Go-Toba

Go-Toba, illustration from a Hyakunin Isshu edition (Edo period)

Gravesite of Go-Toba and his son Juntoku in Kyoto

Go-Toba ( Japanese 後 鳥羽 天皇 Go-Toba-tennō ; * August 6, 1180 ; † March 28, 1239 ) was the 82nd Tennō of Japan (August 20, 1183 - January 11, 1198). His proper name was Takahira ( 尊 成 ). He was the fourth son of Takakura -tennō. He was also known as a poet. He ordered the publication of the anthology of poems Shinkokin-wakashū .

At the age of three, Go-Toba was chosen by his grandfather, Tennō Go-Shirakawa , to succeed his brother Antoku after he fled from Kyoto with his mother's clan . Go-Shirakawa died in 1192. Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147-1199), one of the sons of the head of the Minamoto , received the hereditary title of Seii Taishogun ( Shogun ) from Go-Toba in the same year . This marked the beginning of the decline in the influence of the imperial court on political events and the simultaneous rise of the samurai's power .

Yoritomo did not destroy the existing system, but overlaid it with military elements. The administration ran through his headquarters in Kamakura, and power now rests solely with the warrior families, the bushi . In 1198, Go-Toba, just 18 years old, abdicated in favor of his son Tsuchimikado . Go-Toba retained some influence at the imperial court, but was in constant competition with the shogunate. In 1221 he tried to regain power with his sons through a violent uprising. In the subsequent Jōkyū war, however, the imperial faction was defeated, and Go-Toba and his sons were banished from Kyōto.

Go-Toba was a great admirer of swords. He gathered the best swordsmiths in the country at his court and learned their art himself. He became a respected swordsmith himself and it was his support for this art that established Japan's "Golden Age of Swordsmithing". His contribution is so highly valued that he is honored as the first swordsmith in literature to this day. A katana ascribed to him , with a chrysanthemum pattern as a sign of imperial origin, is now owned by the Tokugawa family .

Go-Toba died in exile on the Oki Islands .

Web links

• Family table of Japanese emperors (The Imperial Household Agency )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} 後 鳥羽 天皇 . In: ブ リ タ ニ カ 国際 大 百科 事 典 小 項目 事 典 et alii at kotobank.jp. Retrieved March 18, 2015 (Japanese). 
2. ↑ Mizugaki Hisashi: 後 鳥羽 院 . March 21, 2002, Retrieved March 18, 2015 (Japanese). 

predecessor	Office	successor
Antoku	Emperor of Japan 1183–1198	Tsuchimikado