Princess Inoe or ''Inoue'' (717–775) was the Empress consort of

Emperor Kōnin was the 49th emperor of Japan, Emperor Kōnin, Tahara no Higashi Imperial Mausoleum, Imperial Household Agency according to the traditional order of succession. Kōnin's reign lasted from 770 to 781. Traditional narrative The personal name of ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. She was deposed in 772, accused of witchcraft.

Life

Inoue was the daughter of

Emperor Shōmu was the 45th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 聖武天皇 (45)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Shōmu's reign spanned the years 724 through 749, during the Nara period. Traditional narrative Be ...

, who reigned from March 3, 724 until August 19, 749.

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'')
聖武天皇 (45)
/ref> Her mother was Agatainukai no Hirotoji (県犬養広刀自), daughter of Agatainukai no Morokoshi. She was the sister of Prince Asaka (d. 744) and Princess Fuwa, and the half sister of

Empress Kōken , also known as , was the 46th (with the name Empress Kōken) and the 48th monarch of Japan (with the name Empress Shōtoku), Emperor Kōnin, Takano Imperial Mausoleum, Imperial Household Agency according to the traditional order of succession. ...

. Princess Inoue married her relative, the future Emperor Kōnin, thereby uniting the ''Tenmu'' and ''Tenji'' line of the Imperial House. During the last reign of her half sister Empress Kōken (764-770), Inoue and her sister Fuwa where both involved in political plots with ambition to the succession of the throne: Fuwa wished to place her husband and sons on the throne, while Inoue wished to have her son Osabe appointed Crown Prince. In 770, Inoue's spouse succeeded her half sister to the throne due to a fabricated will, after which Inoue was named Empress and her son named Crown Prince. In 772, Empress Inoue was suddenly deposed and arrested and accused for having used curses and black magic to promote her son to the throne, and shortly afterward, her son Prince Osabe was also arrested for complicity. Both Inoue and Osabe was stripped of their titles, banished and imprisoned in housearrest, for having performed curses and practising black magic. In 775, Inoue and her son both died in custody on the same day, presumably poisoned. When the Emperor fell ill in 777, Inoue was believed to haunt him, and consequently, she was reinterred in an Imperial grave and rehabilitated; in 800, she was given back her title of Empress posthumously. ;Issue: *Imperial Prince Osabe (d. 775), the Crown Prince *

Princess Sakahito was a Japanese princess, born a daughter of Emperor Kōnin. Her mother was reported to be Princess Inoue—a daughter of Emperor Shōmu, but there is another theory that her mother was Takano no Niigasa. After his father was enthroned as the emp ...

Goethem, Ellen Van (2008)
''Nagaoka: Japan's forgotten capital''

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via

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After the deaths of her mother and Osabe in 775, Sakahito married her elder half-brother Yamabe, later Kanmu, . After the deaths of her mother and Osabe in 775, Sakahito married her elder half-brother Yamabe, later Kanmu.

Legacy

Around 800, during the reign of Kammu, former Prince Yamabe, a shrine was built for her in Yamashiro Province (now

Gojō, Nara is a city located in Nara Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on October 15, 1957. As of September 30, 2014, the city has an estimated population of 33,283, with 13,742 households. It has a population density of 121.17 persons per km². The ...

), named Goryō Jinja. Princess Inoe is also venerated at its subsideries.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Inoe, Princess Japanese empresses 717 births 775 deaths Japanese princesses 8th-century Japanese women Saigū Deified Japanese people Daughters of emperors