Michiko Shōda
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is a member of the
Imperial House of Japan The , also referred to as the Imperial Family or the House of Yamato, comprises those members of the extended family of the reigning Emperor of Japan who undertake official and public duties. Under the present Constitution of Japan, the Emperor i ...
who served as the Empress consort of Japan as the wife of Akihito, the 125th Emperor of Japan reigning from 7 January 1989 to 30 April 2019. Michiko married Crown Prince Akihito and became the Crown Princess of Japan in 1959. She was the first
commoner A commoner, also known as the ''common man'', ''commoners'', the ''common people'' or the ''masses'', was in earlier use an ordinary person in a community or nation who did not have any significant social status, especially a member of neither ...
to marry into the Japanese Imperial Family. She has three children with her husband. Her elder son, Naruhito, is the current emperor to the Chrysanthemum Throne. As crown princess and later as empress consort, she has become the most visible and widely travelled imperial consort in Japanese history. Upon Emperor Akihito's abdication, Michiko received the new title of , or Empress Emerita.


Early life and education

Michiko Shōda was born on 20 October 1934 at the University of Tokyo Hospital in Bunkyō, Tokyo, the second of four children born to
Hidesaburō Shōda was a Japanese businessman. He served as the president and later honorary chairman of Nisshin Seifun Group, the country's largest flour milling company. He was the father of the Empress Michiko and the maternal grandfather of the Emperor of Japa ...
( 正田英三郎 ''Shōda Hidesaburō''; 1903–1999), president and later honorary chairman of Nisshin Flour Milling Company, and his wife, Fumiko Soejima (副島富美子 ''Soejima Fumiko''; 1909–1988). Raised in Tokyo and in a cultured family, she grew up receiving a careful education, both traditional and "Western", learning to speak English and to play piano and being initiated into the arts such as painting, cooking and kōdō. She has an older brother Iwao, a younger brother Osamu, and a younger sister Emiko. She is the niece of several academics, including Kenjirō Shōda, a mathematician who was the president of the University of Osaka from 1954 until 1960. Shōda attended Futaba Elementary School in Kōjimachi, a neighborhood in
Chiyoda, Tokyo is a special ward located in central Tokyo, Japan. It is known as Chiyoda City in English.Profile< ...
, but was required to leave in her fourth grade year because of the American bombings during World War II. She was then successively educated in the prefectures of Kanagawa (in the town of Katase, now part of the city of Fujisawa), Gunma (in
Tatebayashi 250px, Tsutsujigaoka Koen, or Azalea Park in Tatebayashi is a city located in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 75,442 in 33,589 households, and a population density of 1200 people per km². The total area of the ...
, home town of the Shōda family), and Nagano (in the town of
Karuizawa is a resort town located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 20,323 in 9897 households, and a population density of 130 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Karuizawa is one of the oldest and most ...
, where Shōda had a second resort home). She returned to Tokyo in 1946 and completed her elementary education in Futaba and then attended the Sacred Heart School for Junior High School and High School in Minato, Tokyo. She graduated from high school in 1953. In 1957, Shōda graduated ''
summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
'' from the Faculty of Literature at the University of the Sacred Heart (a
Catholic university Catholic higher education includes universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education privately run by the Catholic Church, typically by religious institutes. Those tied to the Holy See are specifically called pontifical univ ...
in Tokyo) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in
English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
. Since she came from a particularly wealthy family, her parents were very selective about her suitors. There had been several contenders for her hand in marriage in the 1950s. Biographers of the writer Yukio Mishima, including Henry Scott Stokes, report that Mishima had considered marrying Michiko Shōda, and that he was introduced to her for that purpose some time in the 1950s.


