Emperor Shirakawa (白河天皇) was the 72nd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Shirakawa's reign lasted from 1073 to 1087.

Genealogy

Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (imina) was Sadahito-shinnō (貞仁親王). He was the eldest son of Emperor Go-Sanjō and Fujiwara Shigeko (藤原茂子). Shirakawa had one Empress and one Imperial Consort and nine Imperial sons and daughters.

Events of Shirakawa's life

He was the first emperor to ostensibly retire to a monastery, but in fact continue to exert considerable influence over his successor. This process would become known as cloistered rule. When he was very young, his relations with his father were very cold but loving and in 1068, when his father was enthroned, he was proclaimed a shinnō (Imperial Prince), becoming Imperial Prince Sadahito. In 1069, he became Crown Prince and in due course, he became emperor at the age of 19. A kampaku was put in place, but Shirakawa attempted to rule directly, like his father. He attempted to regulate the shōen (manor) system, working to weaken the influence of the sekkan lines. Go-Sanjō had wished for Shirakawa's younger half-brother to succeed him to the throne. In 1085, this half-brother died of an illness; and Shirakawa's own son, Taruhito-shinnō (善仁親王) became Crown Prince. On the same day that Taruhito was proclaimed as his heir, Shirakawa abdicated;, and Taruhito became Emperor Horikawa. The now-retired Emperor Shirakawa was the first to attempt what became customary cloistered rule. He exercised power, ruling indirectly from the Shirakawa-in (lit. "White River Mansion/Temple"); nevertheless, nominal sesshō and kampaku offices continued to exist for a long time. In 1096, on the occasion of his daughter's death, Shirakawa entered a monastery under the name of Yūkan (融観); and thus, he became a hō-ō (法皇), which is the title accorded to a former emperor who has become a monk. After the death of Emperor Horikawa, Shirakawa's grandson became Emperor Toba. Shirakawa was still alive when Toba abdicated in turn to his son, who became Emperor Sutoku. By the time of his death in 1129, he had ruled as cloistered Emperor for 41 years and through the reigns of three emperors who were effectively little more than figureheads. This emperor's posthumous name comes from Shirakawa-in (白河院), the name of the residence from which he conducted his cloistered rule after abdicating the throne. Another name was Rokujō no Mikado (六条帝, Mikado being an old name for the Emperor of Japan).

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 Shirakawa's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:

Eras of Shirakawa's reign

The years of Shirakawa's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō.

Ancestry