was the 115th

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 An order of succession or right of succession is the line of individuals necessitated to hold a high office when it becomes vacated such as head of state or an honour such as a title of nobility.

Imperial Household Agency The (IHA) is an agency of the government of Japan in charge of state matters concerning the Imperial Family, and also the keeping of the Privy Seal and State Seal of Japan. From around the 8th century AD, up until the Second World War, it ...

(''Kunaichō'')
桜町天皇 (115)
/ref>Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', p. 119. Sakuramachi's birth name was Teruhito before he became enthroned as Emperor in 1735, a reign that would last until 1747 with his

retirement 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 ...

. As with previous Emperors during the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional ''daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

, the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in ...

had control over Japan. The Emperor's role was a religious figure who performed limited duties. This changed when Sakuramachi was granted permission from the ''

Shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

'' to restore some Imperial rites. Ceremonies such as the Harvest Festival that had previously been absent for over 250 years were now allowed. Sakuramachi had one wife and a

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

with whom he fathered 4 children. His first son would go on to become Emperor Momozono, while his second daughter would later be Empress Go-Sakuramachi. Sakuramachi died on 28 May 1750, which was almost three years after his

abdication Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...

Events of Sakuramachi's life

Early life

Before Sakuramachi's ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name ('' imina'') was . Teruhito was born on 8 February 1720 and was the firstborn son of Emperor Nakamikado, he was also said to be the

reincarnation Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. Resurrection is ...

of Prince Shōtoku. Teruhito's Imperial family lived with him in the Dairi of the Heian Palace. Events during Teruhito's early life included

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

becoming the world's largest city in 1721, with a population of 1.1 million people. On 17 July 1728, Teruhito 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 wife ...

and held the pre-accession title of ''Waka-no-miya'' (若宮). The only other major event to occur afterwards was a disaster in 1732–33 called the '' Kyōhō famine''. This event was caused by swarms of locusts that devastated crops in agricultural communities around the inland sea.

Reign

Prince Teruhito acceded to the throne on 13 April 1735 as Emperor when his father abdicated in his favor, the era's name was changed from ''

Kyōhō , also pronounced Kyōho, was a after '' Shōtoku'' and before '' Gembun.'' This period spanned the years from July 1716 through April 1736. The reigning emperors were and . Change of era * 1716 : The era name of ''Kyōhō'' (meaning "Underg ...

'' to '' Genbun'' to mark this event.Meyer, p. 47. While he held the political title of ''Emperor'', it was in name only as the

shogun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakura ...

s of the Tokugawa family controlled Japan. With the support of Tokugawa Yoshimune though, Sakuramachi worked for the restoration of some Imperial rites. Two of the first reinstated ceremonies were brought back in the form of rice offerings. is a rice-offering by a newly enthroned Emperor, while is a rice-offering by the Emperor. In 1738, the Emperor performed

Esoteric Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas a ...

Shinto 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 ...

rituals known as . A major event occurred on 11 January 1741 where a ceremony was performed to mark '' Niiname-no-Matsuri'' (Harvest Festival). This specific ceremony had otherwise been held in abeyance for the previous 280 years. The ''Toyonoakari-no-sechiye'' ceremonies were also performed the following day. The era's name was changed to '' Kanpō'' in February 1741 due to the belief in Chinese astrology that the 58th year of the sexagenary cycle brings changes. The provinces of Musashi, Kōzuke, Shimotsuke, and Shinano all had noteworthy devastation from a major flood that occurred in 1742. In

Heian-kyō Heian-kyō was one of several former names for the city now known as Kyoto. It was the official capital of Japan for over one thousand years, from 794 to 1868 with an interruption in 1180. Emperor Kanmu established it as the capital in 794, m ...

