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was a form of government in
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 n ...
during the
Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japan ...
. In this bifurcated system, an
emperor 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 ( ...
abdicated, but retained power and influence. Those retired emperors who withdrew to live in monasteries (''in'') continued to act in ways intended to counterbalance the influence of
Fujiwara Fujiwara (, written: 藤原 lit. "''Wisteria'' field") is a Japanese surname. (In English conversation it is likely to be rendered as .) Notable people with the surname include: ; Families * The Fujiwara clan and its members ** Fujiwara no Kamatari ...
regents and the warrior class.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Insei''" in Simultaneously, the titular emperor, the former emperor's chosen successor, fulfilled all the ceremonial roles and formal duties of the monarchy. Retired emperors were called ''
Daijō Tennō is a title for an Emperor of Japan who abdicates the Chrysanthemum Throne in favour of a successor. As defined in the Taihō Code, although retired, a ''Daijō Tennō'' could still exert power. The first such example is the Empress Jitō in ...
'' or ''Jōkō''. A retired emperor who entered a Buddhist monastic community became a
Cloistered Emperor A is the term for a Japanese emperor who had abdicated and entered the Buddhist monastic community by receiving the '' Pravrajya'' rite. The term can also be shortened to . Cloistered emperors sometimes acted as ''Daijō Tennō'' (retired emperor ...
(''Japanese'' 太上法皇 Daijō Hōō). There were retired emperors, including cloistered emperors, both before and after the Heian period, but the notion of cloistered rule as a system usually refers to the practice put in place by Emperor Shirakawa in 1086 and followed by his successors until the rise of the
Kamakura shogunate The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459. The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no ...
in 1192.


Background

The
ritsuryō , , is the historical law system based on the philosophies of Confucianism and Chinese Legalism in Japan. The political system in accord to Ritsuryō is called "Ritsuryō-sei" (律令制). ''Kyaku'' (格) are amendments of Ritsuryō, ''Shiki' ...
code allowed retired emperors to exert some limited powers, and there are early examples such as
Empress Jitō was the 41st monarch of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 持統天皇 (41)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Jitō's reign spanned the years from 686 through 697.Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). In the history 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 ...
and
Emperor Uda was the 59th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 宇多天皇 (59)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Uda's reign spanned the years from 887 through 897. Traditional narrative Name and legacy Befor ...
in the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries respectively. By the end of the 10th century, the Hokke family of the
Fujiwara clan was a powerful family of imperial regents in Japan, descending from the Nakatomi clan and, as legend held, through them their ancestral god Ame-no-Koyane. The Fujiwara prospered since the ancient times and dominated the imperial court until th ...
held political power in Japan through the office of the Imperial Regent, and the emperor increasingly became little more than a figurehead. In 1068,
Emperor Go-Sanjō was the 71st emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 陽成天皇 (71)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Go-Sanjō's reign spanned the years from 1068 through 1073. This 11th century sovereign was named a ...
became the first emperor in almost 200 years who was not related either by marriage or blood, or both, to the Hokke family. He exerted personal power while the Hokke family was dealing with internal conflicts between Fujiwara no Yorimichi and his brother Fujiwara no Norimichi, and was in a position to issue several laws and regulations, most notably the Enkyū
Shōen A was a field or manor in Japan. The Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese term "莊園" (Mandarin: ''zhuāngyuán'', Cantonese: ''zong1 jyun4''). Shōen, from about the 8th to the late 15th century, describes any of the private ...
Regulation Decree, thus weakening the regency. In 1072, however, he fell ill and abdicated in favor of Emperor Shirakawa. He died the following year. Although he did not have time to exert power after his abdication, Sanjō had weakened the regency and paved the way for the practice of cloistered rule. In 1086, Emperor Shirakawa in his turn abdicated in favor of his son,
Emperor Horikawa was the 73rd emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 堀河天皇 (73)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Horikawa's reign spanned the years from 1087 through 1107. Biography Before his ascension to the C ...
, who was four years old at the time. Shirakawa's objective appeared to be the protection of his son from his younger brother (Horikawa's uncle), who presented a serious threat of becoming a pretender to the throne, but after his retirement Shirakawa exerted his personal power to set the cloistered rule system in motion.


