Empress of Japan


Empress of Japan or Japanese Empress means an empress consort. The current empress consort is Empress Masako, ascending on 1 May 2019. The term can also mean a female emperor of Japan.

Empress regnant

There were eight female imperial reigns in Japan's early history between 593 and 770, and two more in the early modern period. Although there were eight reigning empresses, with only one exception their successors were selected from amongst the males of the paternal Imperial bloodline. After many centuries, female reigns came to be officially prohibited only when the Imperial Household Law was issued in 1889 alongside the new Meiji Constitution.
The eight historical empresses regnant are:
Other than the eight historical empresses regnant, two additional empress is traditionally believed to have reigned, but historical evidence for her reign is scant and she is not counted among the officially numbered Emperors:
Under Shinto religious influence, the goddess Amaterasu, who is of the highest rank in the kami system, might suggest that Japan's first rulers were women. According to the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki chronicles in Japanese mythology, the Emperors of Japan are considered to be direct descendants of Amaterarasu.

Empress consort

In ancient Japan, most of the empresses consort were princesses, except for Iwa no hime. After Empress Kōmyō, daughters of Fujiwara clan or other clans could become empresses consort. Originally Chūgū meant the palace for Kōgō, Kōtaigō , or Tai-Kōtaigō . Until mid-Heian Period, Emperor had only one empress consort, and empress consort was also called Chūgū. Since Emperor Ichijō, because some Emperors had two empresses Consort, one of them was called Kōgō and another one was called Chūgū. After maiden Princess Yasuko became Kōgō as the mother-in-law of Emperor Horikawa, maiden princesses also became Kōgō.

List of non-reigning empresses

Kōgō is the title of a non-reigning empress consort. The title, still in use, is generally conferred on an emperor's wife who had given birth to the heir to the throne. The title was first awarded posthumously in 806 to the late mother of Emperor Heizei.
Chūgū was a term which evolved during the Heian period; and it came to be understood as the title of the empress. For a time, chūgū replaced kōgō; and then the titles became interchangeable.
The numbers of kōgō varied, but there was only one Chūgū at a time.
The title kōtaigō was given to the wife of an ex-emperor; and the title tai-kōtaigō came to be used by a dowager empress.