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(554 – 15 April 628) was the 33rd 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 wa ...
(''Kunaichō'')
推古天皇 (33)
/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Suiko reigned from 593 until her death in 628. In the history of Japan, Suiko was the first of eight women to take on the role of empress regnant. The seven female sovereigns reigning after Suiko were Kōgyoku/Saimei,
Jitō were medieval territory stewards in Japan, especially in the Kamakura and Muromachi shogunates. Appointed by the ''shōgun'', ''jitō'' managed manors including national holdings governed by the provincial governor ( kokushi). There were also d ...
, Genmei, Genshō, Kōken/Shōtoku, Meishō and
Go-Sakuramachi was the 117th monarch of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 後桜町天皇 (120)/ref>Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', p. 120. She was named after he ...
.


Traditional narrative

Before her ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, her personal name (her ''imina'') was Mikekashiya-hime-no-mikoto, also called Toyomike Kashikiya hime no Mikoto. Empress Suiko had several names including Princess Nukatabe and (possibly posthumous) Toyomike Kashikiya. She was a daughter of Emperor Sushun. Her mother was Soga no Iname's daughter,
Soga no Kitashihime was a Japanese noblewoman and high lady, a daughter of Soga no Iname, a high-ranking official. She was a consort of Emperor Kinmei of Japan. Among her offspring were Emperor Yōmei, Empress Suiko and Princess Ōtomo. Issue Soga no Kitashihime ...
. Suiko was the younger sister of Emperor Yōmei.


Life

Empress Suiko was a consort to her half-brother, Emperor Bidatsu, but after Bidatsu's first wife died she became his official consort and was given the title Ōkisaki (official consort of the emperor). She bore eight children. After Bidatsu's death, Suiko's brother,
Emperor Yōmei was the 31st Emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 用明天皇 (31)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Yōmei's reign spanned the years from 585 until his death in 587. Traditional narrative He was call ...
, came to power for about two years before dying of illness. Upon Yōmei's death, another power struggle arose between the Soga clan and the
Mononobe clan The was a Japanese aristocratic kin group (''uji'') of the Kofun period, known for its military opposition to the Soga clan. The Mononobe were opposed to the spread of Buddhism, partly on religious grounds, claiming that the local deities wo ...
, with the Sogas supporting Prince Hatsusebe and the Mononobes supporting
Prince Anahobe A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
. The Sogas prevailed once again and Prince Hatsusebe acceded to the throne as Emperor Sushun in 587. However, Sushun began to resent the power of
Soga no Umako was the son of Soga no Iname and a member of the powerful Soga clan of Japan. Umako conducted political reforms with Prince Shōtoku during the rules of Emperor Bidatsu and Empress Suiko and established the Soga clan's stronghold in the g ...
, the head of the Soga clan, and Umako, perhaps out of fear that Sushun might strike first, had him assassinated by in 592. When asked to accede to the throne to fill the power vacuum that subsequently developed, Suiko became the first of what would be several examples in Japanese history where a woman was chosen to accede to the throne to avert a power struggle. * 593 : In the 2nd year of Sushun''-tennō''s reign (崇峻天皇二年), he died; and contemporary scholars then construed that the succession (''senso'') was received by the consort of former Emperor Bidatsu. Shortly thereafter, Empress Suiko is said to have ascended to the throne (''sokui''). Suiko's contemporary title would not have been ''tennō'', as most historians believe this title was not introduced until the reigns of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō. Rather, it was presumably ''Sumeramikoto'' or ''Amenoshita Shiroshimesu Ōkimi'' (治天下大王), meaning "the great Queen who rules all under heaven". Alternatively, Suiko might have been referred to as (ヤマト大王/大君) or the "Great Queen of Yamato". Prince Shōtoku was appointed regent the following year. Although political power during Suiko's reign is widely viewed as having been wielded by Prince Shōtoku and Soga no Umako, Suiko was far from powerless. The mere fact that she survived and her reign endured suggests she had significant political skills. In 599, an earthquake destroyed buildings throughout
Yamato Province was a province of Japan, located in Kinai, corresponding to present-day Nara Prefecture in Honshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2005). "Yamato" in . It was also called . Yamato consists of two characters, 大 "great", and 和 " Wa". At first, the ...
in what is now
Nara Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the northwest, Wakayama ...
. Suiko's refusal to grant Soga no Umako's request that he be granted the imperial territory known as Kazuraki no Agata in 624 is cited as evidence of her independence from his influence. Some of the many achievements under Empress Suiko's reign include the official recognition of Buddhism by the issuance of the Flourishing Three Treasures Edict in 594. Suiko was also one of the first
Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
monarchs in Japan and had taken the vows of a nun shortly before becoming empress. The reign of this empress was marked by the opening of relations with the Sui court in 600, the adoption of the Twelve Level Cap and Rank System in 603 and the adoption of the
Seventeen-article constitution The is, according to the '' Nihon Shoki'' of 720, a document authored by Prince Shōtoku in 604. It was adopted in the reign of Empress Suiko. The emphasis of the document is not so much on the basic laws by which the state was to be governed, suc ...
in 604. The adoption of the Sexagenary cycle calendar (''Jikkan Jūnishi'') in Japan is attributed to Empress Suiko in 604. At a time when imperial succession was generally determined by clan leaders, rather than the emperor, Suiko left only vague indications of succession to two candidates while on her deathbed. One, Prince Tamura, was a grandson of Emperor Bidatsu and was supported by the main line of Sogas, including Soga no Emishi. The other, Prince Yamashiro, was a son of Prince Shōtoku and had the support of some lesser members of the Soga clan. After a brief struggle within the Soga clan in which one of Prince Yamashiro's main supporters was killed, Prince Tamura was chosen and he acceded to the throne as Emperor Jomei in 629. Empress Suiko ruled for 35 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. Empress Genmei, who was followed on the throne by her daughter, Empress Genshō, remains the sole exception to this conventional argument. The actual site of Suiko'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 gravey ...
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, Tragedy (event), tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objec ...
Shinto shrine (''misasagi'') at Osaka. The
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 wa ...
designates this location as Suiko'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 consi ...
. It's formally named ''Shinaga no Yamada no misasagi''.Ponsonby-Fane, p. 420.


