was the 41st monarch of Japan,

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'')
持統天皇 (41)
/ref> 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.Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). In the

history of Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new inve ...

, Jitō was the third of eight women to take on the role of empress regnant. The two female monarchs before Jitō were Suiko and Kōgyoku/ Saimei. The five women sovereigns reigning after Jitō were Genmei, Genshō, Kōken/ Shōtoku, Meishō, and Go-Sakuramachi.

Traditional narrative

Poem-by-Empress-Jito-by-Utagawa-Kuniyoshi

Empress Jitō was the daughter of Emperor Tenji. Her mother was Ochi-no-Iratsume, the daughter of Minister Ō-omi Soga no Yamada-no Ishikawa Maro. She was the wife of Tenji's full brother

Emperor Tenmu was the 40th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 天武天皇 (40) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', p. 53. Tenmu's rei ...

, whom she succeeded on the throne.Varley, H. Paul. ''Jinnō Shōtōki,'' p. 137. Empress Jitō's given name was , or alternately Uno.Brown, D. (1979). ''Gukanshō'', p. 270.

Events of Jitō's reign

Jitō took responsibility for court administration after the death of her husband, Emperor Tenmu, who was also her uncle. She acceded to the throne in 687 in order to ensure the eventual succession of her son, Kusakabe-shinnō. Throughout this period, Empress Jitō ruled from the Fujiwara Palace in Yamato. In 689, Jitō prohibited ''

Sugoroku (literally 'double six') refers to two different forms of a Japanese board game: ''ban-sugoroku'' (盤双六, 'board-sugoroku') which is similar to western tables games like Backgammon, and ''e-sugoroku'' (絵双六, 'picture-sugoroku') which i ...

'', in 690 at

enthronement An enthronement is a ceremony of inauguration, involving a person—usually a monarch or religious leader—being formally seated for the first time upon their throne. Enthronements may also feature as part of a larger coronation rite. ...

she performed special

ritual A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized ...

then gave

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

and in 692 she travelled to

Ise Ise may refer to: Places *Ise, Mie, a city in Japan ** Ise Grand Shrine, a Shinto shrine located in Ise, Mie * Ise Ekiti, a city in Nigeria * Ise, Norway, a village in Norway * Ise Province, an ancient province of Japan * River Ise, a tributary of ...

against the counsel of minister Miwa-no-Asono-Takechimaro. Prince Kusakabe was named as crown prince to succeed Jitō, but he died at a young age. Kusakabe's son, Karu-no-o, was then named as Jitō's successor. He eventually would become known as Emperor Monmu. Empress Jitō reigned for eleven years. Although there were seven other reigning empresses, their successors were most often selected from amongst the males of the paternal Imperial bloodline, which is why some conservative scholars argue that the women's reigns were temporary and that male-only succession tradition must be maintained in the 21st century."Life in the Cloudy Imperial Fishbowl"
''Japan Times''. March 27, 2007. Empress Genmei, who was followed on the throne by her daughter, Empress Genshō, remains the sole exception to this conventional argument. In 697, Jitō

abdicated 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 ...

in Monmu's favor; and as a retired sovereign, she took the post-reign title '' daijō-tennō''. After this, her imperial successors who retired took the same title after abdication. Jitō continued to hold power as a

cloistered rule was a form of government in Japan during the Heian period. In this bifurcated system, an emperor abdicated, but retained power and influence. Those retired emperors who withdrew to live in monasteries (''in'') continued to act in ways intended to ...

r, which became a persistent trend in Japanese politics. The actual site of Jitō's

grave A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grav ...

is known. This empress is traditionally venerated at a

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of ...

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 ''Shint ...

shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they ...

(''misasagi'') at Nara. The

designates this location as Jitō's

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be cons ...

. It is formally named ''Ochi-no-Okanoe no misasagi''.

''Kugyō''

''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 Jitō'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: * '' Daijō-daijin'', Takechi-shinnō (the 3rd son of Emperor Tenmu) * ''

Sadaijin The ''Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary'', Kenkyusha Limited, 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 in ...

'' * ''

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 ...

'' * ''

Naidaijin 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 ...

