emperor Go-Sanjō |
| Successor |
Emperor Horikawa |
Emperor Shirakawa (白河天皇
Shirakawa-tennō) (July 7, 1053 – July 24, 1129) was the
72nd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of
succession. He reigned from January 18, 1073 to January 5,
1087.[1]
Genealogy
Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal
name (his imina)[2] was
Sadahito-shinnō (貞仁親王).[3]
He was the eldest son of Emperor
Go-Sanjō.
Shirakawa had one Empress and one Imperial Consort and nine
Imperial sons and daughters.[4]
- 1074–1077 Imperial Prince Atsufumi (敦文親王)
- 1075–1105 Prince Kakugyō (覚行法親王)—Buddhist Priest
- 1076–1096 Imperial Princess ?? (媞子内親王), Empress Dowager
Ikuyoshi (郁芳門院)
- 1076–1131 Imperial Princess ?? (善子内親王)—Rokkaku
>saigū (Imperial Princess serving at the Grand Shrine of Ise)
- 1078–1144 Imperial Princess ?? (令子内親王)—saigū
- 1079–1107 Imperial Princes Taruhito (善仁親王)—Emperor
Horikawa
- 1081–1156 Imperial Princess ?? (禛子内親王)—Tsuchimikado Saiin
(土御門斎院)
- 1090–???? Imperial Princess ?? (宮子内親王)—Saiin (斎院)
- 1092–1153 Prince ?? (覚法法親王)—Buddhist Priest
- 1093–1132 Imperial Princess Junko (恂子内親王)—Higuchi
saigū 樋口斎宮
- 1094–1137 Prince ?? (聖恵法親王)—Buddhist Priest
- 1101–1165 Gyōkei (行慶)—High Priest
- 1128–???? Engyō? (円行)
- ?? (静證)
Empresses
and consorts
- 1057–1084 Empress (chūgū): Fujiwara ?? (藤原賢子)—daughter of
Minamoto Akifusa (源顕房), adopted by Fujiwara Morozane (藤原師実); mother
of Emperor
Horikawa
- 1042–1132 Court Lady: Fujiwara ?? (藤原道子)—daughter of
Fujiwara ?? (藤原能長)
- 1070–1148 Court Lady: Minamoto ?? (源師子)—daughter of Minamoto
Akifusa (源顕房), later wife of Fujiwara no Tadazane (藤原忠実)
- Lady-in-waiting Fujiwara ??
(藤原佳子)
Events of Shirakawa's
life
He was the first emperor to ostensibly retire to a monastery,
but in fact continue to exert considerable influence over his
successor. This process would become known as cloistered
rule.
When he was very young, his relations with his father were very cold, but in 1068, when
his father was enthroned, he was proclaimed
a shinnō (Imperial Prince), becoming Imperial Prince
Sadahito. In 1069, he became Crown Prince and in
due course, he became emperor at the age of 19.
- Enkyū
5, on the 8th day of the 12th month (1072): In the
6th year of Emperor Go-Sanjō-tennō's reign (桓武天皇6年), the
emperor abdicated; and the succession (‘‘senso’’) was received by
his son. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Shirakawa is said to have
acceded to the throne (‘‘sokui’’).[5]
A kampaku was put in place, but
Shirakawa attempted to rule directly, like his father. He attempted
to regulate the shōen (manor) system, working to weaken
the influence of the sekkan
lines.
- Jōhō
1, in the 1st month (1074): Dianagon
Minamoto- no Takakune asked to be relieved of his duties because of
his age. He was 71, and he wanted to retire to Uji. In his
retirment, he was visited by many friends with whom he pursued
research into the history of Japan. He brought this work together
in a book.[6]
- Jōhō 1, on the 7th day of the 2nd
month (1074): The former kampaku Fujiwara Yorimichi died at the age of 83.
