Emperor Ōgimachi

Ōgimachi
Emperor of Japan
Ōgimachi
Reign	1557-1586
Born	June 18, 1517
Died	February 6, 1593 (aged 75)
Buried	Fukakusa no kita no Misasagi (Kyoto)
Predecessor	Go-Nara
Successor	Go-Yōzei

Emperor Ōgimachi (正親町天皇 Ōgimachi-tennō) (June 18, 1517 – February 6, 1593) was the 106th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. He reigned from October 27, 1557 to December 17, 1586, corresponding to the transition between the Warring States Era and the Azuchi-Momoyama period. His personal name was Michihito (方仁).^[1]

Genealogy

Ōgimachi was the first son of Emperor Go-Nara

• _________?
  • Eldest son: Imperial Prince Masahito (誠仁親王, Masahito-shinnō^?, 1552-1586), also known as Prince Sanehito and posthumously named Yōkwōin daijō-tennō. Masahito's eldest son was Imperial Prince Kazuhito (和仁親王, Kazuhito-shinnō^?, 1572-1617) who became Emperor Go-Yōzei.^[2] Go-Yōzei elevated the rank of his father, even though his father's untimely death made this impossible in life. In this manner, Go-Yōzei himself could enjoy the polite fiction of being the son of an emperor.
• Lady-in-waiting: Madenokōji (Fujiwara) Fusako (万里小路（藤原）房子)
  • Second daughter: Princess Eikō (永高女王)
  • Fifth son: Imperial Prince Sanehito (誠仁親王)

Events of Ōgimachi's life

Ōgimachi became Emperor upon the death of Emperor Go-Nara.

• 1560 (Eiroku 3, 1st month): Ōgimachi was proclaimed emperor. The ceremonies of coronation were made possible because they were paid for by Mōri Motonari and others.^[3]
• 1560 (Eiroku 3, 5th month): Imagawa Yoshimoto led the armies of the province of Suruga against the Owari; and at the Battle of Okehazama (桶狭間の戦い Okehazama-no-tatakai), his forces fought against Oda Nobunaga; but Imagawa's army was vanquished and he did not survive. Then Nobunaga took over the province of Owari. Tokugawa Ieyasu took over the province of Mikawa and made himself master of Okazaki Castle (岡崎城, Okazaki-jō).^[1]
• 1564 (Eiroku 7): Oda Nobunaga completed the conquest of Mino; and he built a new castle at Gifu.^[4]
• 1568 (Eiroku 11, 2nd month): Ashikaga Yoshihide became shogun.^[5]
• 1568 (Eiroku 11, 9th month): Shogun Yoshihide died from a contagious disease.^[5]

The finances of the emperor and his court were greatly strained. The authority of the Imperial Court also began to fall, but Oda Nobunaga, entering Kyoto changed this situation. Frequently using the Emperor as a mediator when fighting enemies, Oda Nobunaga brought peace to Japan. However, by around 1573, Oda Nobunaga came to frequently demand the Emperor's abdication, but the Emperor refused.

Before political power was transferred to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, in order to take advantage of the Emperor's authority, the power of the Imperial Family was increased. In this way, Hideyoshi and the Imperial Family entered into a mutually beneficial relationship.

In 1586, he abdicated in favor of his grandson, Imperial Prince Katahito (周仁親王), who became the Emperor Go-Yōzei.^[6] Ōgimachi retired to the Sennōda Palace. On February 6, 1593, he died.

During Ōgimachi's reign, with the assistance of Oda Nobunaga and Hideyoshi Toyotomi, the Imperial Family was able to halt the decline it had been in since the Ōnin War, and began a time of recovery.

Ōgimachi is enshrined with other emperors at the imperial tomb called Fukakusa no kita no misasagi (深草北陵) in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto.^[7]

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 Ōgimachi's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:

• Daijō-daijin, Konoe Sakihisa, 1536–1612.^[8]
• Sadaijin
• Udaijin
• Nadaijin
• Dainagon

Eras of Ōgimachi's reign

The years of Ōgimachi's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō.^[1]

• Kōji (1555–1558)
• Eiroku (1558–1570)
• Genki (1570–1573)
• Tenshō (1573–1592)

See also

• Emperor of Japan
• List of Emperors of Japan
• Imperial cult

Notes

Japanese Imperial kamon — a stylized chrysanthemum blossom

1. ^ ^{a b c} Titsingh, I. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon, p. 383.
2. ^ Ponsonby-Fane, Imperial House, p. 424; this Imperial Prince was enshrined in Tsukinowa no misasagi at Sennyū-ji.
3. ^ Titsingh, p. 383; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki, p. 44; n.b., 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.
4. ^ Titsingh, P. 385.
5. ^ ^{a b} Titsingh, p. 386.
6. ^ Following Ōgimachi, no other emperor remained on the throne past the age of 40 until Emperor Kōkaku abdicated in 1817 at age 47.
7. ^ Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan, p. 423.
8. ^ Citation based on 近衛前久, retrieved from the Japanese Wikipedia on July 14, 2007.

References

• 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. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-04940-4

Regnal titles
Preceded by Emperor Go-Nara	Emperor of Japan: Ōgimachi 1557–1586	Succeeded by Emperor Go-Yōzei

Persondata
Name	Ogimachi
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	June 18, 1517
Place of birth
Date of death	February 6, 1593
Place of death