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Empress Jito
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(645 – December 22, 702) was the 41st imperial ruler of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. She was the fourth woman to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne. Her reign spanned the years from 686 through 697.
ess Jito was the daughter of Emperor Tenji. Her mother was Ochi-no-Iratsume, the daughter of Minister O-omi Soga no Yamada-no Ishikawa Maro. She was the wife of Emperor Temmu, who was Tenji's brother – in other words, she married her uncle, and she also succeeded him on the throne.
Empress Jito's given name was Unonosarara, or alternately Uno.
took responsibility for court administration after the death of her husband, Emperor Temmu, who was also her uncle.
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Encyclopedia
(645 – December 22, 702) was the 41st imperial ruler of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. She was the fourth woman to ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne. Her reign spanned the years from 686 through 697.
Genealogy
Empress Jito was the daughter of Emperor Tenji. Her mother was Ochi-no-Iratsume, the daughter of Minister O-omi Soga no Yamada-no Ishikawa Maro. She was the wife of Emperor Temmu, who was Tenji's brother – in other words, she married her uncle, and she also succeeded him on the throne.
Empress Jito's given name was Unonosarara, or alternately Uno.
Events of Jito's life
Jito took responsibility for court administration after the death of her husband, Emperor Temmu, who was also her uncle. She acceded to the throne in 687 in order to ensure the eventual succession of her son, Kusakabe-shinno. Throughout this period, Empress Jito ruled from the Fujiwara Palace in Yamato.
Prince Kusabake was named as crown prince to succeed Jito, but he died at a young age. Kusabake's son, Karu-no-o, was then named as Jito's successor. He eventually would become known as Emperor Mommu.
Empress Jito reigned for eleven years. Although there were seven other reigning empresses, their successors were most often selected from amongst the males of the paternal Imperial bloodline, which is why some conservative scholars argue that the women's reigns were temporary and that male-only succession tradition must be maintained in the 21st century. Empress Gemmei, who was followed on the throne by her daughter, Empress Gensho, remains the sole exception to this conventional argument.
In 697, Jito abdicated in Mommu's favor; and as a retired sovereign, she took the post-reign title daijo-tenno. After this, her imperial successors who retired took the same title after abdication.
Jito continued to hold power as a cloistered ruler, which became a persistent trend in Japanese politics.
Kugyo
Kugyo 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 Jito's reign, this apex of the Daijo-kan included:
- Daijo-daijin, Takechi-shinno (the 3rd son of Emperor Temmu)
- Sadaijin
- Udaijin
- Nadaijin
Man'yoshu poetry
The Man'yoshu includes a poem said to have been composed by Jito
- After the death of the Emperor Temmu
- Oh, the autumn foliage
- Of the hill of Kamioka!
- My good Lord and Sovereign
- Would see it in the evening
- And ask of it in the morning.
- On that very hill from afar
- I gaze, wondering
- If he sees it to-day,
- Or asks of it to-morrow.
- Sadness I feel at eve,
- And heart-rending grief at morn --
- The sleeves of my coarse-cloth robe
- Are never for a moment dry.
- Composed when the Empress climbed the Thunder Hill
- Lo, our great Soverign, a goddess,
- Tarries on the Thunder
- In the clouds of heaven!
Hyakunin Isshu poetry
One of the poems attributed to Empress Jito was selected by Fujiwara no Teika for inclusion in the very popular anthology Hyakunin Isshu.
- Poem number 2
- The spring has passed
- And the summer come again
- For the silk-white robes
- So they say, are spread to dry
- On the Mount of Heaven's perfume
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Non-nengo period
Jito's reign is not linked by scholars to any era or nengo. The Taika era innovation of naming time periods -- nengo -- languished until Mommu reasserted an imperial right by proclaiming the commencement of Taiho in 701.
However, Brown and Ishida's translation of Gukansho offers an explanation which muddies a sense of easy clarity:
- "The eras that fell in this reign were: (1) the remaining seven years of Shucho [(686+7=692?)]; and (2) Taika, which was four years long [695-698]. (The first year of this era was kinoto-hitsuji [695].) ...In the third year of the Taka era [697], Empress Jito yielded the throne to the Crown Prince."
See also
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