was the 81st

emperor of Japan The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his position is derived from "the ...

, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1180 through 1185. During this time, the

Imperial family A royal family is the immediate family of King, kings/Queen regnant, queens, Emir, emirs/emiras, Sultan, sultans/Sultana (title), sultanas, or raja/rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the ...

was involved in a bitter

struggle Struggle may refer to: Film and TV * ''Struggle'' (2003 film), an Austrian film * Struggle (2013 film) * ''Struggle'' (TV series), 2007 Chinese TV series Music * ''Struggle'' (Nonpoint album), 1999 release * Struggle (Woody Guthrie album), 1 ...

between warring clans.

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1192 until 1199.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako who acted as regent (''shikken'') after his ...

with his cousin

Minamoto no Yoshinaka , , or Lord Kiso was a general from the late Heian period of Japanese history. A member of the Minamoto clan, Minamoto no Yoritomo was his cousin and rival during the Genpei War between the Minamoto and the Taira clans. Yoshinaka was born in Musas ...

, led a force from the

Minamoto clan was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during th ...

against the

Taira The Taira was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian, Kamakura and Muromachi Periods of Japanese history – the others being the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, and the Minamoto. The clan is divided ...

, who controlled the emperor. During the climactic sea Battle of Dan-no-ura in April 1185, Antoku's grandmother

Taira no Tokiko was a Japanese aristocrat from the Heian period. She was the concubine of Taira no Kiyomori, mother of Taira no Tokuko, and grandmother of Emperor Antoku. Later she took the vows to become a nun, after which she was generally referred to by her ...

took him and plunged with him into the water in the Shimonoseki Straits, drowning the child emperor rather than allowing him to be captured by the opposing forces. The conflict between the clans led to numerous legends and tales. The story of Emperor Antoku and his mother's family became the subject of the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

epic poem An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...

The Tale of the Heike is an epic account compiled prior to 1330 of the struggle between the Taira clan and Minamoto clan for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War (1180–1185). Heike () refers to the Taira (), ''hei'' being the ''on'yo ...

'' (Heike is an alternative reading of the

Japanese characters The modern Japanese writing system uses a combination of logographic kanji, which are adopted Chinese characters, and syllabic kana. Kana itself consists of a pair of syllabaries: hiragana, used primarily for native or naturalised Japanese wo ...

for "House of the Taira"). Antoku's tomb is said to be located in a number of places around western Japan, including the island of Iwo Jima, a result of the spreading of legends about the emperor and the battle.

Genealogy

Before his ascension to the

Chrysanthemum Throne The is the throne of the Emperor of Japan. The term also can refer to very specific seating, such as the throne in the Shishin-den at Kyoto Imperial Palace. Various other thrones or seats that are used by the Emperor during official functions ...

, his personal name (his ''imina'') was Tokohito''-shinnō'' (言仁親王). He was also known as Kotohito''-shinnō''. His father was

Emperor Takakura was the 80th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1168 through 1180. Genealogy Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (his ''imina'') was Norihito''-shi ...

, and thus a grandson of

retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

Emperor Go-Shirakawa was the 77th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His de jure reign spanned the years from 1155 through 1158, though arguably he effectively maintained imperial power for almost thirty-seven years through the ''ins ...

. His mother,

Taira no Tokuko The Taira was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian, Kamakura and Muromachi Periods of Japanese history – the others being the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, and the Minamoto. The clan is divided i ...

(平徳子), second daughter of

Taira no Kasemori The Taira was one of the four most important Japanese clans, clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian Period, Heian, Kamakura period, Kamakura and Muromachi period, Muromachi Periods of History of Japan, Japanese history – the ...

(平清盛), was later referred to as Empress Dowager Kenrei (建礼門院, '' Kenrei-mon In'').

Events of Antoku's life

Antoku was named

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wi ...

at around one month of age. He ascended the throne at the age of two. Naturally, he held no actual power, but rather his grandfather Taira no Kiyomori ruled in his name, though not officially, as ''sesshō'' (regent). * 1180 (''

Jishō was a after '' Angen'' and before '' Yōwa''. This period spanned the years from August 1177 through July 1181. The reigning emperors were and . Change of era * 1177 : The new era name was created to mark an event or a number of events. The ...

