| Emperor Go-Daigo 後醍醐天皇 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Emperor of Japan | |||||
| Reign | 29 March 1318 – 18 September 1339 | ||||
| Enthronement | 30 April 1318 | ||||
| Predecessor | Hanazono | ||||
| Successor | Go-Murakami Kōgon (pretender) | ||||
| Shōgun | Prince Morikuni Prince Moriyoshi Prince Narinaga Ashikaga Takauji | ||||
| Born | 26 November 1288 Heian-kyō,Kamakura shogunate | ||||
| Died | 19 September 1339(1339-09-19) (aged 50) Yoshino no Angū (Nara),Ashikaga shogunate | ||||
| Burial | Tō-no-o no misasagi (塔尾陵) (Nara) | ||||
| Spouse | Saionji Kishi Junshi | ||||
| Issue among others... | |||||
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| House | Imperial House of Japan | ||||
| Father | Emperor Go-Uda | ||||
| Mother | Fujiwara no Chūshi | ||||
| Signature |  | ||||
Emperor Go-Daigo (後醍醐天皇Go-Daigo-tennō) (26 November 1288 – 19 September 1339) was the 96themperor of Japan,[1] according to the traditionalorder of succession.[2] He successfullyoverthrew theKamakura shogunate in 1333 and established the short-livedKenmu Restoration to bring theImperial House back into power. This was to be the last time the emperor had realpower until theMeiji Restoration in 1868.[3] The Kenmu restoration was in turn overthrown byAshikaga Takauji in 1336, ushering in theAshikaga shogunate. The overthrow split the imperial family intotwo opposing factions between the Ashikaga backedNorthern Court situated inKyoto and theSouthern Court based inYoshino. The Southern Court was led by Go-Daigo and his later successors.
Before his ascension to theChrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (imina) was Takaharu-shinnō (尊治親王).[4]
He was the second son of the Daikakuji-tō emperor,Emperor Go-Uda. His mother wasFujiwara noChūshi/Tadako (藤原忠子), daughter ofFujiwara no Tadatsugu (Itsutsuji Tadatsugu) (藤原忠継/五辻忠継). She became Nyoin called Dantenmon-in (談天門院). His older brother wasEmperor Go-Nijō.
Emperor Go-Daigo's ideal was theEngiera (901–923) during the reign ofEmperor Daigo, a period of direct imperial rule. An emperor's posthumous name was normally chosen after his death, but Emperor Go-Daigo chose his personally during his lifetime, to share it with Emperor Daigo.
In 1324, with the discovery of Emperor Go-Daigo's plans to overthrow theKamakura shogunate, theRokuhara Tandai disposed of his close associate Hino Suketomo in theShōchū Incident [ja].
In theGenkō Incident of 1331, Emperor Go-Daigo's plans were again discovered, this time by a betrayal by his close associate Yoshida Sadafusa. He quickly hid theSacred Treasures in a secluded castle in Kasagiyama (the modern town ofKasagi,Sōraku District,Kyōto Prefecture) and raised an army, but the castle fell to theshogunate's army the following year, and they enthronedEmperor Kōgon, exiling Daigo toOki Province (theOki Islands in modern-dayShimane Prefecture),[8] the same place to whichEmperor Go-Toba had been exiled after theJōkyū War of 1221.
In 1333, Emperor Go-Daigo escaped from Oki with the help ofNawa Nagatoshi and his family, raising an army at Senjo Mountain inHōki Province (the modern town of Kotoura inTōhaku District,Tottori Prefecture).Ashikaga Takauji, who had been sent by theshogunate to find and destroy this army, sided with the emperor and captured theRokuhara Tandai. Immediately following this,Nitta Yoshisada, who had raised an army in the east, laid siege to Kamakura. When the city finally fell to Nitta,Hōjō Takatoki, theshogunal regent, fled toTōshō temple, where he and his entire family committed suicide. This ended Hōjō power and paved the way for a newmilitary regime.[8]: 15–21
Upon his triumphal return to Kyoto, Daigo took the throne from Emperor Kōgon and began theKenmu Restoration. The Restoration was ostensibly a revival of the older ways, but, in fact, the emperor had his eye set on an imperial dictatorship like that of theemperor of China. He wanted to imitate the Chinese in all their ways and become the most powerful ruler in the East. Impatient reforms, litigation over land rights, rewards, and the exclusion of the samurai from the political order caused much complaining, and his political order began to fall apart. In 1335,Ashikaga Takauji, who had travelled to eastern Japan without obtaining an imperial edict in order to suppress the Nakasendai Rebellion, became disaffected. Daigo ordered Nitta Yoshisada to track down and destroy Ashikaga. Ashikaga defeated Nitta Yoshisada at the Battle of Takenoshita, Hakone.Kusunoki Masashige andKitabatake Akiie, in communication with Kyoto, smashed the Ashikaga army. Takauji fled toKyūshū, but the following year, after reassembling his army, he again approached Kyōto. Kusunoki Masashige proposed a reconciliation with Takauji to the emperor, but Go-Daigo rejected this. He ordered Masashige and Yoshisada to destroy Takauji. Kusunoki's army was defeated at theBattle of Minatogawa.
When Ashikaga's army entered Kyōto, Emperor Go-Daigo resisted, fleeing toMount Hiei, but seeking reconciliation, he sent theimperial regalia to the Ashikaga side. Takauji enthroned the Jimyōin-tō emperor,Kōmyō, and officially began his shogunate with the enactment of the Kenmu Law Code.[8]: 54–58
Go-Daigo escaped from the capital in January 1337, the regalia that he had handed over to the Ashikaga being counterfeit, and set up theSouthern Court among the mountains ofYoshino, beginning thePeriod of Northern and Southern Courts in which theNorthern Dynasty inKyoto and the Southern Dynasty in Yoshino faced off against each other.[8]: 55, 59
Emperor Go-Daigo ordered Imperial Prince Kaneyoshi to Kyūshū and Nitta Yoshisada and Imperial Prince Tsuneyoshi toHokuriku, and so forth, dispatching his sons all over, so that they could oppose the Northern Court.
The actual site of Go-Daigo'sgrave is settled.[1] This emperor is traditionally venerated at amemorialShintoshrine (misasagi) at Nara.
TheImperial Household Agency designates this location as Go-Daigo'smausoleum. It is formally namedTō-no-o no misasagi.[11]
Go-Daigo had some other princesses from some court ladies.
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. 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 Go-Daigo's reign, this apex of theDaijō-kan included:
The years of Go-Daigo's reign are more specifically identified by more than oneera name ornengō. Emperor Go-Daigo's eight era name changes are mirrored in number only in the reign ofEmperor Go-Hanazono, who also reigned through eight era name changes.[12]
Emperor Go-Daigo appears in thealternate history novelRomanitas bySophia McDougall.
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| Preceded by | Emperor of Japan: Go-Daigo 1318–1339 | Succeeded by |
| Succeeded by Emperor Kōgon (Pretender) | ||
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