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Empress Kōjun

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Enthronement
  
10 November 1928

Mother
  
Chikako Shimazui

Role
  
Consort

Parents
  
Prince Kuni Kuniyoshi

Father
  
Prince Kuniyoshi Kuni

Name
  
Empress Kojun

Spouse
  
Hirohito (m. 1924–1989)

House
  
Imperial House of Japan

Empress Kojun The Mad Monarchist Consort Profile Empress Kojun of Japan
Tenure
  
25 December 1926 – 7 January 1989

Born
  
6 March 1903 Tokyo, Japan (
1903-03-06
)

Burial
  
25 July 2000 Musashi Imperial Graveyard, Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan

Issue
  
Shigeko, Princess Teru Sachiko, Princess Hisa Kazuko, Princess Taka Atsuko, Princess Yori Akihito, Emperor of Japan Masahito, Prince Hitachi Takako, Princess Suga

Died
  
June 16, 2000, Omiya Palace, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Children
  
Akihito, Masahito, Prince Hitachi, Shigeko Higashikuni

Similar People
  
Hirohito, Empress Michiko, Akihito, Empress Teimei, Naruhito

Japanese Emperor Hirohito and Empress Kojun depart the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo a...HD Stock Footage


Empress Kōjun (香淳皇后, Kōjun-kōgō), born Princess Nagako (良子女王, Nagako Joō, 6 March 1903 – 16 June 2000), was the wife of Emperor Shōwa of Japan. She was the mother of the present emperor, Akihito.

Contents

Empress Kōjun The Mad Monarchist Consort Profile Empress Kojun of Japan

Her posthumous name is Kōjun, which means "fragrant purity". Empress Kōjun was empress consort (kōgō) from 25 December 1926 to 7 January 1989, making her the longest lived empress consort in Japanese history.

Empress Kōjun History Nagako Japan39s Ferocious Dowager Empress 2004 Kafkaesque

Early life

Empress Kōjun FileEmpress Kojun 1941jpg Wikimedia Commons

Princess Nagako was born in Tokyo, Japan, into one of the Ōke branches of the Imperial House of Japan, which are eligible to provide an heir to the throne of Japan (by adoption). She was therefore a Princess by birth, as the daughter of Kuniyoshi, Prince Kuni (1873–1929) by his consort, Chikako (1879–1956). While her father was a scion of the Imperial family itself, her mother descended from daimyōs, the feudal or military aristocracy. Nagako would become one of the last Japanese who could remember what life was like inside the Japanese aristocracy in the years before the Second World War.

Empress Kōjun Empress Kjun Wikipedia

As a young girl, Nagako attended the Girls' Department of Peers' School in Tokyo (now Gakushūin), which was a school set up especially for the daughters of the aristocracy and imperial family. Among her cohort was Crown Princess Bangja of Korea (then known as Princess Masako Nashimoto). Following her betrothal at age fourteen, Nagako was withdrawn from this school and began a six-year training program aimed at developing the accomplishments deemed necessary for an empress.

Marriage and children

Empress Kōjun The Mad Monarchist Consort Profile Empress Kojun of Japan

Nagako was betrothed to her fourteenth cousin thrice removed (through Prince Fushimi Sadafusa's patrilineal descent), Prince Hirohito (1901–1989), at a very young age, in a match arranged by their parents, in the manner which was usual in Japanese society at that time. Her lineage and her father's unblemished military career were the major considerations. In January 1919, the engagement of Princess Nagako to her distant cousin, the then-Crown Prince Hirohito (later Emperor Shōwa), was announced. In a step away from tradition, Hirohito was allowed to choose his own bride. Nagako herself had no choice in the matter. At the age of 14, she and other eligible women participated in a tea ceremony at the Imperial Palace while the Crown Prince watched unseen from behind a screen. He eventually selected Nagako.

Empress Kōjun The Mad Monarchist Consort Profile Empress Kojun of Japan

Princess Nagako married Crown Prince Hirohito on 26 January 1924 and became the Crown Princess of Japan. She became Empress upon Hirohito's accession to the throne on 25 December 1926. Unlike his royal predecessors, Emperor Hirohito decided to abandon his 39 court concubines. Over the first decade of marriage, Nagako produced only four daughters. It was only on December 23, 1933, almost ten years after their wedding, that the young couple had a son, and gave Japan an heir, in the birth of Akihito (明仁), the present emperor. In all, Hirohito and Nagako had seven children, five daughters and two sons. (see Issue)

Life as empress

Empress Kōjun Empress Kojun Archives Kafkaesque

Empress Nagako performed her ceremonial duties in a traditional manner. She initially came to live in the palace during the time when people spoke an archaic imperial form of Japanese that has largely disappeared. Her role required her to attend special ceremonies such as those for the 2600th anniversary of the legendary foundation of the Empire of Japan in 1940 or the conquest of Singapore in 1942.

Empress Kōjun Royal Portraits Empress Kojun

The Empress was the first Japanese Imperial Consort to travel abroad. She accompanied Emperor Hirohito on his European tour in 1971 and later on his state visit to the United States in 1975. She became known as the "smiling Empress".

Empress Kōjun httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommons55

After the Emperor's death on 7 January 1989, she assumed the title of Empress Dowager. At that time, she was in failing health herself and did not attend her husband's funeral; and she remained in seclusion for the rest of her life. In 1995, she became the longest-living dowager empress of Japan, breaking the record of Empress Kanshi, who died 868 years earlier.

At the time of her death at the age of 97 in 2000, Nagako had been an empress for 74 years. In her final days, the Imperial Household Agency announced that she was suffering from breathing problems but that the illness was not serious. Nagako died at 4:46pm on 16 June 2000, with her family at her side.

Emperor Akihito granted his mother the posthumous title of Empress Kōjun. Her final resting place is in a mausoleum named Musashino no Higashi no Misasagi, near that of her husband within the Musashi Imperial Graveyard.

Titles and styles

Across the arc of her life and death, Empress Kōjun has been known by number of related, but distinct titles:

  • 6 March 1903 – 26 January 1924: Her Imperial Highness Princess Nagako of Kuni
  • 26 January 1924 – 25 December 1926: Her Imperial Highness The Crown Princess
  • 25 December 1926 – 7 January 1989: Her Majesty The Empress
  • 7 January 1989 – 16 June 2000: Her Majesty The Empress Dowager
  • Posthumous name: Her Majesty Empress Kōjun
  • National honours

  • Knight Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure
  • Grand Mistress Paulownia Dame Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown
  • Foreign honours

  •  Belgium: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold
  •  Denmark: Knight of the Order of the Elephant
  •  Germany: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Special Class
  • Nepal: Member Grand Cross of the Order of Ojaswi Rajanya
  •  Spain: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic
  •  Sweden: Member Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Seraphim
  •  Thailand: Dame Grand Cordon with Chain of the Order of the Royal House of Chakri
  •  Tonga: Dame Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the Crown of Tonga
  • References

    Empress Kōjun Wikipedia


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