Empress Shōken
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| Empress Shōken (Haruko Ichijō) |
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| Empress of Japan | |
 Empress Haruko in traditional court dress |
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| Titles | HIM Empress Shōken (1914- posthumous name) HIM The Empress Dowager of Japan (1912-1914) HIM The Empress of Japan (1867-1912) Lady Masako Ichijō |
|---|---|
| Born | May 9, 1849 |
| Died | April 9, 1914 (aged 64) |
| Consort | September 2, 1867 - July 30, 1912 |
| Consort to | Emperor Meiji |
| Issue | none |
| Father | Tadaka Ichijō |
Empress Shōken (昭憲皇太后 Shōken Kōtaigō?) (9 May 1849 - 9 April 1914) was empress consort of Japan as the wife of Emperor Meiji.
Born Masako Ichijō (一条勝子 Ichijō Masako?), she was the third daughter of Lord Tadaka Ichijō, sometime Minister of the Left and head of the Ichijō branch of the House of the Fujiwara. She married Emperor Meiji on 2 September 1867 and she adopted the given name Haruko (美子?), which was intended to reflect her diminutive size and serene beauty. She was the first imperial consort to receive the title of kōgō (literally, the emperor's wife, translated as "empress consort"), in several hundred years.
Although she was the first Japanese empress consort to play a public role, she bore no children. Emperor Meiji had fifteen children by five official ladies-in-waiting. As it had long been the custom in Japanese monarchy, she adopted Yoshihito, her husband's eldest son by a concubine. Yoshihito thus became the official heir to the throne, and at Emperor Meiji's death, succeeded him as Emperor Taishō.
As empress, she assumed the role of helping the poor and promoted national welfare and women’s education. She was therefore also called the “Mother of the Nation”. During the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), she also worked for the establishment of the Japanese Red Cross Society. A lineal descendant of lady Gracia Hosokawa of the Minamoto clan, she appears to have had a good cooperation with christians in Red Cross and otherwise. Especially concerned about Red Cross activities in peace time, she created a fund for the International Red Cross, which was later named “The Empress Shōken Fund”. It is presently used for international welfare activities.
On the death of Emperor Meiji, she was granted the title Empress Dowager (kōtaigo) by her adopted son, Emperor Taishō.
She died in 1914, and was buried in the East Mount of the Fushimi Momoyama Ryo in Kyoto, her soul being enshrined in Meiji Shrine in Tokyo. On 9 May 1914, she received the posthumous name Shōken Kōtaigō, literally meaning Empress Dowager Shōken. [1]
The railway-carriage of the empress, as well as that of Emperor Meiji, can be seen today in the Meiji Mura Museum, close to Nagoya.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Fujitani,T. Splendid Monarchy: Power and Pageantry in Modern Japan. University of California Press; Reprint edition (1998). ISBN 0520213718
- Hoyt, Edwin P. Hirohito: The Emperor and the Man. Praeger Publishers (1992). ISBN 0275940691
- Keane, Donald. Emperor Of Japan: Meiji And His World, 1852-1912. Columbia University Press (2005). ISBN 0231123418
- Lebra, Sugiyama Takie. Above the Clouds: Status Culture of the Modern Japanese Nobility. University of California Press (1995). ISBN 0520076028
- ^ 大正3年宮内省告示第9号 (Imperial Household Ministry's 9th announcement in 1914)
[edit] External links
| Preceded by — |
Empress consort of Japan 1867-1914 |
Succeeded by Empress Teimei |
