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 House of Japan, Imperial Family, and the keeping of the Privy Seal of Japan, Privy Seal and State Seal of Japan. From around the 8th century ...

(''Kunaichō'')
持統天皇 (41)
/ref> according to the traditional

order of succession An order, line 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.686 through 697.Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). In the

history of Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to the Japanese Paleolithic, Paleolithic, around 38–39,000 years ago. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the fi ...

, Jitō was the third of eight women to take on the role of

empress regnant A queen regnant (: queens regnant) is a female monarch, equivalent in rank, title and position to a king. She reigns '' suo jure'' (in her own right) over a realm known as a kingdom; as opposed to a queen consort, who is married to a reigni ...

. 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. He ascended ...

, 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. In ...

she performed special

ritual A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...

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 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 , also known as Empress Genmyō, was the 43rd monarch of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 元明天皇 (43) retrieved August 22, 2013. according to the traditional order of succession. Genmei's reign spanned the years 707 through ...

, who was followed on the throne by her daughter,

Empress Genshō was the 44th monarch of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'')元正天皇 (44)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Her reign spanned the years 715 through 724. Genshō was the fifth of eight women to take on the ...

, remains the sole exception to this conventional argument. In 697, Jitō abdicated 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 ruler, which became a persistent trend in Japanese politics. The actual site of Jitō's

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

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 such as home ...

Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

shrine A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''escri ...

(''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 burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

. 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 hereditary monarch and head of state of Japan. The emperor is defined by the Constitution of Japan as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, his position deriving from "the will of ...

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 Jap ...

'' 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 during the Asuka to Meiji era. The Asuka Kiyomihara Code of 689 marks the initial appearance of the ''Sadaijin'' in the context of a cent ...

'' * ''

Udaijin was a government position in Japan during the Asuka to Meiji era. The position was consolidated in the Taihō Code of 701. The Asuka Kiyomihara Code of 689 marks the initial appearance of the ''Udaijin'' in the context of a central administrat ...

'' * '' Naidaijin''

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 and

Empress Kōgyoku , also known as , was the 35th and 37th monarch of Japan,Kunaichō 斉明天皇 (37)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Both her reigns were within the Asuka period. Kōgyoku's reign spanned the years from 642 to 645. Her r ...

**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 for inclusion in the very popular anthology ''

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 ...

'':

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'': 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 645 births 703 deaths 7th-century Japanese women writers 7th-century Japanese poets 7th-century empresses consort 7th-century empresses regnant 7th-century Japanese monarchs Japanese empresses regnant Japanese women poets People of the Asuka period Man'yō poets Hyakunin Isshu poets 7th-century Japanese women 7th-century Japanese people Emperor Tenmu Japanese emperors who abdicated Daughters of Japanese emperors