Emperor Juntoku

nihongo|Emperor Juntoku|順徳天皇|Juntoku-tennō (October 22, 1197 – October 7, 1242) was the 84th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1210 through 1221. [Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). "Annales des empereurs du Japon," pp. 230-238; Brown, Delmer "et al." (1979). "Gukanshō," pp. 341-343; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). "Jinnō Shōtōki." pp. 221-223.]

Genealogy

Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (his "imina") [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.] ] was nihongo| Morinari"-shinnō" |守成親王. [Titsingh, p. 230; Brown, p. 341; Varley, p. 221.]

He was the third son of Emperor Go-Toba. His mother was Shigeko (重子), the daughter of Fujiwara Hanki (藤原範季)
*Empress ("chūgū"): Kujō (Fujiwara) Ritsuko (?) (九条（藤原）立子)
**Second daughter: Imperial Princess Taiko (?) (諦子内親王)
**Fourth son: Imperial Prince Kanenari (懐成親王) (Emperor Emperor Chūkyō)
*Lady-in-waiting: Daughter of Fujiwara Norimitsu (藤原範光)
**Sixth son: Imperial Prince Zentō (善統親王)
**Seventh son: Prince Hikonari (彦成王)
*Consort: Daughter of Fujiwara Sayaki (藤原清季)
**Fifth son: Prince Tadanari (忠成王)

Events of Juntoku's life

Morinari-shinnō became Crown Prince in 1200. He was elevated to the throne after Emperor Go-Toba pressured Emperor Tsuchimikado into abdicating.

* "Jōgen 1", on the 25th day of the 11th month (1210): In the 12th year of Tsuchimikado"-tennō"'s reign (土御門天皇12年), the emperor abdicated; and the succession (‘‘senso’’) was received by his younger brother, the second son of the former-Emperor Go-Toba. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Juntoku is said to have acceded to the throne (‘‘sokui’’). [Titsingh, p. 230; Brown, p. 341; 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.] ]

In actuality, Emperor Go-Toba wielded effective power as a cloistered emperor during the years of Juntoku's reign.

In 1221, he was forced to abdicate because of his participation in Go-Toba's unsuccessful attempt to displace the Kamakura bakufu with re-asserted Imperial power. This political and military struggle was called the Jōkyū War or the Jōkyū Incident ("Jōkyū-no ran").

After the "Jōkyū-no ran", Juntoku was sent into exile on Sado Island (佐渡島 or 佐渡ヶ島, both "Sadogashima"), where he remained until his death in 1242.

This emperor is known posthumously as Sado-no In (佐渡院) because his last years were spent at Sado. He was entombed in the Mano Goryo mausoleum on the island's west coast. [Bornoff, Nicholas. (2005). "National Geographic Traveler Japan," p. 193.] Juntoku's official Imperial Tomb ("masasagi") is in Kyoto.

Juntoku was tutored in poetry by Fujiwara no Sadaie, who was also known as Teika. One of the emperor's poems was selected for inclusion in the what became a well-known anthology, the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. This literary legacy in Teika's collection of poems has accorded Juntoku a continuing popular prominence beyond the scope of his other lifetime achievements. The poets and poems of the Hyakunin isshu form the basis for a card game ("uta karuta") which is still widely played today. [Mostow, Joshua, ed. (1996). "Pictures of the Heart: The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image," p. 437.]

"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.

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 juntoku's reign, this apex of the "Daijō-kan" included:
* "Kampaku", Konoe Iezane, d. 1242. [Brown, p. 341.]
* "Sadaijin"
* "Udaijin"
* "Nadaijin"
* "Dainagon"

Eras of Juntoku's reign

The years of Juntoku's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name or "nengō". [Titsingh, p. 230; Brown, p. 341.]
* "Jōgen" (1207-1211)
* "Kenryaku" (1211-1213)
* "Kempō" (1213-1219)
* "Jōkyū" (1219-1222)

References

* Bornoff, Nicholas. (2005). "National Geographic Traveler Japan." Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.
* 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
* Mostow, Joshua S., ed. (1996). "Pictures of the Heart: The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image." Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-824-81705-2
* Titsingh, Isaac, ed. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652] , "Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon, tr. par M. Isaac Titsingh avec l'aide de plusieurs interprètes attachés au comptoir hollandais de Nangasaki; ouvrage re., complété et cor. sur l'original japonais-chinois, accompagné de notes et précédé d'un Aperçu d'histoire mythologique du Japon, par M. J. Klaproth." Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. [http://books.google.com/books?id=18oNAAAAIAAJ&dq=nipon+o+dai+itsi+ran ...Click link for digitized, full-text copy of this book (in French)]
* 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