Go-yozei

Emperor Go-Yōzei ( Japanese 後 陽 成 天皇 , Go-Yōzei-tennō ; * December 31, 1571 ; † September 25, 1617 ) was the 107th Tennō of Japan (December 17, 1586 - May 9, 1611). He was a grandson of Emperor Ōgimachi . His proper name was originally Kazuhito ( 和 仁 ) but was later changed to Katahito ( 周仁 ).

government

His grandfather, Emperor Ōgimachi , resigned on December 17, 1586. Go-Yōzei was his successor with the support of Toyotomi Hideyoshis . When Hideyoshi died in 1598, Tokugawa Ieyasu was able to win the decisive battle of Sekigahara for the political succession in 1600 . In 1603 Tokugawa Ieyasu sealed his leading position by having Tennō Go-Yōzei bestow the title of Shōgun on him. This marks the beginning of the Edo period , which was politically dominated by the Tokugawa shogunate (Japanese "bakufu", literally "the tent government of the shoguns") in Edo .

Go-Yōzei sought to strengthen his political influence and the position of his office through the resurgence of certain ceremonies and through his demand that the warrior caste behave loyally and respectfully. Ultimately, however, the imperial court no longer played an important political role until the end of the Edo period.

Economy

The economic situation of the court improved during his tenure, as the shoguns not only lent land to individual court ladies and courtiers, but also financed the costs of renovations and new buildings of large parts of the palace complex.

Wives

His main wife Sakikio (= Chūkamon-in ) was the daughter of Konoe Sakihisa , the wedding took place in 1586/11/6. She was the mother of the later Go-Mizunoo and Nobuhiro, who was adopted by Konoe Nobutada on imperial orders in order not to let the family die out.

The consorts of Go-Yozei did not take loyalty very seriously. 1595/6 it became known that the Kōtō no naishi had an affair with Kōga Atsumichi .

The scandal of the summer of 1609 was more significant. The imperial concubines Shin'ōsuke (18 years old and highest in rank), Nakanoin , Minase , Sanuki and Karahashi had relationships with seven courtiers who had probably started in the spring of 1608. The as pretty boy and kabukimono described Inokuma Noritoshi and Shin'ōsuke were in the center of the scandal. After the Tennō learned of the situation in the seventh month, he demanded the execution of all five women and nine courtiers - their heads, like those of commoners, should be displayed at the prison gate. This drastic measure was prevented by Tokugawa Ieyasu . In the end, the lowest social culprits, Inokuma and Kaneyasu , Sanuki's brother, who had fled, were executed in the tenth month. The other participants were banished, the women under comparatively poor conditions to an island off the Izu Peninsula .

resignation

Go-Yōzei planned in 1598/10 - he was ailing, 28 years old and had already ruled for 13 years - to resign in favor of his younger brother, Prince Hajijōnomiya Toshihito , probably in order to be able to intervene more directly in the affairs of government through the re-establishment of an insei , He probably wanted to take advantage of the political vacuum created by Hideyoshi's death. The project failed due to a lack of financial means for the corresponding ceremonies as well as to the opposition of the courtiers, first and foremost Konoe Nobutada .

His desire to resign in 1609 in favor of Go-Mizunoos turned into a power struggle with Ieyasu. He had been dissatisfied with public life for a long time; he had withdrawn more and more. Tokugawa, whose shogunate had to finance the ceremonies, only approved the resignation 3 months later (1610/2/2). This was followed by several postponements of resignation and back and forth, including the ceremony of the crown prince's declaration of legal age, which was to take place at the imperial request based on the "example of Engi". This would have implied a strengthening of the position of the Tennō against the shogunate. The celebration of coming of age took place without the participation of the Tokugawas now in 1610/12/23, the abdication in the following year 3/27. For his personal care, the resigned received a newly built palace and a meager 2000 koku land.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ cf. Lee Butler: Emperor and Aristocracy in Japan, 1467-1680. Resilience and Renewal (= Harvard East Asian Monographs. Vol. 209). Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA 2002, ISBN 0-674-00851-0 , esp. Pp. 143-55, 243 f.
2. ↑ Lee Bruschke-Johnson: Dismissed as elegant fossils. Konoe Nobutada and the Role of Aristocrats in Early Modern Japan (= Japonica Neerlandica. Vol. 9). Hotei, Amsterdam 2004, ISBN 90-74822-52-5 , p. 153.
3. ↑ Lee Butler: Emperor and Aristocracy in Japan, 1467-1680. Resilience and Renewal (= Harvard East Asian Monographs. Vol. 209). Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA 2002, ISBN 0-674-00851-0 , Chapter 5.
4. ↑ cf. Lee Butler: Emperor and Aristocracy in Japan, 1467-1680. Resilience and Renewal (= Harvard East Asian Monographs. Vol. 209). Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA 2002, ISBN 0-674-00851-0 , pp. 190 ff .: The abdication crisis.
5. ↑ Konoe Nobutada 1610: Go-Yōzei Tennō jōi shidai.

predecessor	Office	successor
Ōgimachi	Emperor of Japan 1586 - 1611	Go-Mizunoo