In this same period, his sister, the widow of Emperor Ichijo, died
at the age of 87.[6]
- Jōhō 1, on the 3rd day of the 10th
month (1074): Empress Jōtō-mon In died at the age of 87.[7]
- Jōryaku
1, in the 1st month (1077): Shirakawa went to the Kamo
Shrines; and he visited Kiyomizu-dera and other Buddhist
temples.[8]
- Jōryaku 1, in the 2nd month (1077):
Udaijin Minamoto no Morofusa died at of an ulcer at the
age of 70.[8]
- Jōryaku 1 (1077): The emperor caused
Hosshō-ji
(dedicated to the "Superiority of Buddhist Law") to be built at
Shirakawa in fulfillment of a sacred vow. This temple became only
the first of a series of "sacred vow" temples to be created by
Imperial decree. Hosshō-ji's nine-storied pagoda would become the
most elaborate Imperial-sponsored temple structure ever erected up
to this time.[9]
- Jōryaku 3, in the 10th month (1079):
The emperor visited the Fushimi Inari-taisha at the foot
of Mount Fushimi and the Yasaka Shrine.[8]
- Eihō
1, on the 15th day of the 4th month (1081): The
Buddhist Temple of Miidera was set on fire by the monks of a
rival sect on Mt. Hiei.[10]
- Eihō 1,on the 4th day of the 6th
month (1081): Miidera was burned again by monks from Mt. Hiei.[11]
- Eihō 3, in the 10th month (1083): At
Hosshō-ji, construction begins on a nine-story pagoda.[12]
- Ōtoku
1, in the 9th month (1084): The empress Kenshi, the
emperor's principal consort, died. Shirakawa was afflicted with
great grief, and for a time, he turned over the administration of
the government to his ministers.[12]
- Ōtoku 3, in the 9th month (1084):
Shirakawa announced his intention to abdicate in favor of his
son.[12]
- Ōtoku 3, on the 26th day of the 11th
month (1084): Shirakawa formally abdicated,[10]
and he took the title Daijō-tennō.[12]
Shirakawa had personally occupied the throne for 14 years; and for
the next 43 years, he would exercise broad powers in what will come
to be known as cloistered rule.[13]
Go-Sanjō had wished for Shirakawa's younger half-brother to
succeed him to the throne. In 1085, this half-brother died of an
illness; and Shirakawa's own son, Taruhito-shinnō (善仁親王)
became Crown Prince.
On the same day that Taruhito was proclaimed as his heir,
Shirakawa abdicated;, and Taruhito became Emperor
Horikawa. The now-retired Emperor Shirakawa ws the first to
attempt what became customary cloistered rule. He exercised power,
ruling indirectly from the Shirakawa-in (lit. "White River
Mansion/Temple"); nevertheless, nominal sesshō and
kampaku offices continued to exist for a long time.
- Kanji
1, in the 5th month (1087): Daijō-tennō Shirakawa retired himself
to Uji.[14]
- Kanji 2, in the 1st month (1088): The
emperor paid a visit to his father's home.[15]
- Kanji 2, in the 1oth month (1088):
Shirakawa visited the temples at Mt. Hiei.[15]
- Kanji 2, on the 14th day of the 12th
month (1088): The sesshō Fujiwara Morozane was given
additional honors with the further title of daijō-daijin.[16] In
this context, it matters a great deal that the mother of Emperor
Horikowa, formerly the daughter of udaijin Minamoto no
Akifusa, was also formerly the adopted child of Morozane.[17]
- Kanji 3, in the 5th month (1089):
Shirakawa made a second visit to Mt. Hiei; and this time, he stayed
seven days.[15]
- Kanji 4, in the 12th month (1090):
Fujiwara Morozane was releaves of his responsibilities as
sesshō and he was simultaneously named
kampaku.[15]
- Kanji 8, on the 8th day of the 3rd
month (1094): Morozane resigned from his position as
kampaku.[18]
- Kahō
2, in the 4th month (1095): Emperor Horikawa paid
visits to the Shinto Iwashimizu Shrine and to the Shinto Kamo
Shrines.[19]
- Kahō 2, in the 8th month (1095): The
emperor was stricken with intermittent fevers; and he ordered
prayers to be offered for his return to good health. After Horikawa
recovered his health, he was generous and appreciative to the Buddhist
priests who had prayed for his recovery.[19]
- Kahō 2, in the 11th month (1095): The
Buddhist priests of Mt. Hiei came down from their mountain to
protest a dispute with Minamoto Yoshitsuna and other government
officials which had led to military action and bloodshed. The
priests carried a portable shrine as far as the central hall of Enryaku-ji, where a curse
was laid on daijō-daijin Fujiwara Moromichi.[20]
- Kahō 3, on the 9th day of the 11th
month (1096): Former-Emperor Shirakawa entered the Buddhist
priesthood at the age of 44.[10]
In 1096, on the occasion of his daughter's death, Shirakawa
entered a monastery under the name of Yūkan (融観); and thus, he
became a hō-ō (法皇), which is the title accorded to a
former emperor who has become a monk.
