Kojun

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Empress Kōjun (Nagako) during her coronation ceremony in 1926

Empress Kōjun ( Japanese香 淳 皇后Kōjun-kōgō ); Born as Princess Nagako (良 子女 王Nagako-joō , born March 6, 1903 in Tokyo ; † June 16, 2000 ibid) was Empress of Japan , wife of Tennō (Emperor) Hirohito and mother of Tennō Akihito .

Kōjun was the longest-living wife of an emperor in Japanese history. From January 26, 1924 to December 25, 1926, she was Crown Princess , from December 25, 1926 to January 7, 1989, Empress, and from January 7, 1989, to her death on June 16, 2000, Empress widow.

Early life

Princess Nagako, ca.1912

Princess Nagako was born in Tokyo as the eldest daughter of Prince Kuni Kuniyoshi (1873–1929) and his wife Chikako (1879–1956). Her mother Chikako was the seventh daughter of Prince Shimazu Tadayoshi , the former lord of Satsuma and the 29th and last daimyo of this line. Princess Nagako attended the girls' department of the nobility school in Tokyo, today's Gakushūin, together with her first cousin Masako Nashimoto, who later became known as Crown Princess Bangja of Korea .

marriage and family

circa 1936

Princess Nagako's engagement to her distant cousin, Crown Prince Hirohito , in January 1919 , was unusual in two ways. On the one hand, she was a princess of imperial origin, although for centuries the main wives of the Japanese emperors and crown princes came from the five main branches of the Fujiwara clan (Konoe, Ichijō, Nijō, Takatsukasa, and Kujō). On the other hand, although Nagako's father was a descendant of the imperial family, her mother came from the feudal or military aristocracy of the daimyo.

Princess Nagako married Crown Prince Hirohito on January 26, 1924, and became Empress upon his accession to the throne on December 25, 1926 . The Tennō and his wife had seven children, five daughters and two sons:

  1. Princess Teru (Shigeko) (照 宮 成 子Teru no miya Shigeko , * December 6, 1925 , † July 23, 1961 ), later called Higashikuni Morihiro ;
  2. Princess Hisa (Sachiko) (久 宮 祐 子Hisa no miya Sachiko , born September 10, 1927 , † March 8, 1928 );
  3. Princess Taka (Kazuko) (孝 宮 和 子Taka no miya Kazuko , born September 30, 1929 , † May 26, 1989 ), later called Takatsukasa Toshimichi ;
  4. Princess Yori (Atsuko) (順 宮 厚 子Yori no miya Atsuko , born March 7, 1931 ), now called Ikeda Takamasa ;
  5. Crown Prince Tsugu (Akihito) (継 宮 明仁Tsugu no miya Akihito , born December 23, 1933 ), Tennō Akihito emeritus ;
  6. Prince Yoshi (Masahito) (義 宮 正 仁Yoshi no miya Masahito ), born November 28, 1935 ; since October 1, 1964 called Prince Hitachi (常 陸 宮Hitachi no miya );
  7. Princess Suga (Takako) (清宮 貴子Suga no miya Takako ), born March 2, 1939 , now called Shimazu Hisanaga .

The daughters who reached adulthood left the Japanese Imperial House as a result of American reforms to the Japanese Imperial Household in October 1947 (in the case of Princess Higashikuni) or under the terms of the Imperial Household Act of 1947 as soon as they were married (in Fall of the Princesses Yori, Taka and Suga).

Life as empress

From left: the Empress, First Lady Betty Ford , the Tenno and US President Gerald Ford on the Tenno’s first state visit to the United States in 1975

Even if she fulfilled her ceremonial obligations as empress according to tradition, the empress was the first wife of a Tennō to travel abroad. She accompanied the Showa-tennō on his trip to Europe in 1971 and later on his state visit to the United States . She became known as the "smiling empress".

After the death of Emperor Hirohito in 1989, she received the title of Empress Dowager ( kōtaigō ). By that time, her health had deteriorated and she could not attend Hirohito's funeral. Her last public appearance was in 1988 and she spent the rest of her life in seclusion. In 1996, official photos of the empress widow were published at the public request. At the time of her death at the age of 97 in 2000, she had been Empress for 74 years. Akihito gave his mother the title of Empress Kōjun after her death .

Her remains rest in a mausoleum in the Musashi Imperial Cemetery .

Web links

Commons : Kōjun  - album with pictures, videos and audio files