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Teimei 貞明皇后
Empress Consort of Japan
Spouse	Emperor Taishō
Issue
Hirohito, Prince Michi Yasuhito, Prince Atsu Nobuhito, Prince Teru Takahito, Prince Sumi
Father	Michitaka Kujō
Mother	Noma Ikuko
Born	25 June 1884(1884-06-25) Tokyo, Japan
Died	17 May 1951 (aged 66) Tokyo, Japan
Burial	Musashino Imperial Mausoleum in Tokyo

Empress Teimei (貞明皇后, Teimei Kōgō^?, 25 June 1884 – 17 May 1951), also known as Empress Dowager Teimei (貞明皇太后, Teimei-kōtaigō^?), was empress consort of Emperor Taishō of Japan. Born Sadako Kujō (九条節子, Kujō Sadako^?), she was the mother of Emperor Shōwa. Her posthumous name, Teimei, means "enlightened constancy".

Biography

Princess Sadako Kujō was born in Tokyo, as the fourth daughter of Prince Michitaka Kujō, head of Kujō branch of the Fujiwara clan, and Noma Ikuko.

She married then-Crown Prince Yoshihito (the future Emperor Taishō) on 25 May 1900. The couple lived in the newly constructed Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, outside of the main Tokyo Imperial Palace complex. When she gave birth to a son, prince Hirohito (the future Emperor Shōwa) in 1901, she was the first official wife of a Crown Prince or Emperor to have given birth to the official heir to the throne since 1750.

She became Empress (Kōgō) when her husband ascended to the throne on 30 July 1912. Given her husband's weak physical and mental condition, she exerted a strong influence on imperial life, and was an active patron of Japanese Red Cross Society. The relations between the Emperor and Empress were very good, as evidenced by Emperor Taishō’s lack of interest in taking concubines, thus breaking with hundreds of years of imperial tradition, and by her giving birth to four sons.

After the death of Emperor Taishō on 25 December 1926, her title became that of Dowager Empress ( 皇太后, Kōtaigō^?) (which means "widow of the former emperor"). She openly objected to Japan's involvement in World War II, which caused conflict with her son, Hirohito. From 1943, she also worked behind the scene with her younger son Prince Takamatsu Nobuhito to bring the downfall of Prime Minister Hideki Tōjō.

She died at Omiya Palace in Tokyo, aged 66, and was buried next to her husband, Emperor Taishō, in the Tama no higashi no misasagi (多摩東陵) at Musashino Imperial Mausoleum in Tokyo.

Gallery

The newly-crowned Empress Teimei in jūnihitoe, 1912

Empress Teimei's four sons in 1921 : Hirohito, Takahito, Nobuhito and Yasuhito

Empress Teimei with Prince Hirohito and the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) in 1922.

Empress Teimei visiting survivors after the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923.

See also

• Japanese empresses
• Ōmiya Palace

Notes

References

• Bix, Herbert P. (2000). Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. New York: HarperCollins. 10-ISBN 0-060-19314-X; 13-ISBN 978-0-060-19314-0; OCLC 247018161
• Fujitani, Takashi. (1998). Splendid Monarchy: Power and Pageantry in Modern Japan.. Berkeley: University of California Press. 10-ISBN 0520202376; 13-ISBN 9780520202375; OCLC 246558189 -- Reprint edition, 1998. ISBN 0520213718
• Hoyt, Edwin P. (1992). Hirohito: The Emperor and the Man. New York: Praeger Publishers. 10-ISBN 0-275-94069-1; 13-ISBN 978-0-275-94069-0; OCLC 23766658