After the death of Emperor Horikawa, Shirakawa's grandson became
Emperor Toba.
Shirakawa was still alive when Toba abdicated in turn to his son,
who became Emperor
Sutoku. By the time of his death in 1129, he had ruled as cloistered
Emperor for 41 years and through the reigns of three emperors
who were effectively little more than figureheads.
The name Shirakawa comes from
Shirakawa-in (白河院), the name of the residence from which
he conducted his cloistered rule after abdicating the
throne. Another name was Rokujō no Mikado (六条帝, Mikado being an old name for the Emperor of
Japan).
Kugyō
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. During Shirakawa's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan
included:
Eras
of Shirakawa's reign
The years of Shirakawa's reign are more specifically identified
by more than one era name or
nengō.[22]
Notes
- ^
Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon,
pp. 169-171; Brown, Delmer et al. (1979).
Gukanshō, pp. 315-317; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō
Shōtōki. pp. 199-202.
- ^
Brown, pp. 264. [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. 169; Brown, 314; Varley, p. 198.
- ^
Brown, p. 317.
- ^
Titsingh, p. 169; Brown, p. 314; Varley, 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 Go-Murakami.]
- ^ a
b
c
Titsingh, p. 169.
- ^
Brown, pp. 315-316.
- ^ a
b
c
Titsingh, p. 170.
- ^
Brown, p. 317; Varley, p. 200.
- ^ a
b
c
Brown, p. 316.
- ^
Titsingh, p. 171; Brown, p. 316.
- ^ a
b
c
d
Titsingh, p.171.
- ^
Varley, p. 202
- ^
Titsingh, p. 172.
- ^ a
b
c
d
Titsingh, p. 173.
- ^
Titsingh, p. 173; Brown, p. 318.
- ^
Varley, p. 202.
- ^
Brown, p. 318.
- ^ a
b
Titsingh, p. 176.
- ^
Brown, p. 320 n51; Kitagawa, Hiroshi, et al., eds. (1975).
The Tale of the Heike, pp. 129-130.
- ^ a
b
c
d
Brown, p. 315.
- ^
Titsingh, p. 168-171; Brown, p. 315-316.
References
- Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979). [ Jien, c. 1220], Gukanshō (The Future and
the Past, a translation and study of the Gukanshō, an
interpretative history of Japan written in 1219). Berkeley: University of California
Press. ISBN 0-520-03460-0
- Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur
Brabazon. (1959). The Imperial House of
Japan. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 194887
- Titsingh,
Isaac, ed. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652], Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, Annales des empereurs du
Japon. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great
Britain and Ireland.
- Varley, H. Paul , ed. (1980). [ Kitabatake Chikafusa, 1359],
Jinnō Shōtōki ("A Chronicle of Gods and
Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa" translated by H.
Paul Varley). New York: Columbia University Press.
ISBN 0-231-04940-4
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