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Emperor Shirakawa

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Emperor Shirakawa (白河天皇 Shirakawa Tennō) (July 7, 1053 – July 24, 1129) was the 72nd imperial ruler of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. He reigned from January 18, 1073 to January 5, 1087. His personal name was Sadahito. (貞仁). 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.

Contents

Genealogy

He was the eldest son of Emperor Go-Sanjō Note: there's also a theory that Shirakawa was the actual father of Emperor Sutoku, officially the son of Emperor Toba, Shirakawa's grandson.

Consorts and Empresses

Life

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. (貞仁親王). In 1069, he became Crown Prince and in 1073, at the age of 19, he became emperor.

A kampaku was put in place, but when his father died later that year, he attempted to rule directly, like his father. He attempted to regulate the shōen (manor) system, working to weaken the influence of the sekkan lines.

Go-Sanjō wished for Shirakawa's younger half-brother Imperial Prince ?? (実仁親王) to succeed him to the throne. Upon Shirakawa's enthronement, ?? became kōtaitei (heir who is a younger brother). Shirakawa opposed this, but in 1085, the prince died of illness, and his own son, Imperial Prince Taruhito (善仁親王) became Crown Prince. On the same day as Taruhito's establishment as Crown Prince, Shirakawa abdicated, and Taruhito became Emperor Horikawa. The now-retired Emperor Shirakawa began the custom of cloistered rule, ruling from the Shirakawa-in (lit. "White River Mansion/Temple"). Nominal sesshō and kampaku continued to exist for a long time.

However when Horikawa came of age, Shirakawa did not relinquish power, and continued to rule as an autocrat.

Believing strongly in Buddhism, in 1096, on the occasion of his daughter's death, he entered a monastery under the name of Yūkan? (融観), becoming a hōō (法皇), a former emperor who has become a monk.

After the death of Emperor Horikawa, his son 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 de jure emperors.

Names

The name Shirakawa comes from Shirakawa-in (白河院), the name of the residence from which he conducted his cloistered rule after his abdication. Another name was Rokujō no Mikado (六条帝, Mikado being an old name for the Emperor of Japan).

  • Enkyū
  • Jōhō
  • Jōryaku
  • Eihō
  • Ōtoku

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