Emperor Kōkaku


Emperor Kōkaku was the 119th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Kōkaku reigned from 16 December 1780 until his abdication on 7 May 1817 in favor of his son, Emperor Ninkō. After his abdication, he ruled as also known as a until his death in 1840. The next emperor to resign of his own accord was Akihito, the Emperor of the Heisei Era, in 2019, 202 years later.
Major events in Kōkaku's life included an ongoing famine that affected Japan early into his rule. The response he gave during the time was welcomed by the people, and helped to undermine the shōgun's authority. The Kansei Reforms came afterwards as a way for the shōgun to cure a range of perceived problems which had developed in mid-18th century but was met with partial success.
A member of a cadet branch of the Imperial Family, Kōkaku is the founder of the dynastic imperial branch which currently sits on the throne. Kōkaku had one spouse during his lifetime, and six concubines who gave birth to sixteen children. Only one son survived into adulthood and eventually became the next Emperor. Genealogically, Kōkaku is the lineal ancestor of all the succeeding Emperors up to the current Emperor, Naruhito.

Events of Kōkaku's life

Early life

Before Kōkaku's accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name was Morohito. He was the sixth son of Imperial Prince Kan'in Sukehito the second Prince Kan'in of the Kan'in-no-miya imperial collateral branch. As a younger son of a cadet branch, the Kan'in house, it was originally expected that Morohito would go into the priesthood at the Shugoin Temple. The situation changed in 1779 in the form of a problem as Emperor Go-Momozono was dying without an heir to the throne. In order to avoid a dynastic interregnum, the now-retired Empress Go-Sakuramachi and the Emperor's chief adviser encouraged Go-Momozono to hastily adopt Prince Morohito. The adopted prince was the Emperor's second cousin once removed in the biological male line. Go-Momozono died on 16 December 1779, and a year later Morohito acceded to the throne at age eight.

As Emperor

During his reign, Kōkaku attempted to re-assert some of the Imperial authority over the Shōgun. He undertook this by first implementing a relief program during the Great Tenmei famine, which not only undermined the effectiveness of the bakufu to look after their subjects, but also focused the subjects' attention back to the Imperial household. He also took an active interest in foreign affairs; keeping himself informed about the border dispute with Russia to the north, as well as keeping himself abreast of knowledge regarding foreign currency, both Chinese and European. The new era name of Tenmei was created to mark the enthronement of new Emperor. The previous era ended and the new one commenced in An'ei 11, on the 2nd day of the 4th month. In his first year of reign, Kōkaku was instrumental in reviving old ceremonies involving the old Imperial Court, as well as those performed at the Iwashimizu and Kamono shrines.
An analysis of silver currency in China and Japan "Sin sen sen pou " was presented to the Emperor in 1782 by Kutsuki Masatsuna, also known as Kutsuki Oki-no kami Minamoto-no Masatsuna, hereditary daimyōs of Oki and Ōmi with holdings in Tanba and Fukuchiyama. Masatsuna published Seiyō senpu five years later, with plates showing European and colonial currency. Countrywide currency reforms later came after the Meiji Restoration when a new system was adopted around the Japanese yen. In 1786, former Empress Go-Sakuramachi engaged Go-Momozono's only child to the new Emperor. Yoshiko formally became Empress consort to Emperor Kōkaku at age 15.
The Emperor and his court were forced to flee from a fire that consumed the city of Kyoto in 1788, the Imperial Palace was destroyed as a result. No other re-construction was permitted until a new palace was completed. The Dutch VOC Opperhoofd in Dejima noted in his official record book that "people are considering it to be a great and extraordinary heavenly portent." The new era name of Kansei was created in 1789 to mark a number of calamities including the devastating fire at the Imperial Palace. The previous era ended and a new one commenced in Tenmei 9, on the 25th day of the 1st month. During the same year, the Emperor came into dispute with the Tokugawa shogunate about his intention to give the title of Abdicated Emperor to his father, Prince Sukehito. This dispute was later called the "Songo incident", and was resolved when the Bakufu gave his father the honorary title of "Retired Emperor".
Two more eras would follow during Kōkaku's reign, on 5 February 1801 a new era name was created because of the belief that the 58th year of every cycle of the Chinese zodiac brings great changes. Three years later the new era name of Bunka was created to mark the start of a new 60-year cycle of the Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch system of the Chinese calendar which was on New Year's Day. During this year, Daigaku-no-kami Hayashi Jussai explained the shogunate foreign policy to Emperor Kōkaku in Kyoto. The rest of Kōkaku's reign was quiet aside from two 6.6m earthquakes which struck Honshū in the years 1810 and 1812. The effects on the population from these earthquakes is unknown.

