Parents: Go-Mizunoo, emperor of Japan, and Tokugawa Masako
Date of Birth: 9 January 1624
House: Japan
Predecessor: Go-Mizunoo
Reign: 1629 – 1643
Brief: The succession of women to the throne of Japan was not unknown, but it was also extremely uncommon. In most cases, the women were single with no children of their own, begging the question: why did they succeed. Such was the case with Meisho, the first empress regnant in nearly a thousand years. She was raised with her family rather than with the females in the Imperial palace at Heian. Her father abdicated in 1629, leaving the five-year-old empress under the control of the Tokugawa shogunate and Shogun Iemitsu. In 1634, her retired father, Go-Mizunoo, claimed the regency for his daughter and never seemed to relinquish his control until her own abdication in 1643. Her reign was dominated by revolts and crises in Japan. In 1637, Christians revolted in numerous provinces. The next year the revolt was crushed, with up to 37,000 Christians killed. Iemitsu decreed that Christians were thereafter banned from Japan. In 1640, a delegation of Spaniards arrived in Nagasaki and were decapitated a month later. By 1643, possibly resigned to non-governance by the interferences of her father, Meisho abdicated the throne in favor of her eleven-year-old half-brother, Go-Komyo. She outlived her two successors and died in the reign of Emperor Higashiyama in 1696.
Date of Death: 4 December 1696
Brief: The succession of women to the throne of Japan was not unknown, but it was also extremely uncommon. In most cases, the women were single with no children of their own, begging the question: why did they succeed. Such was the case with Meisho, the first empress regnant in nearly a thousand years. She was raised with her family rather than with the females in the Imperial palace at Heian. Her father abdicated in 1629, leaving the five-year-old empress under the control of the Tokugawa shogunate and Shogun Iemitsu. In 1634, her retired father, Go-Mizunoo, claimed the regency for his daughter and never seemed to relinquish his control until her own abdication in 1643. Her reign was dominated by revolts and crises in Japan. In 1637, Christians revolted in numerous provinces. The next year the revolt was crushed, with up to 37,000 Christians killed. Iemitsu decreed that Christians were thereafter banned from Japan. In 1640, a delegation of Spaniards arrived in Nagasaki and were decapitated a month later. By 1643, possibly resigned to non-governance by the interferences of her father, Meisho abdicated the throne in favor of her eleven-year-old half-brother, Go-Komyo. She outlived her two successors and died in the reign of Emperor Higashiyama in 1696.
Date of Death: 4 December 1696
Successor: Komyo
Other Monarchs Who Died Today:
Other Monarchs Who Died Today:
- Jafar Sadiq, imam of Shi'a Islam (765)
- Carloman I, king of the Franks (771)
- Anno II, archbishop of Cologne (1075)
- William I, king of Scots (1214)
- Theobald II, king of Navarre (1270)
- John XXII, pope of Rome (1334)
- Adolf VIII, duke of Jutland (1459)
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