Engagement and marriage

In August 1957, she met then-Crown Prince Akihito on a tennis court at
Karuizawa is a resort town located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 20,323 in 9897 households, and a population density of 130 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Karuizawa is one of the oldest and most ...
near Nagano. The Imperial Household Council formally approved the engagement of the Crown Prince to Michiko Shōda on 27 November 1958. At that time, the media presented their encounter as a real "fairy tale", or the "romance of the tennis court". The engagement ceremony took place on 14 January 1959. The future Crown Princess was the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, but she was still a
commoner A commoner, also known as the ''common man'', ''commoners'', the ''common people'' or the ''masses'', was in earlier use an ordinary person in a community or nation who did not have any significant social status, especially a member of neither ...
. During the 1950s, the media and most persons familiar with the Japanese monarchy had assumed that the powerful
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 ...
would select a bride for the Crown Prince from the daughters of the former court nobility, or from one of the former branches of the Imperial Family. Some traditionalists opposed the engagement, as Shōda came from a Catholic family, and although she was never baptized, she was educated at Catholic institutions and seemed to share the faith of her parents. It was also widely rumored that Empress Kōjun had opposed the engagement. After the death of Empress Kōjun in 2000, Reuters announced that the former Empress was one of the strongest opponents of the marriage, and that in the 1960s, she had driven her daughter-in-law to depression by persistently accusing her of not being suitable for her son. Death threats alerted the authorities to ensure the security of the Shōda family. Yukio Mishima, known for his traditionalist position, said at the time: "The imperial system becomes 'tabloidesque' in its move toward democratization. It's all wrong—the idea (of the Imperial Family) losing its dignity by connecting with the people." However, the young couple had by then gained wide public support. That support also came from the ruling political class. Additionally, everyone showed affection for the young "Mitchy" who had become the symbol of Japan's modernization and democratization (the media at the time hinted at the phenomenon of a "Mitchy boom"). The wedding finally took place as a traditional Shinto ceremony on 10 April 1959. The wedding procession was followed in the streets of Tokyo by more than 500,000 people spread over an 8.8 km route, while parts of the wedding were televised, thus making it the first imperial wedding to be made available for public viewership in Japan, drawing about 15 million viewers. In accordance with tradition, Shōda received a personal emblem (): the white birch of Japan () upon admission to the imperial family.


Crown Princess

The young couple then moved to , or "East Palace", the traditional name of the official residence of the crown prince installed since 1952, located within the grounds of the Akasaka Estate in Motoakasaka, Minato, Tokyo. They left Tōgū Palace after her husband acceded to the throne in 1989. The couple have three children (two sons and a daughter): # # # , following her marriage to
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Yoshiki Kuroda on 15 November 2005, Princess Nori gave up her imperial title and left the Imperial Family as required by 1947 Imperial Household Law, took the surname of her husband and became known as . In 1963, the Associated Press reported that the Crown Princess, then about three months pregnant, underwent an abortion on 22 March, in Tokyo."Japanese Princess Has an Abortion", ''The Miami News'', 22 March 1963, page 3 As the article stated, "The operation was advised by her physician, Prof. Takashi Kobayashi, who delivered Michiko's first child, three-year-old Prince Hiro, a spokesman said. The spokesman said it is believed the 28-year-old princess' health has been impaired by a continuous round of official and social functions before pregnancy". Contrary to the tradition that the children of the imperial family should be separated from their parents and placed with private tutors, Crown Prince Akihito and his wife Crown Princess Michiko again broke precedent from the start by preferring to raise their children instead of entrusting them to the care of court chamberlains; the Crown Princess even breastfed. She and her husband have also built up a strong position among the general public, by their frequent trips in the 47 prefectures in the country to meet people but also for the liberties taken by the imperial couple vis-a-vis the protocol. At a more formal level, the Crown Prince and Princess visited 37 foreign countries between 1959 and 1989.