Kansei Reforms

The Kansei Reforms were a series of reactionary policy changes and edicts which were intended to cure a range of perceived problems which had developed in mid-18th-century Tokugawa Japan. Kansei refers to the nengō that spanned the years from 1789 through 1801 ; the reforms occurred during Kansei. In the end, the shogunate's interventions were only partly successful. Intervening factors like famine, floods and other disasters exacerbated some of the conditions which the shōgun intended to ameliorate.
Matsudaira Sadanobu was named the shōguns chief councilor in the summer of 1787; and early in the next year, he became the regent for the 11th shōgun, Tokugawa Ienari. As the chief administrative decision-maker in the bakufu hierarchy, he was in a position to effect radical change; and his initial actions represented an aggressive break with the recent past. Sadanobu's efforts were focused on strengthening the government by reversing many of the policies and practices which had become commonplace under the regime of the previous shōgun, Tokugawa Ieharu. Sandanobu increased the bakufu's rice reserves and required daimyos to do the same. He reduced expenditures in cities, set aside reserves for future famines, and encouraged peasants in cities to go back to the countryside. He tried to institute policies that promoted morality and frugality, such as prohibiting extravagant activities in the countryside and curbing unlicensed prostitution in the cities. Sandanobu also cancelled some debts owed by daimyos to the merchants.
These reform policies could be interpreted as a reactionary response to the excesses of his rōjū predecessor, Tanuma Okitsugu. The result was that the Tanuma-initiated, liberalizing reforms within the bakufu and the relaxation of sakoku were reversed or blocked. Education policy was changed through the Kansei Edict of 1790 which enforced teaching of the Neo-Confucianism of Zhu Xi as the official Confucian philosophy of Japan. The decree banned certain publications and enjoined strict observance of Neo-Confucian doctrine, especially with regard to the curriculum of the official Hayashi school.
This reform movement was accompanied by three others during the Edo period: the Kyōhō reforms, the Tenpō reforms of the 1830s and the Keiō Reforms.

Abdication and death

In 1817, Kōkaku abdicated in favor of his son, Emperor Ninkō. In the two centuries before Kōkaku's reign most Emperors died young or were forced to abdicate. Kōkaku was the first Japanese monarch to remain on the throne past the age of 40 since the abdication of Emperor Ōgimachi in 1586. Until the abdication of Emperor Akihito in 2019, he was the last Emperor to rule as a Jōkō, an Emperor who abdicated in favor of a successor. Kōkaku travelled in procession to Sento Imperial Palace, a palace of an abdicated Emperor. The Sento Palace at that time was called Sakura Machi Palace. It had been built by the Tokugawa shogunate for former-Emperor Go-Mizunoo.
After Kōkaku's death in 1840, he was enshrined in the Imperial mausoleum, Nochi no Tsukinowa no Higashiyama no misasagi, which is at Sennyū-ji in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto. Also enshrined in Tsuki no wa no misasagi, at Sennyū-ji are this Emperor's immediate Imperial predecessors since Emperor Go-Mizunoo – Meishō, Go-Kōmyō, Go-Sai, Reigen, Higashiyama, Nakamikado, Sakuramachi, Momozono, Go-Sakuramachi and Go-Momozono. This mausoleum complex also includes misasagi for Kōkaku's immediate successors – Ninkō and Kōmei. Empress Dowager Yoshikō is also entombed at this Imperial mausoleum complex.

Eras and Kugyō

The following years of Kōkaku's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō.
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 Kōkaku's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:

Spouse

Yoshiko was the only child of former Emperor Go-Momozono. She formally became Empress consort to Emperor Kōkaku at age 15 after she was engaged to the new Emperor by former empress Go-Sakuramachi. The couple had two sons but both died before reaching adulthood. Yoshiko eventually functioned as an official mother to the heir who would become Emperor Ninkō. In 1816, Emperor Ninkō granted Empress Yoshiko the title of Empress Dowager after Emperor Kōkaku abdicated. She later became a Buddhist nun after her husband died, and changed her name to Shin-Seiwa-In in 1841.

Concubines

Issue

Emperor Kōkaku fathered a total of 16 children but only one of them survived into adulthood. The sole surviving child later became Emperor Ninkō when Kōkaku abdicated the throne.
StatusNameBirthDeathMotherMarriageIssue
00 DaughterPrincess Kaijin'in 17891789Unknown
01 First SonImperial Prince Ayahito17901791Hamuro Yoriko
00 DaughterPrincess Juraku'in 17921792Nagahashi-no-tsubone
01 First DaughterPrincess Noto17921793Hamuro Yoriko
02 Second SonPrince Toshi17931794Hamuro Yoriko
03 Third SonImperial Prince Masuhito 18001800Imperial Princess Yoshiko
04 Fourth SonEmperor Ninkō, the future Emperor Ninko18001846Kajyūji TadakoFujiwara no TsunakoPrincess Sumiko
Emperor Kōmei
Princess Kazu
02 Second DaughterPrincess Tashi 18081808Kajyūji Tadako
05 Fifth SonImperial Prince Katsura-no-Miya Takehito18101811Higashiboujo Kazuko
03 Third DaughterPrincess Reimyoshin'in 18111811Higashiboujo Kazuko
06 Sixth SonPrince Ishi18151819Takano Masako
07 Seventh SonImperial Prince Toshihito18161821Imperial Princess Yoshiko
04 Fourth DaughterPrincess Nori18171819Kajyūji Tadako
05 Fifth DaughterPrincess Eijun18201830Anekouji Toshiko
06 Sixth DaughterPrincess Haru18221822Tominokōji Akiko
07 Seventh DaughterImperial Princess Shinko18241842Tominokōji Akiko
08 Eighth DaughterPrincess Seisho18261827Anekouji Toshiko
09 Ninth DaughterPrincess Katsu18261827Tominokōji Akiko
08 Eighth SonPrince Kana18331835Anekouji Toshiko

Ancestry