Emperor Chūkyō (仲恭天皇,Chūkyō-tennō) (30 October 1218 – 18 June 1234) was the 85themperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned only two months in1221, and he was not officially listed amongst the emperors until 1870 because of doubts caused by the length of his reign.[1] TheImperial Household Agency recognizesKujō no misasagi (九條陵) near Tōfuku-ji inFushimi-ku, Kyoto as his tomb.
Chūkyō was enthroned at the age of two following the deposition of his father, the Emperor Juntoku in preparation for theJōkyū Incident, an unsuccessful attempt by Juntoku's father, the RetiredEmperor Go-Toba, to overthrow theKamakura Bakufu.
13 May 1221 (Jōkyū 3, 20th day of the 4th month): In the 11th year of Juntoku-tennō's reign (順徳天皇十一年), the emperor abdicated; and the succession (‘‘senso’’) was received by his eldest son who was only two years old. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Chūkyō is said to have acceded to the throne (‘‘sokui’’).[4]
Because of his dethronement just 2 months after the Jōkyū Incident, his enthronement was not recognized. He was known as the Kujō Dethroned Emperor (Kujō Haitei, 九条廃帝), the Half-Emperor (半帝), and the Later Dethroned Emperor (Go-Haitei, 後廃帝, a reference toEmperor Junnin who was often called Haitei, 廃帝).
In 1870, he was recognized as anEmperor and given the posthumous name of Emperor Chūkyō.[5]
Kugyō (公卿) is a collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of theEmperor 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 Chūkyo's reign, this apex of theDaijō-kan included:
^Titsingh, Isaac. (1834).Annales des empereurs du Japon, pp. 236–237; Brown, Delmeret al. (1979).Gukanshō, pp. 343–344; Varley, H. Paul. (1980).Jinnō Shōtōki. pp. 223–226.
^Brown, pp. 264; n.b., up until the time ofEmperor Jomei, the personal names of the emperors (theirimina) were very long and people did not generally use them. The number of characters in each name diminished after Jomei's reign.
^Titsingh, p. 236; Brown, p.343; Varley, p. 44; n.b., a distinct act ofsenso is unrecognized prior toEmperor Tenji; and all sovereigns exceptJitō,Yōzei,Go-Toba, andFushimi havesenso andsokui in the same year until the reign ofEmperor Go-Murakami.