Empress of Japan

Upon the death of Emperor Shōwa on 7 January 1989, Crown Princess Michiko's husband became the 125th Emperor of Japan, and she became empress consort. The new Emperor and Empress were
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(''Sokui Rei Seiden no Gi'') at the Tokyo Imperial Palace on 12 November 1990. Since their enthronement, the imperial couple have visited many countries, and have done much to make the Imperial Family more visible and approachable in contemporary Japan. They also tried to be close to the people, visiting the 47 prefectures of Japan. Her official duties, apart from visits to other countries, are to assist her husband at events and ceremonies, both within and outside the Imperial Palace, receiving official guests including state guests and also to visit the social, cultural and charitable institutions and facilities. For example, in 2007, Michiko performed duties in her official capacity on more than 300 occasions. For many years Akihito and Michiko visited facilities for children on Children's Day and facilities for the elderly on Respect for the Aged Day. The Imperial Household Agency announced that after 2014 they will pass on these duties to the younger generation. Their health has had no bearing on this decision. Following the death of her mother-in-law, Empress Dowager Nagako, on 16 June 2000, she succeeded her as honorary president of the Japanese Red Cross Society. As empress, she was particularly responsible for ''Momijiyama Imperial Cocoonery'', a sericulture farm on the grounds of the imperial palace. She participated in the annual ceremony of harvesting silk, personally feeds
silkworm The domestic silk moth (''Bombyx mori''), is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of ''Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silk moth. It is an economically imp ...
s with mulberry leaves and is responsible to take care of them, the frames, and the harvesting. The production and harvesting of silk were part of her ceremonial duties, linked to Shintoism, Japanese culture, and tradition. From 1994 to 2019, the Empress offered a part of the harvested silk of the ''koishimaru'' variety (the oldest species now kept in Japan) to the
Shōsōin The is the treasure house of Tōdai-ji Temple in Nara, Japan. The building is in the ''azekura'' ( log-cabin) style with a raised floor. It lies to the northwest of the Great Buddha Hall. The Shōsō-in houses artifacts connected to Emperor Shō ...
Treasure-house in the Buddhist temple Tōdai-ji in Nara to be used for the restoration of its treasures. The Empress is expected to be the embodiment of traditional values such as modesty and purity. She has demonstrated a strong sense of duty throughout her life, which makes her quite popular amongst the Japanese. She takes part in religious ceremonies with her husband, such as visits to Ise Grand Shrine, other
Shinto shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The '' honden''Also called (本殿, meani ...
s and Imperial mausoleums to pray to the Imperial Family's ancestral spirits. In addition, she is an accomplished classical pianist. The Empress was elevated into the Hall of Fame of International Best Dressed List in 1990.


Hobbies, passions and literary works

The Empress emerita particularly enjoys reading, music and plays the piano. Moreover, the imperial family has been known for several decades to form, occasionally, a family piano trio, with Crown Prince Akihito playing the cello, Crown Princess Michiko playing the piano, and Prince Naruhito playing the violin. Empress Michiko is also known to be particularly keen on
gagaku is a type of Japanese classical music that was historically used for imperial court music and dances. was developed as court music of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, and its near-current form was established in the Heian period (794-1185) around t ...
, a kind of traditional Japanese court music. She is also a fan of poetry, including the works of
Michio Mado was a Japanese poet. He received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1994 for his "lasting contribution to children's literature". Biography Mado was born as Michio Ishida in Tokuyama, Yamaguchi prefecture. He spent his childhood ...
that she has selected, compiled and translated several of his poems in a series of collection under the titles ''Dobutsu-tachi'' (Animals) in 1992 and ''Fushigina Poketto'' (The Magic Pocket) in 1998. She has composed several poems, including waka. Some of them have been published: a series of compound waka by Akihito and Michiko, Crown Prince and Princess, were published in 1987 and then republished in 1991 under the title ''Tomoshibi: Light''. Finally, a collection of 367 waka by the Empress was published in 1997 under the title , and 53 of them have been translated into French and published in France by ''Signatura'' under the title ''Sé-oto, song of the ford''. In 1991, she wrote a children's book, illustrated by Wako Takeda: ''Hajimete no Yamanobori'' ("My First Mountain Climb"). She is a
hibernophile A Hibernophile is a person who is fond of Irish culture, Irish language and Ireland in general. Its antonym is Hibernophobe. The word originates from "Hibernia", the word used by the ancient Romans to refer to Ireland. The term is often used in ...
with an interest in ''
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'', recites ''I See His Blood Upon The Rose'' by Joseph Plunkett as a party piece, and even speaks passable
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.