Non''-nengō'' period

Jitō's reign is not linked by scholars to any era or nengō. The Taika era innovation of naming time periods – ''nengō'' – languished until Mommu reasserted an imperial right by proclaiming the commencement of Taihō in 701. * See Japanese era name – ''"Non-nengo periods"'' * See Jitō period (687–697). However, Brown and Ishida's translation of ''Gukanshō'' offers an explanation which muddies a sense of easy clarity: :"The eras that fell in this reign were: (1) the remaining seven years of Shuchō 686+7=692?) and (2) Taika, which was four years long 95–698 (The first year of this era was ''kinoto-hitsuji'' 95) ... In the third year of the Taka era 97 Empress Jitō yielded the throne to the Crown Prince."

Family

Empress Jitō, known as Princess Uno-no-sarara (鸕野讃良皇女) in her early days, was born to Emperor Tenji and his concubine, who held of Beauty ( Hin).She had two full siblings: Princess Ōta and Prince Takeru. Empress Jitō and her younger sister, Princess Ōta, shared the same husband,

, with whom both would have children. *Husband:

(天武天皇, Tenmu tennō, c. 631 – October 1, 686), son of

Emperor Jomei was the 34th emperor of Japan,Kunaichō 斉明天皇 (34)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Jomei's reign spanned the years from 629 through 641. Traditional narrative Before Jomei's ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne ...

and Empress Kōgyoku **Son: Crown Prince Kusakabe (草壁皇子, 662 – May 10, 689)

Poetry

The ''

Man'yōshū The is the oldest extant collection of Japanese (poetry in Classical Japanese), compiled sometime after AD 759 during the Nara period. The anthology is one of the most revered of Japan's poetic compilations. The compiler, or the last in ...

'' includes poems said to have been composed by Jitō. This one was composed after the death of the

:Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai, p.18. This waka is here numbered 42; in the ''Kokka Taikan'' (1901), Book II, numbered 159. One of the poems attributed to Empress Jitō was selected by

Fujiwara no Teika , better-known as Fujiwara no Teika"Sadaie" and "Teika" are both possible readings of ; "...there is the further problem, the rendition of the name in romanized form. Teika probably referred to himself as Sadaie, and his father probably called ...

for inclusion in the very popular anthology '' Hyakunin Isshu'':

Ancestry

Notes

References

* Aston, William George. (1896)
''Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697''.
London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner. * Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979)
''Gukanshō: The Future and the Past''.
Berkeley: University of California Press. ; * MacCauley, Clay. (1900). "''

Hyakunin-Isshu is a classical Japanese anthology of one hundred Japanese ''waka'' by one hundred poets. ''Hyakunin isshu'' can be translated to "one hundred people, one poem ach; it can also refer to the card game of '' uta-garuta'', which uses a deck compo ...

'': Single Songs of a Hundred Poets" in ''Transactions of the Asia Society of Japan''. Tokyo: Asia Society of Japan
...Click link for digitized, full-text copy (in English)
* __________. (1901). ''Kokka taikan''. Tokyo: Teikoku Toshokan, Meiji 30–34 897–1901 eprinted ''Shinten kokka taikan'' (新編国歌大観), 10 vols. + 10 index vols., Kadokawa Shoten, Tokyo, 1983–1992. * Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai. (1940). ''Man'yōshū''. Tokyo: Iwanami shoten. [reprinted by Columbia University Press, New York, 1965. . Rprinted by Dover Publications, New York, 2005. * Richard Ponsonby-Fane, Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1959)
''The Imperial House of Japan''.
Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. * Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''

Nihon Ōdai Ichiran , ', is a 17th-century chronicle of the serial reigns of Japanese emperors with brief notes about some of the noteworthy events or other happenings. According to the 1871 edition of the '' American Cyclopaedia'', the 1834 French translation of ...

''; ou
''Annales des empereurs du Japon''.
Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. * Varley, H. Paul. (1980)
''Jinnō Shōtōki: A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns''.
New York: Columbia University Press. ;

External links

* Asuka Historical National Government Park

, exterior view {{DEFAULTSORT:Jito Women rulers in Japan 645 births 703 deaths 7th-century Japanese women writers 7th-century writers 7th-century monarchs in Asia 7th-century women rulers 8th-century Japanese women 7th-century Japanese monarchs 8th-century Japanese people Japanese empresses regnant Japanese women poets Women of medieval Japan People of Asuka-period Japan Man'yō poets Hyakunin Isshu poets 7th-century Japanese women 7th-century Japanese people Emperor Tenmu Japanese princesses Japanese retired emperors Daughters of emperors