Emperor Go-Mizunoo
Kotohito (; ; 29 June 1596 – 11 September 1680, posthumously honored as Emperor Go-Mizunoo, was the 108th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Go-Mizunoo's reign spanned the years from 1611 through 1629, and he was the first emperor to reign entirely during the Edo period.
This 17th-century sovereign was named after the 9th-century Emperor Seiwa, sometimes posthumously referred to as Mizunoo because this is the location of his tomb, while go translates as "later", and thus, he could be called the "Later Emperor Mizunoo". The Japanese word go has also been translated to mean the "second one", and in some older sources, this emperor may be identified as "Mizunoo, the second" or "Mizunoo II".
Genealogy
Before Go-Mizunoo's accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name was Kotohito or Masahito. He was the third son of Emperor Go-Yōzei and his consort, Konoe Sakiko. Prince Kotohito had 11 full siblings.He resided together with concubines in the Dairi of the Heian Palace. He had 33 children with his empress consort and 6 concubines.
Consort and issue:
- Empress : Tokugawa Masako, later known as Tōfuku-mon'in, daughter of Tokugawa Hidetata and Lady Oeyo
- *Second Daughter: Imperial Princess Okiko, later Empress Meishō
- *Third Daughter: Princess Onna-ni, Legal Wife of Konoe Hisatsugu
- *Second Son: Prince Sukehito
- *Third Son: Prince Waka
- *Fourth Daughter: Imperial Princess Akiko
- *Sixth Daughter: Imperial Princess Yoshiko married Nijō Mitsuhira
- *Seventh Daughter: Princess Kiku
- Lady-in-waiting : Yotsutsuji Yotsuko, later known as Meikyō'in, was the daughter of Yotsutsuji Kinto
- *First Son: Prince Kamo
- *First Daughter: Princess Bunchi, Wife of Takatsukasa Norihira
- Lady-in-waiting : Sono Mitsuko 1602– 6 March 1656, later known as Mibu'in, Sadaijin, was the daughter of Sono Mototada
- *Fourth Son: Imperial Prince Tsuguhito, later Emperor Go-Kōmyō
- *Sixth Son: Imperial Prince Priest Syuchō, abbot of Kan'ei-ji in Ueno
- *Tenth Daughter: Princess Gensho
- *Eleventh Daughter: Princess Sōchō
- *Thirteenth Daughter: Princess Katsura
- Lady-in-waiting : Kushige Takako later Hōshunmon-in, daughter of Kushige Takachika
- *Fifth Daughter: Princess Risho
- *Fifth Son: Unnamed Prince
- *Eight Daughter: Imperial Princess Ake-no-miya Teruko
- *Eight Son: Imperial Prince Nagahito, later Emperor Go-Sai
- *Ninth Son: Imperial Prince Priest Shosin
- *Twelfth Daughter: Princess Masa
- *Fourteenth Daughter: Princess Richu
- *Eleventh Son: Imperial Prince Hachijō-no-miya Yasuhito
- *Thirteenth Son: Imperial Prince Priest Dōkan
- Lady-in-waiting : Sono Kuniko later Shin-Kogimon-in, daughter of Sono Motonari
- *Tenth Son: Prince Priest Gyojo
- *Fifteenth Daughter: Imperial Princess Tsuneko
- *Fourteenth Son: Imperial Prince Priest Shinmu
- *Sixteenth Son: Imperial Prince Priest Sonshoho
- *Nineteenth Son: Imperial Prince Satohito, later Emperor Reigen
- *Seventeenth Daughter: Princess Eikyo.
- Lady-in-waiting : Yotsutsuji Tsuguko, daughter of Yotsutsuji Suetsugu
- *Twelfth Son: Imperial Prince Priest Sonko
- *Eighteenth Son: Imperial Prince Priest Seiin
- *Sixteenth Daughter: Princess Bunsatsu
- Court Lady : Minase Ujiko, daughter of Minase Ujinori
- *Ninth Daughter: Princess Shin
- *Seventh Son: Imperial Prince Priest Shojo
Events
Prince Masahito became emperor following the abdication of his emperor-father. The succession was considered to have been received by the new monarch; and shortly thereafter, Emperor Go-Mizunoo is said to have acceded. 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. The events during Go-Mizunoo's lifetime shed some light on his reign. The years correspond with a period in which Tokugawa Hidetada and Tokugawa Iemitsu were leaders at the pinnacle of the Tokugawa shogunate.On 29 June 1596, Masahito, who would be known posthumously as Go-Mizunoo, was born. Toyotomi Hideyori came to Miyako to visit the former Shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu on 20 May 1610 ; the same day, Go-Yōzei announced his intention to renounce the throne. Following the abdication during the 26th year of Go-Yōzei-tennō on 9 May 1611, 16-year-old Go-Mizunoo became Emperor. The Siege of Osaka, during which Shōgun Tokugawa Hidetada vanquished Toyotomi Hideyori and set fire to Osaka Castle, occurred in 1614. He returned to Edo for the winter.
A strong earthquake struck on 26 November 1614. A great bell for Daibutsu Temple in Kyoto was cast, also in that year. The Osaka Summer Battle began in 1615. Tokugawa Ieyasu and his son, Shōgun Hidetada, marched again to Osaka Castle, which was captured and burned. Hideyori was thought to have died by suicide but his body was never found. It was rumored he had fled to Satsuma, where a refuge had been prepared for him in advance. Ieyasu died at Suruga the following year and Former-Emperor Go-Yōzei died in 1617. Go-Yōzei was buried at the North Fukakusa Burial Mound. Tokugawa Masako, daughter of Shōgun Hidetada, entered the palace as a consort of the emperor and the two married. A number of severe fires broke out in Kyoto during April 1620.
In 1623, the Emperor made Tokugawa Iemitsu, son of Hidetada, shōgun and later visited Nijō Castle. The "Purple Robe Incident" occurred in 1627 when the Emperor was accused of having bestowed honorific purple garments to more than ten priests despite the shōgun's edict which banned them for two years, a practice probably set in place to break the bond between the Emperor and religious circles. The shogunate intervened and made the bestowing of the garments invalid. The priests who had been honored by the emperor were sent into exile by the bakufu. Go-Mizunoo abdicated on 22 December 1629, renouncing the throne to his daughter, Okiko, on the same day that the priests of the "Purple Robe Incident" went into exile. Okiko became the Empress Meishō. For the rest of his long life, Go-Mizuno-in concentrated on various aesthetic projects and interests, of which perhaps the best-known are the magnificent Japanese gardens of the Shugakuin Imperial Villa.
Former Emperor Go-Mizunoo died on 11 September 1680. Go-Mizunoo's memory is honored at Sennyū-ji in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto where a designated Imperial mausoleum is located. It is named Tsuki no wa no misasagi. Also enshrined are this emperor's immediate Imperial successors – Meishō, Go-Kōmyō, Go-Sai, Reigen, Higashiyama, Nakamikado, Sakuramachi, Momozono, Go-Sakuramachi and Go-Momozono.
Kugyō
Kugyō 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 Go-Mizunoo's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included: Kampaku Kujō Yukiie, Kampaku Takatsukasa Nobuhisa, Kampaku Nijō Akizane, Kampaku Kujō Yukiie, Kampaku Konoe Nobuhiro, and Kampaku Ichijō Akiyoshi.