End of the Heian period

Separate imperial courts (''In no Chō'' (院庁) evolved around the retired emperors, and their will was put into effect through offices known as ''Inzen'' (院宣) and ''In no Chō Kudashi Bumi'' (院庁下文). Cloistered emperors also had their own troops, the ''Hokumen no Bushi'' (北面の武士). The creation of these military units led eventually to the rise to power of 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 ...
clan, who used their membership of these units to gather political and economic power to themselves. The end of the
Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japan ...
was marked by a rapid succession of cloistered emperors, to the point that there were several retired emperors living at the same time. The
Hōgen Rebellion In Japanese, Hōgen may refer to several words. Among them: * Hōgen (era) (保元, 1156–1159), an era in Japan * Hōgen rebellion, a short civil war in 1156 * dialect (方言) — for example: "eigo no hōgen" (English dialect) See also * ...
, following the death of the
Emperor Toba was the 74th Emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 鳥羽天皇 (74)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Toba's reign spanned the years from 1107 through 1123. Genealogy Before his ascension to the C ...
, was an example of direct opposition between an emperor and an emperor emeritus. Finally, the end of the reign of
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 ...
was marked by the
Genpei War The was a national civil war between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yoritomo, who appointed himse ...
and the rise of
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 ...
as the first Kamakura ''
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 Kamaku ...
''.


Table

The succession of power in the ''Insei'' system was complex. Sansom, George Bailey. (1958)
''History of Japan to 1334,'' p. 200


During the Shogunates

The establishment of the
Kamakura shogunate The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459. The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no ...
is taken to mark the beginning 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 b ...
, but the Insei system was not immediately abandoned. Though the shogunate took over the police force and ruled eastern Japan, the authority of the emperors and retired emperors remained considerable. However, when
Go-Toba was the 82nd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1183 through 1198. This 12th-century sovereign was named after Emperor Toba, and ''go-'' (後), translates literally as "later"; an ...
, a grandson of Go-Shirakawa, sought to overthrow the Kamakura shogunate, his forces were defeated in the
Jōkyū War , also known as the Jōkyū Disturbance or the Jōkyū Rebellion, was fought in Japan between the forces of Retired Emperor Go-Toba and those of the Hōjō clan, regents of the Kamakura shogunate, whom the retired emperor was trying to overthrow ...
, and the shogunate then took steps to reduce the power (and the finances) of the retired emperors. Even after the Jōkyū War, the cloistered rule system continued to exist, at least formally, for another 200 years. There were movements to take authority back into the hands of the imperial court, such as the Kenmu Restoration attempted by
Emperor Go-Daigo Emperor Go-Daigo (後醍醐天皇 ''Go-Daigo-tennō'') (26 November 1288 – 19 September 1339) was the 96th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'')後醍醐天皇 (96) retrieved 2013-8-28. according to the traditional orde ...
, but in general a retired emperor presided as the head of the Kyoto court, with the approval of the shogunate. There were also a few examples of retired emperors supervising their successors much later, 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 last person to use the title ''Daijō Hōō'' was
Emperor Reigen was the 112th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 霊元天皇 (112)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession.Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', pp. 117. Reigen's reign spanned t ...
, in 1686.Nussbaum, "''Hō-ō''" at


See also

* Retired Emperor (disambiguation) *
Cloistered Emperor A is the term for a Japanese emperor who had abdicated and entered the Buddhist monastic community by receiving the '' Pravrajya'' rite. The term can also be shortened to . Cloistered emperors sometimes acted as ''Daijō Tennō'' (retired emperor ...
*
Daijō Tennō is a title for an Emperor of Japan who abdicates the Chrysanthemum Throne in favour of a successor. As defined in the Taihō Code, although retired, a ''Daijō Tennō'' could still exert power. The first such example is the Empress Jitō in ...


Notes


References

* Hurst, G. Cameron. (1976). " Insei: Abdicated sovereigns in the Politics of late-Heian Japan 1086–1185.' New York: Columbia University Press.
OCLC 1584089
* Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005)
''Japan encyclopedia.''
Cambridge:
Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...
.
OCLC 58053128
* Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan.'' Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society
OCLC 194887
* ____________. (1956). ''Kyoto: The Old Capital of Japan, 794-1869.'' Kyoto: The Ponsonby Memorial Society. {{Authority control Buddhism in the Heian period Buddhism in the Kamakura period Abdication Japanese monarchy