Spouse and children

Empress Suiko, born as Princess Nukatabe (額田部皇女), was the daughter of
Emperor Kinmei was the 29th Emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 欽明天皇 (29) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Titsingh, Isaac. (1834)pp. 34–36 Brown, Delmer. (1979) ''Gukanshō,'' pp. 261– ...
and his consort ( Hi),
Soga no Kitashihime was a Japanese noblewoman and high lady, a daughter of Soga no Iname, a high-ranking official. She was a consort of Emperor Kinmei of Japan. Among her offspring were Emperor Yōmei, Empress Suiko and Princess Ōtomo. Issue Soga no Kitashihime ...
.Princess Nukatabe had five full sisters and seven full brothers among which the eldest would become
Emperor Yomei An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...
. She married her eldest half-brother, Prince Nunakura Futotama-Shiki, born by her father's legal wife and empress consort. The couple had eight children but none would ascend the throne * Husband: Prince Nunakakura no Futo Tamashiki no Sumeramikoto (渟中倉太珠敷) later Emperor Bidatsu,
Emperor Kinmei was the 29th Emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 欽明天皇 (29) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Titsingh, Isaac. (1834)pp. 34–36 Brown, Delmer. (1979) ''Gukanshō,'' pp. 261– ...
's ** First Daughter: Princess Uji no Shitsukahi/Uji no Kahitako (菟道貝蛸皇女, b.570), married to Crown Prince Shotoku ** First Son: Prince Takeda (竹田皇子) ** Second Daughter: Princess Woharida (小墾田皇, b.572), married to Prince Oshisako-no-Hikohito-no-Oe ** Third Daughter: Princess Umori/Karu no Mori (鸕鶿守皇女) ** Second Son: Prince Wohari (葛城王) ** Third Son: Prince Owari (尾張皇子), Father of Tachibana-no-Oiratsume ( Crown Prince Shotoku's consort) ** Fourth Daughter: Princess Tame (田眼皇女), married to Emperor Jomei ** Fifth Daughter: Princess Sakurawi no Yumihari (桜井弓張皇女), married to Prince Oshisako-no-Hikohito-no-Oe, later married to Prince Kume (
Emperor Yomei An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...
's son)


Ancestry


See also

* Empress Jingū, semi-legendary, rule preceded Empress Suiko *
Japanese empresses The Empress of Japan is the title given to the wife of the Emperor of Japan or a female ruler in her own right. In Japanese, the empress consort is called . The current empress consort is Empress Masako, who ascended the throne with her husband ...
*
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 wi ...
* List of Emperors of Japan *
Imperial cult An imperial cult is a form of state religion in which an emperor or a dynasty of emperors (or rulers of another title) are worshipped as demigods or deities. "Cult" here is used to mean "worship", not in the modern pejorative sense. The cult may ...
*
Suiko period The Suiko period is a chronological timeframe during the Asuka period of Japanese history.National Diet Library (NDL)"Calendar history/The Source" NengoCalc online conversion of Japanese dates into their Western equivalents based on tables from Pa ...


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. ; * Hammer, Joshua. (2006)
''Yokohama Burning: The Deadly 1923 Earthquake and Fire that Helped Forge the Path to World War II.''
New York:
Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...
. * Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005)
''Japan encyclopedia.''
Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ; * Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1959)
''The Imperial House of Japan.''
Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. * Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). '' Nihon Ōdai Ichiran''; ou
''Annales des empereurs du Japon.''
Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. * Varley, H. Paul. (1980). ''A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa.'' New York: Columbia University Press. ; {{DEFAULTSORT:Suiko Women rulers in Japan Japanese monarchs 554 births 628 deaths Japanese empresses regnant People of Asuka-period Japan Asuka period Buddhist nuns 6th-century monarchs in Asia 7th-century monarchs in Asia 6th-century women rulers 7th-century women rulers 6th-century Japanese monarchs 7th-century Japanese monarchs 7th-century Japanese women 6th-century Japanese women Japanese Buddhist nuns 6th-century Buddhist nuns 7th-century Buddhist nuns Japanese Buddhist monarchs Japanese princesses Daughters of emperors