4, 21st day of the 4th month''): In the 12th year of Takakura''-tennō''s reign (高倉天皇十二年), the emperor was forced to abdicate; and the succession (‘‘senso’’) was received by his infant son, the grandson of Taira Kiyomori. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Antoku is said to have acceded to the throne (‘‘sokui’’). In the year of his enthronement, the capital was moved to modern-day

Kōbe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, which ...

, Hyōgo, but it was soon moved back to Heian-kyō. * 1183 (''

Juei was a after '' Yōwa'' and before '' Genryaku.'' This period spanned the years from May 1182 through March 1184. The reigning emperors were Antoku''-tennō'' (安徳天皇) and . Change of era * 1182 : The new era name was created to mark an ...

2, 20th day of the 8th month''): Go-Toba is proclaimed emperor by the Minamoto; and consequently, there were two proclaimed emperors, one living in Heian-kyō and another in flight towards the south. In 1183, when

entered the capital, the

Taira clan The Taira was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian, Kamakura and Muromachi Periods of Japanese history – the others being the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, and the Minamoto. The clan is divi ...

fled with the young emperor and the

sacred treasures The are the imperial regalia of Japan and consist of the sword , the mirror , and the jewel . They represent the three primary virtues: Courage, valour (the sword), wisdom (the mirror), and Altruism, benevolence (the jewel).Takamatsu 270px, Takamatsu City Hall 270px, Aerial view of Takamatsu city center 270px, View from Yashima to Takashima port is a city located in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 414,134 in 190120 households and a popul ...

Kagawa may refer to: * , the smallest prefecture of Japan by area, located on the island of Shikoku * , a district in Kagawa Prefecture * , a town located in Kagawa District * , train station in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture * Kagawa (surname) Kagawa (w ...

). Being defeated in ensuing battle, they fled westward. * 1185 (''

Genryaku was a after '' Juei'' and before '' Bunji.'' This period spanned the years from April 1184 through August 1185. The reigning emperors were and . Change of era * 1184 : The new era name was created to mark an event or a number of events. The ...

2, 24th day of the 3rd month''): The Taira and the Minamoto clashed in the Battle of Dan-no-ura. The Taira were defeated. Antoku's grandmother,

, Kiyomori's widow, drowned herself along with the young emperor. His mother also drowned herself, but apparently, according to

(''Heike Monogatari''), she was pulled out with a rake by her long hair. According to Yoshitsune's dispatch, the sacred seal was found, but the sacred sword was lost. The sword was one of the three

sacred treasures The are the imperial regalia of Japan and consist of the sword , the mirror , and the jewel . They represent the three primary virtues: Courage, valour (the sword), wisdom (the mirror), and Altruism, benevolence (the jewel).Kugyō'' (公卿) is a collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the

Emperor of Japan The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his position is derived from "the ...

in pre- Meiji eras. 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 Antoku's reign, this apex of the ''

Daijō-kan The , also known as the Great Council of State, was (i) (''Daijō-kan'') the highest organ of Japan's premodern Imperial government under the Ritsuryō legal system during and after the Nara period or (ii) (''Dajō-kan'') the highest organ of J ...

'' included: * '' Sesshō'',

Konoe Motomichi was a ''Kugyō'' (high-ranking Japanese official) from the late Heian period to the early Kamakura period. His father was Motozane, the founder of Konoe family, and his mother was a daughter of Tadataka. Among his sons is Iezane. His wife is t ...

, 1160–1233.Brown, p. 333. * ''

Udaijin was a government position in Japan in the late Nara and Heian periods. The position was consolidated in the Taihō Code of 702. The Asuka Kiyomihara Code of 689 marks the initial appearance of the ''udaijin'' in the context of a central administ ...

'' * ''

Nadaijin The , literally meaning "Inner Minister", was an ancient office in the Japanese Imperial Court. Its role, rank and authority varied throughout the pre- Meiji period of Japanese history, but in general remained as a significant post under the Ta ...

'', Taira Munemori, 1147–1185. * ''

Dainagon was a counselor of the first rank in the Imperial court of Japan. The role dates from the 7th century. This advisory position remained a part of the Imperial court from the 8th century until the Meiji period in the 19th century.Nussbaum, "Dainag ...