, the Sanjo Bridge was also washed away in this destructive storm cycle.Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1956). ''Kyoto: the Old Capital of Japan, 794–1869'', p. 321. During the close of the Kanpō era, a comet was seen and recorded in the '' Nihon Ōdai Ichiran'', a consensus by later researches state that the comet was likely C/1743 X1 (De Cheseaux). The fourth and final era during Sakuramachi's reign began in 1744, and was called '' Enkyō'' (meaning "Becoming Prolonged"). This new era was created to mark the start of a new 60-year cycle of the

Chinese zodiac The Chinese zodiac is a traditional classification scheme based on the lunar calendar that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating twelve-year cycle. Originating from China, the zodiac and its variations remai ...

. The last two major events during Sakuramachi's reign occurred in 1745, when

Tokugawa Ieshige Tokugawa Ieshige; 徳川家重 (January 28, 1712 – July 13, 1761) was the ninth '' shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. The first son of Tokugawa Yoshimune, his mother was the daughter of Ōkubo Tadanao, known as Osuma no kata ...

became the new shogun. The first establishment of a market fair in the capital was to be found at Hirano Shrine in

Ōmi Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō circuit. Its nickname is . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, Ōmi was ranked as one of the 13 "great countri ...

, while in

a great fire swept through the city.

Daijō Tennō

Emperor Sakuramachi abdicated on 9 June 1747 in favor of his son Prince Toohito, who became Emperor Momozono. Sakuramachi took on the title of Daijō Tennō (Retired Emperor), and the era's name was changed to '' Kan'en'' (meaning "Prolonging Lenience") to mark the occasion. Events that took place during his time as a Jōkō include a powerful storm that struck Kyoto on 7 October 1749. The damage done included the burning of the

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in ...

of Nijō Castle after it was struck by lightning. Sakuramachi died on 28 May 1750 which was almost three years after his abdication. Sakuramachi's ''

kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the ...

'' is enshrined in an Imperial mausoleum (''misasagi''), '' Tsuki no wa no misasagi,'' at Sennyū-ji in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto. Sakuramachi's immediate Imperial predecessors since Emperor Go-Mizunoo – Meishō, Go-Kōmyō, Go-Sai, Reigen, Higashiyama and Nakamikado, are also enshrined along with his immediate Imperial successors, including Momozono, Go-Sakuramachi and Go-Momozono.

Other events

While the Emperor had no say, a major milestone occurred in Japanese monetary history when the shogunate published an edict in 1736 regarding coinage. This edict declared that henceforth, authorized coinage in the empire would be those copper coins which were marked on the obverse with the character 文 ('' Genbun'', also pronounced ''bun'' in Japanese).Titsingh
p. 418.
/ref> The practice of placing the name of the era on coinage continues to present day with .

Eras and Kugyō

The years of Sakuramachi's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name or '' nengō''.Titsingh
p. 417.
/ref> While ''Kugyō'' (公卿) is a collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the

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. The following eras occurred during Sakuramachi's reign: * ''

'' (1716–1736) * '' Gembun'' (1736–1741) * '' Kanpō'' (1741–1744) * '' Enkyō'' (1744–1748) During Sakuramachi'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 Jap ...

included: * '' Sadaijin'' * '' Udaijin'' * '' Naidaijin'' * '' Dainagon''

Genealogy

Emperor Sakuramachi's family included at least 3 children who were born to 2 consorts:

Spouse

Concubine

Issue

Emperor Sakuramachi fathered a total of 3 children with a wife and a concubine.

Ancestry

Notes

References

* Meyer, Eva-Maria. (1999)
''Japans Kaiserhof in der Edo-Zeit: unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Jahre 1846 bis 1867''.
Münster: LIT Verlag.
OCLC 42041594
* Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1956). ''Kyoto: The Old Capital of Japan, 794–1869''. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. * __________. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan''. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society
OCLC 194887
* Screech, Timon. (2006)
''Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns: Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779–1822''.
London: RoutledgeCurzon.
OCLC 65177072
* Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). '' Nihon Ōdai Ichiran''; ou
''Annales des empereurs du Japon''.
Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland
OCLC 5850691