Health

Michiko suffered from several nervous breakdowns because of the pressure of the media and, according to Reuters, the attitude of her mother-in-law, that had resulted in particular in making her lose her voice for seven months in the 1960s. She briefly collapsed on her birthday in 1993 and did not speak for two months, a condition caused by "deep sadness" and attributed by her doctors to negative media coverage. Empress Michiko had to cancel many of her official duties in the spring of 2007, while suffering from mouth ulcers, nosebleeds and intestinal bleeding due to
psychological stress In psychology, stress is a feeling of emotional strain and pressure. Stress is a type of psychological pain. Small amounts of stress may be beneficial, as it can improve athletic performance, motivation and reaction to the environment. Exces ...
, according to her doctors. This would be similar to the situation of her daughter-in-law,
Masako Masako (written: , , or in hiragana) is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: * *, (1888–1940), 6th daughter of Emperor Meiji *, Japanese long-distance runner *Masako Ebisu (born 1945), Japanese voice actress *, ...
, who also underwent several episodes of depression due to the pressures of her position. In June 2019, it was announced that Michiko had heart valve abnormalities and an irregular pulse, though she was reported to be well enough to undergo cataract operations. In August 2019, it was revealed that she was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer a month prior while undergoing a routine medical appointment, and was scheduled to have the growth removed. In September 2019, it was reported by '' The Japan Times'' that the surgery was successful. On her 86th birthday in October 2020, it was revealed that she had been suffering from a mild fever since May.


Issue

The Emperor emeritus Akihito and the Empress emerita have three children, two sons and a daughter.


Titles, styles and honours


Titles and styles

* 20 October 1934 – 10 April 1959: ''Miss'' Michiko Shōda ( ''Shōda Michiko'') * 10 April 1959 – 7 January 1989: ''Her Imperial Highness'' The Crown Princess ( ''Kōtaishi-hi Denka'') or ''Her Imperial Highness'' The Crown Princess Michiko ( ''Kōtaishi Akihito Shinnō-hi Michiko Denka'') * 7 January 1989 – 30 April 2019: ''Her Majesty'' The Empress ( ''Kōgō Heika'') * 1 May 2019 – present: ''Her Majesty'' The Empress Emerita ( ''Jōkōgō Heika'')


Honours

* : Grand Star of the
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* : Grand Cordon of the
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* : Knight of the
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* : Grand Cross of the
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* : Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany * :
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, 1st Class * Nepalese Royal Family: ** Member of the Order of the Benevolent Ruler ** Recipient of the King Birendra Coronation Medal * : Member of the Order of Gabriela Silang * : Knight of the Order of the White Eagle * : ** Grand Cross of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword ** Grand Cross of the Order of Infante Henry * : ** Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III ** Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic * : Commemorative Medal on the Occasion of the 60th Anniversary of the Accession to the Throne of H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej


Honorary positions

* Honorary president of the Japanese Red Cross Society (passed on to her daughter-in-law Masako)


References


External links


Their Majesties the Emperor emeritus and Empress emerita
at the Imperial Household Agency website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Michiko, Empress 1934 births Empress Michiko Empress Michiko Empress Michiko Empress Michiko Japanese empresses Empress Michiko Empress Michiko Empress Michiko Living people Empress Michiko Grand Cordons (Imperial Family) of the Order of the Precious Crown University of the Sacred Heart (Japan) alumni Dames Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic Grand Crosses of the Order of Vytautas the Great Grand Crosses Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Grand Star of the Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland) Princesses by marriage