Empress Teimei

Empress Teimei (貞明皇后, Teimei-kōgō), born Sadako Kujō (九条節子, Kujō Sadako, 25 June 1884 – 17 May 1951), was the wife of Emperor Taishō and the mother of Emperor Shōwa of Japan. Her posthumous name, Teimei, means "enlightened constancy".

Teimei
Formal portrait, 1912
Empress consort of Japan
Tenure	30 July 1912 – 25 December 1926
Enthronement	10 November 1915
Born	Sadako Kujō (九条節子) (1884-06-25)25 June 1884 Nishikichō, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan
Died	17 May 1951(1951-05-17) (aged 66) Ōmiya Palace, Minato, Tokyo, Japan
Burial	22 June 1951 Musashi Imperial Graveyard
Spouse	Yoshihito, Emperor Taishō ​ ( m. 1900; died 1926)
Issue	Hirohito, Emperor Shōwa Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu Nobuhito, Prince Takamatsu Takahito, Prince Mikasa
House	Imperial House of Japan (1900–1951) Fujiwara clan (1884–1900)
Father	Michitaka Kujō
Mother	Ikuko Noma (concubine)

Biography

Sadako Kujō was born on 25 June 1884 in Tokyo, as the fourth daughter of Duke Michitaka Kujō, head of Kujō branch of the Fujiwara clan. Her mother was Ikuko Noma.[1]

She married then-Crown Prince Yoshihito (the future Emperor Taishō) on 10 May 1900, at the age of 15. The couple lived in the newly constructed Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, outside of the main Tokyo Imperial Palace complex. When she gave birth to a son, Prince Hirohito (the future Emperor Shōwa) in 1901, she was the first official wife of a Crown Prince or Emperor to have given birth to the official heir to the throne since 1750.

She became Empress (Kōgō) when her husband ascended to the throne on 30 July 1912. Given her husband's weak physical and mental condition, she exerted a strong influence on imperial life, and was an active patron of Japanese Red Cross Society. The relations between the Emperor and Empress were very good, as evidenced by Emperor Taishō's lack of interest in taking concubines, thus breaking with hundreds of years of imperial tradition, and by her giving birth to four sons.

After the death of Emperor Taishō on 25 December 1926, her title became that of Dowager Empress (皇太后, Kōtaigō) (which means "widow of the former emperor"). She openly objected to Japan's involvement in World War II, which might have caused conflict with her son, Hirohito. From 1943, she also worked behind the scenes with her third son Prince Takamatsu to bring about the downfall of Prime Minister Hideki Tōjō.

She was a Buddhist adherent who had the faith of the Lotus Sutra and prayed with the Shinto ritual ceremonies of the Tokyo Imperial Palace.

She died on 17 May 1951 at Omiya Palace in Tokyo, aged 66, and was buried near her husband, Emperor Taishō, in the Tama no higashi no misasagi (多摩東陵) at the Musashi Imperial Graveyard in Tokyo.[2]

Honours

National

• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown

Foreign

•  Spain: The 1,060th Dame of the Royal Order of Queen Maria Luisa

Issue

Name	Birth	Death	Marriage		Issue
Hirohito, Emperor Shōwa	29 April 1901	7 January 1989	26 January 1924	Princess Nagako of Kuni	Shigeko, Princess Teru Sachiko, Princess Hisa Kazuko, Princess Taka Atsuko, Princess Yori Akihito, Emperor Emeritus Masahito, Prince Hitachi Takako, Princess Suga
Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu	25 June 1902	4 January 1953	28 September 1928	Setsuko Matsudaira
Nobuhito, Prince Takamatsu	3 January 1905	3 February 1987	4 February 1930	Kikuko Tokugawa
Takahito, Prince Mikasa	2 December 1915	27 October 2016	22 October 1941	Yuriko Takagi	Princess Yasuko of Mikasa Prince Tomohito of Mikasa Yoshihito, Prince Katsura Princess Masako of Mikasa Norihito, Prince Takamado

Ancestry

Ancestors of Empress Teimei[3]
16. Nijō Munemoto (1727–1754) 8. Nijō Harutaka (1754–1826) 4. Kujō Hisatada (1798–1871) 18. Higuchi Motoyasu (1706–1780) 9. Higuchi Nobuko (1751–1845) 2. Prince Kujō Michitaka (1839–1906) 10. Shōbai 5. Karahashi Meiko (1796–1881) 1. Empress Teimei 6. Noma Yorioki 3. Noma Ikuko 7. Yamokushi Kairi

Gallery

• 
  Crown Princess Sadako on her wedding day in 1900
• 
  The newly crowned Empress Sadako in jūnihitoe, 1912
• 
  Empress Teimei's four sons in 1921 : Hirohito, Takahito, Nobuhito and Yasuhito
• 
  Empress Sadako with Prince Hirohito and the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) in 1922
• 
  Empress Sadako visiting survivors after the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923
• 
  Empress Dowager Sadako with her grandson, Prince Akihito in 1949
• 
  From left to right: Princess Kazuko, Toshimichi Takatsukasa, Emperor Hirohito, Empress Nagako, Empress Dowager Sadako in May 1950
• 
  Funeral of Empress Teimei, 22 June 1951
• 
  Empress Teimei's mausoleum in the Musashi Imperial Graveyard

See also

• Japanese empresses
• Ōmiya Palace

Notes

1. http://oldphoto.lb.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/en/target.php?id=4861
2. http://madmonarchist.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/consort-profile-empress-teimei-of-japan.html
3. "Genealogy". Reichsarchiv (in Japanese). Retrieved 5 September 2017.

References

• Bix, Herbert P. (2000). Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-019314-0; OCLC 247018161
• Fujitani, Takashi. (1998). Splendid Monarchy: Power and Pageantry in Modern Japan.. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-20237-5; OCLC 246558189—Reprint edition, 1998. ISBN 0-520-21371-8
• Hoyt, Edwin P. (1992). Hirohito: The Emperor and the Man. New York: Praeger Publishers. ISBN 978-0-275-94069-0; OCLC 23766658

Japanese royalty
Preceded by Shōken	Empress consort of Japan 1912–1926	Succeeded by Kōjun