Memorial site

After his drowning, in order to mourn the body and placate any restless spirits, the Amidaji Goeidō was built. Later, Antoku was enshrined at the Kurume-Suitengū in

Kurume is a city in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, the city has an estimated population of 303,579 and a population density of 1,320 persons per km². The total area is 229.96 km². On February 5, 2005, the town of Kitano (from ...

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since anc ...

, and he came to be worshipped as Mizu-no-kami (水の神, lit. "water-god" or "god of water"), the god of easy delivery at ''Suitengū'' (水天宮, lit. "water-heaven/emperor-shrine") everywhere. With the establishment of

Shintō Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintoist ...

as the state religion of Japan, the Amidaji Temple was abandoned and the

Akama Shrine is a Shinto shrine in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. It is dedicated to Antoku, a Japanese emperor who died as a child in the Battle of Dan-no-ura (aka Dannoura), which occurred nearby in 1185. This battle was important in the hi ...

was established in

Shimonoseki is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. With a population of 265,684, it is the largest city in Yamaguchi Prefecture and the fifth-largest city in the Chūgoku region. It is located at the southwestern tip of Honshu facing the Tsush ...

Yamaguchi prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 km2 (2,359 sq mi). Yamaguchi Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture t ...

to celebrate Antoku. The Imperial Household Agency designates ''Amida-ji no misasagi'' (阿彌陀寺陵) near

in Shimonoseki as Antoku's tomb.Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan,'' p. 422; n.b., although Ponsonby-Fane indicates that the official shrine was in Kyoto in the 1930s, the credible, but unsourced text at the bottom of this article explains that the current location of the shrine is in Shimonoseki.

Eras of Antoku's reign

The years of Antoku's reign are more specifically identified by more than one

era name A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign, from the Latin ''regnum'' meaning kingdom, rule. Regnal years considered the date as an ordinal, not a cardinal number. For example, a monarch could have a first year of rule, a second year of ...

or ''

nengō The , also known as , is the first of the two elements that identify years in the Japanese era calendar scheme. The second element is a number which indicates the year number within the era (with the first year being ""), followed by the literal ...

''.Titsingh, pp. 200–207; Brown, pp. 333–334. * ''

'' (1177–1181) * ''

Yōwa was a after ''Jishō'' and before ''Juei.'' This period spanned the years from July 1181 through May 1182. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 1181 : The new era name was created to mark an event or a number of events. The previous era ...

'' (1181–1182) * ''

'' (1182–1184) * ''

'' (1184–1185) * '' Bunji'' (1185–1190)

Ancestry

Popular Culture

* In manga and anime Angolmois: Record of Mongol Invasion, he was said to survive, and he's Teruhi's great-grandfather. He met Jinzaburo Kuchii, a formerly samurai under Hojo disgraced in an incident and exiled to

Tsushima Island is an island of the Japanese archipelago situated in-between the Tsushima Strait and Korea Strait, approximately halfway between Kyushu and the Korean Peninsula. The main island of Tsushima, once a single island, was divided into two in 1671 by ...

to help the people there repel a joint Mongol Empire-

Yuan Dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fift ...

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificat ...

armies.

Notes

References

* Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979)
''Gukanshō: The Future and the Past.''
Berkeley: University of California Press.
OCLC 251325323
* Helmolt, Hans Ferdinand and James Bryce Bryce. (1907)
''The World's History: A Survey of Man's Progress.''
Vol. 2. London: William Heineman
OCLC 20279012
* Kitagawa, Hiroshi and Burce T. Tsuchida, ed. (1975). The Tale of the Heike. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.
OCLC 164803926
* Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1959)
''The Imperial House of Japan.''
Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society
OCLC 194887
* Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). '' Nihon Odai Ichiran''; ou
''Annales des empereurs du Japon.''
Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland
OCLC 5850691
* Varley, H. Paul. (1980)
''Jinnō Shōtōki: A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns.''
New York: Columbia University Press.
OCLC 59145842
* According t
Shimonoseki City Information
"In the Middle Age, the last battle between the Genji clan and the Heike clan broke out in Dannoura on 24 March 1185 and Yoshitsune won the battle by using the tides." {{DEFAULTSORT:Antoku 1178 births 1185 deaths 12th-century Japanese monarchs Japanese emperors Deaths by drowning Child rulers from Asia Rulers who died as children People of Heian-period Japan Heian period Buddhist clergy Deified Japanese people Japanese Buddhist monarchs