Emperor Go-Komatsu

Go-Komatsu
Emperor of Japan
Northern Pretender

Go-Komatsu
Reign 21 October 1392 – 5 October 1412
24 May 1382 – 21 October 1392 (Nanboku-chō)
Predecessor

Go-En'yū (Nanboku-chō)

Go-Kameyama
Successor Shōkō
Born (1377-08-01)1 August 1377
Died 1 December 1433(1433-12-01) (aged 56)
Fukakusa no kita no Misasagi (Kyoto)
Spouse Hinonishi Sukeko
House Imperial House of Japan
Father Go-En'yū
Mother Sanjō Itsuko

Emperor Go-Komatsu (後小松天皇 Go-Komatsu-tennō) (August 1, 1377 – December 1, 1433) was the 100th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.[1] He is officially considered to have been a pretender from May 24, 1382 to October 21, 1392, when Emperor Go-Kameyama abdicated. He is understood to have been a legitimate emperor (the 100th sovereign) from that date until October 5, 1412. According to pre-Meiji scholars, his reign spanned the years from 1392 through 1412.[2]

This Nanboku-chō "sovereign" was named after the 9th-century Emperor Kōkō, and go- (後), translates literally as "later." Jien's Gukanshō explains that Kōkō was called "the Emperor of Komatsu".[3] The 14th-century pretender and emperor may be called the "later Emperor Kōkō" or the "later Emperor Komatsu". The Japanese word go has also been translated to mean the "second one;" and in some older sources, this would-be emperor may be identified as "Komatsu, the second", or as "Komatsu II."

Genealogy

Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (his imina) was Motohito-shinnō (幹仁親王).[4]

Go-Komatsu was the first son of the Northern Pretender Emperor Go-En'yū. His mother was Tsūyōmonin no Itsuko (通陽門院厳子), daughter of the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal Sanjō Kimitada (三条公忠).

He was named after Emperor Kōkō, who had the alternate name Komatsu, because they both returned the throne to their families, in the case of Emperor Go-Komatsu, by defeating his Southern Court rivals, and in the case of Emperor Kōkō, by succeeding his elder brother's grandson, Emperor Yōzei.

Events of Go-Komatsu's life

In his own lifetime, Go-Komatsu and those around him believed that he occupied the Chrysanthemum Throne from May 24, 1382 through 1412.

He was raised in the turbulent Nanboku-chō period of rival northern and southern courts in the mansion of Hino Sukenori (日野西資教). He succeeded as Northern Emperor upon the abdication of his father, the Northern Pretender Emperor Go-En'yū. With the help of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, his father ruled as Cloistered Emperor. In 1392, following the post-Nanboku-chō unification of the two formerly contending courts, the Southern Emperor Emperor Go-Kameyama turned over the three sacred treasures, which officially signaled the end of the southern court's claims to sovereignty. Thus, Emperor Go-Komatsu became the acknowledged, undisputed and legitimate emperor of Japan on October 21, 1392.

In the peace at that time, it was agreed that the northern and southern courts would alternate. However, in 1412, when Emperor Go-Komatsu abdicated, the agreement was thrown away, and, instead, he was succeeded by his son, Emperor Shōkō, and all subsequent Emperors were descended from the Northern Court. Until 1911, the Northern Court Emperors were considered the legitimate ones, and the Southern Court to be illegitimate. However, now the Southern Court is considered to have been legitimate, primarily because they retained the three sacred treasures, and thus, Emperor Go-Komatsu is not considered to have been legitimate for the first 10 years of his reign.

He is enshrined with other emperors at the imperial tomb called Fukakusa no kita no misasagi (深草北陵) in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto.[6]

Kugyō

Kugyō (公卿) is a collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor 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-Komatsu's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:

Eras of Go-Komatsu's reign

The years of Go-Komatsu's Nanboku-chō and post-Nanboku-chō reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō.

Nanboku-chō northern court
Nanboku-chō southern court
Post-Nanboku-chō court

Southern Court rivals

See also

Notes

Japanese Imperial kamon — a stylized chrysanthemum blossom
  1. ↑ Imperial Household Agency (Kunaichō): 後小松天皇 (100); retrieved 2013-8-28.
  2. ↑ Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, pp. 317–327.
  3. ↑ Brown, Delmer M. (1979). Gukanshō, p. 289; excerpt, "Koko's personal name was Tokiayasu, and he was called the 'Emperor of Komatsu'. He received the throne on the 4th day of the 1st month of 884 ...."
  4. 1 2 Titsingh, p. 317.
  5. ↑ Sansom, George (1961). A History of Japan, 1334-1615. Stanford University Press. p. 117-118. ISBN 0804705259.
  6. ↑ Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan, p. 423.

References

Regnal titles
Preceded by
Emperor Go-En'yū		 Northern Pretender
1382–1392 		Succeeded by
–
Preceded by
Emperor Go-Kameyama		 Emperor of Japan:
Go-Komatsu
1392–1412 		Succeeded by
Emperor Shōkō
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