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The Empress of Japan is the title given to the wife of the Emperor of Japan or a female ruler in her own right. In Japanese, the empress consort is called Kōgō (皇后). The current empress consort is Empress Masako, who ascended the throne with her husband on 1 May 2019.

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"Japanese Empresses" redirects here. For the ocean liners, see RMS Empress of Japan The Empress of Japan is the title given to the wife of the Emperor of Japan or a female ruler in her own right. In Japanese, the empress consort is called Kōgō (皇后). The current empress consort is Empress Masako, who ascended the throne with her husband on 1 May 2019. Much like their male counterparts, female rulers who ascend the throne by their birthright are referred to as 天皇 (tennō), but can also be referred to as 女性天皇 (josei tennō) or 女帝 (jotei). josei tennō refers only to an empress regnant of Japan, and jotei refers to an empress regnant of any countries.

Empresses regnant [ edit ]

There were eight female imperial reigns (six female emperors including two who reigned twice) in Japan's early history between 593 and 770, and two more in the early modern period (Edo period). Although there were eight reigning empresses, with only one exception their successors were selected from amongst the males of the paternal Imperial bloodline.[1] 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 their reigns is scant and they are not counted among the officially numbered Emperors/Empresses regnant: 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.[2] According to the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki chronicles in Japanese mythology, the Emperors of Japan are considered to be direct descendants of Amaterasu.

Empress consort [ edit ]

In ancient Japan, most of the empresses consort were princesses, except for Iwa no hime (empress consort of Nintoku). After Empress Kōmyō (empress consort of Shōmu), daughters of the Fujiwara clan or other clans could become empresses consort. Originally, Chūgū (中宮) referred to the palace of the Kōgō (皇后), Kōtaigō (皇太后) (Empress Mother/Empress Dowager), or Tai-Kōtaigō (太皇太后) (Grand Empress Mother/Grand Empress Dowager). Until the mid-Heian Period, the emperor had only one empress consort, and the empress consort was also called Chūgū. From the time of Emperor Ichijō, when emperors had two empresses consort, one of them came to be called Kōgō and another one was called Chūgū. After maiden Princess Yasuko became Kōgō as the honorary or adoptive mother (准母) of Emperor Horikawa, maiden princesses could also become Kōgō.

List of empresses consort [ edit ]

Kōgō (皇后) 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.[3] The title was first awarded posthumously in 806 to the late mother of Emperor Heizei.[4] Chūgū (中宮) was a term that 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.[5] The numbers of Kōgō varied, but there was only one Chūgū at a time.[6] The title Kōtaigō (皇太后) was given to the wife of an ex-emperor; and the title Tai-kōtaigō (太皇太后) came to be used by dowager empresses.[5]