Emperor Nakamikado (中御門天皇, Nakamikado-tenno, January 14, 1702 – May 10, 1737) was the 114th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.
Nakamikado's reign spanned the years from 1709 through 1735.
Before Nakamikado's ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (imina) was Yoshihito (慶仁) or Yasuhito; and his pre-accession title was Masu-no-miya (長宮).
Nakamikado was the fifth son of Emperor Higashiyama. His mother was the lady-in-waiting Fujiwara no Yoshiko, but he was brought up as if he were the son of the Empress consort, Arisugawa no Yukiko.
Nakamikado's Imperial family lived with him in the Dairi of the Heian Palace. This family included at least 16 children:
Court lady: Konoe Hisako (近衛尚子)
First son: Imperial Prince Teruhito (昭仁親王) (Emperor Sakuramachi)
Lady in waiting: Shimizutani Iwako (清水谷石子)
Second son: Prince Kojyun (公遵法親王) (Buddhist priest)
Fourth daughter: Princess Risyu (理秀女王)
Sixth daughter: Princess Sonjo (尊乗女王)
Eighth daughter: Chika-no-miya (周宮)
Lady in waiting: Sono Tsuneko (園常子)
Third son: Prince Cyuyo (忠與法親王) (Buddhist priest)
Handmaid?: Kuze Natsuko (久世夏子)
Second daughter: San-no-miya (三宮)
Third daughter: Go-no-miya (五宮)
Fifth daughter: Imperial Princess Fusako (成子内親王))
Seventh daughter: Princess Eiko (永皎女王)
Fifth son: Nobu-no-miya (信宮)
Handmaid?: Gojo Hiroko (五条寛子)
Sixth son: Prince Jyun'nin (遵仁法親王) (Buddhist priest)
Consort: Komori Yorisue's daughter
First daughter: Princess Syosan (聖珊女王)
Fifth son: Prince Ji'nin (慈仁法親王) (Buddhist priest)
Adopted sons
Prince ?? (叡仁法親王) (Son of Imperial Prince Arisugawa-no-miya Yorihito (有栖川宮職仁親王)) (Priest)
Prince ?? (公啓法親王) (Son of Imperial Prince Kan'in-no-miya Naohito (閑院宮直仁親王))
In 1708, Nakamikado became Crown Prince.
July 27, 1709 (Hoei 6, 21st day of the 6th month): Emperor Higashiyama abdicated and the throne passed to his son.
January 16, 1710 (Hoei 6, 17th day of the 12th month): Higashiyama died.
Immediately after the abdication, Prince Yashuhito became the emperor. Because of his youth, first his father, the retired Emperor Higashiyama, and then his grandfather, the retired Emperor Reigen exercised Imperial powers in his name.
Nakamikado reign corresponded to the period from the sixth shogun, Tokugawa Ienobu, to the eighth shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune. During this period, relations with the Bakufu were fairly good. Talk of a marriage between Imperial Princess Yaso-no-miya Yoshiko (八十宮吉子内親王), daughter of Retired Emperor Reigen and the seventh shogun, Tokugawa Ietsugu were halted by the sudden death of the shogun in Edo.
July 7, 1710 – March 22, 1711 (Hoei 7, 11th day of the 6th month – Shotoku 1, 4th day of the 2nd month): A Ryukyuan diplomatic mission from Sho Eki of the Ryukyu Kingdom was received by the shogunate. This was the largest delegation—168 people—in the Edo Period.
1711 (Shotoku 1): A Korean diplomatic mission from Sukjong of Joseon was received by the shogunate; and formal greetings were presented to mark the succession of Shogun Ienobu.
November 12, 1712 (Shotoku 2, 14th day of the 10th month): Shogun Tokugawa Ienobu died.
1713 (Shotoku 3): Minamoto no Ietsugu became the 7th shogun of the Edo bakufu.
1714 (Shotoku 4): The shogunate introduces new gold and silver coins into circulation.
April 20, 1715 (Shotoku 5, 17th day of the 3rd month): The 100th anniversary of the death of Tokugawa Ieyasu (posthumously known as Gongen-sama), which was celebrated throughout the empire.
1716 (Shooku 6, 30th day of the 4th month): Shogun Ietsugu died of complications of a cold, at the age of six.
1717 (Kyoho 2): Kyoho reforms are directed and overseen by Shogun Yoshimune.
1718 (Kyoho 3): The bakufu repaired the Imperial mausolea.
1718 (Kyoho 6, 8th month): The bakufu established a petition-box (目安箱, meyasubako) at the office of the machi-bugyo in Heian-kyo.
1720 (Kyoho 8): The chronological annals and the biographies which comprised the first completed portions of the Dai Nihonshi were presented to the bakufu.
1721 (Kyoho 9): Edo population of 1.1 million is world's largest city.
1730 (Kyoho 15): The Tokugawa shogunate officially recognizes the Dojima Rice Market in Osaka; and bakufu supervisors (nengyoji) are appointed to monitor the market and to collect taxes. The transactions relating to rice exchanges developed into securities exchanges, used primarily for transactions in public securities. The development of improved agriculture production caused the price of rice to fall in mid-Kyoho.
August 3, 1730 (Kyoho 15, 20th day of the 6th month): A fire broke out in Muromachi and 3,790 houses were burnt. Over 30,000 looms in Nishi-jin were destroyed. The bakufu distributed rice.
1732 (Kyoho 17): The Kyoho famine was the consequence after swarms of locusts devastated crops in agricultural communities around the inland sea.
1735: Nakamikado abdicated in favor of his son, but he continued to exercise Imperial powers in the same way his predecessors had done.
1736 (Genbun 1): The shogunate published an edict declaring that henceforth, the sole, authorized coinage in the empire would be those copper coins which were marked n the obverse with the character 文 (pronounced bun in Japanese or pronounced wen in Chinese—which is to say, the same character which is found in this era name of Genbun.
1737 (Genbun 2, 11th month): A comet is noticed in the western part of the sky.
In 1737, Nakamikado died. His kami is enshrined in an Imperial mausoleum (misasagi), Tsukinowa no misasagi, at Sennyu-ji in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto. Also enshrined in this location are his immediate Imperial predecessors since Emperor Go-Mizunoo – Meisho, Go-Komyo, Go-Sai, Reigen, and Higashiyama. Nakamikado's immediate Imperial successors, including Sakuramachi, Momozono, Go-Sakuramachi and Go-Momozono, are enshrined here as well.
Kugyo (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. 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 Nakamikado's reign, this apex of the Daijo-kan included:
Kampaku, Konoe Iehiro
Sadaijin
Udaijin
Nadaijin
Dainagon
The years of Nakamikado's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengo.
Hoei (1704–1711)
Shotoku (1711–1716)
Kyoho (1716–1736)
