Josei Tennō

is a Japanese term referring to an empress regnant. Unlike the title '' Kōgō'', which refers only to an empress consort, ''Josei Tennō'' only refers to a reigning empress. '' Tennō'' is the title for the Emperor; the addition of the term ''josei'' (女性, woman) distinguishes that the emperor is a woman; therefore, a reigning empress.

Origins

Before Emperor Tenmu (the first to use the title ''Tennō'') all monarchs were probably called Great King/Queen of Yamato, and not ''Tennō''.

From the reign of Empress Jitō onwards, emperors (''Tennō'' 天皇) who were women were distinguished from their male counterparts with the qualifier of ''josei'' (女性, ''woman''). However, as empresses regnant, they held the rank of ''Tennō'' without the qualifier, indicating they were emperors equal to their male counterparts. Due to this, it is generally acceptable and preferred to use ''Tennō'' when referring to a female monarch''.'' So, when referring to female monarchs, (Such as Empress Meishō) you would refer to them as "''x Tennō''" rather than "''x Josei Tennō"'' (i.e. ''Meishō Tennō'' rather than ''Meishō Josei Tennō''.)

Before the Fujiwara clan and in times when an heir was underaged, a female relative (typically a sister or mother) would take the throne. Out of all empresses regnant, Empress Kōken (known as Shōtoku during her second reign) is the only one to have been granted the title " crown princess" before accession.

List

The list of empresses regnant are the following.

* Empress Suiko
** When Suiko's husband Emperor Bidatsu, died, her brother Emperor Yōmei took the throne. However, Yōmei soon died of illness, and so Emperor Sushun took the throne. Sushun was assassinated and so the throne was vacant. In a time of need Suiko became the empress, yet she was probably styled as great queen of Yamato. Suiko ruled until her death.Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan, p. 46.

* Empress Kōgyoku
** Kōgyoku reigned a second time as Saimei.
** After taking the throne, Kōgyoku was soon forced off due to the Isshi incident. Blood was seen as impure and Soga-no-Iruka being killed in front of the empress, namely the most pure person (being Japan's leader) meant she had to abdicate so it would not stain her reign.

* Empress Jitō
** Jitō was the wife of Emperor Tenmu. After he died and her son Prince Kusakabe was deemed too young to rule, Jitō took the throne in his place until he was old enough. When Kusakabe died, Jitō remained as empress until her grandson came of age. Jitō was the first to be referred as "josei tennō"

* Empress Genmei
** The wife of Jitō's son Kusakabe and Jitō's half-sister. After Genmei's son died, Genmei became empress. After copper was found near the capital, a new era in her honour (called the Wadō) was ushered in. The Kojiki was also completed under her reign.

* Empress Genshō
** The daughter of Empress Genmei. Genshō helped complete the Nihon Shoki. She was also the only empress to be preceded by another (her predecessor being her own mother).

* Empress Kōken
** Kōken reigned a second time as Shōtoku.
** Under her first reign, Kōken was basically a puppet for her mother, Empress Kōmyō, the Empress Dowager. Possibly because of this, Kōken abdicated. Yet soon after Kōken would overthrow Emperor Junnin and vest all power in herself, becoming Empress Shōtoku. She possibly fell in love with a monk named Dōkyō, and may have had plans to make him her heir. Yet when she died, Dōkyō fell from power and was exiled.

* Empress Meishō
** Meishō only became empress because her father was involved in the Purple Robe Incident and had to abdicate. The 5 year-old empress did not do much as the shogun system was in place.

* Empress Go-Sakuramachi
** Similar to Empress Meishō, she did not have much power due to the shogunate. She was the last ''Josei Tennō'' and also adopted Emperor Kōkaku as her own. Empress Go-Sakuramachi died in 1813.

Empress Jingū is not counted among the official monarchs. Princess Iitoyo's legitimacy and validity (concerning her reign) is mostly unknown.

The debate for a possible future ''Josei Tennō''

Due to the current Japanese rules of succession a woman cannot inherit the throne. Yet there has been calls to allow Aiko, Princess Toshi to become the 9th empress regnant. To this day there is an ongoing succession debate. An event was held called "Making Aiko the Imperial heir" which pushed for the rules to be changed and a new line of succession to be introduced, which would be as follows:

# Aiko, Princess Toshi
# Fumihito, Prince Akishino
# Princess Kako of Akishino
# Prince Hisahito of Akishino
# Masahito, Prince Hitachi
# Princess Akiko of Mikasa
# Princess Yōko of Mikasa
# Princess Tsuguko of Takamado

There was also a Parliament meeting held in December 2023 about the matter. In February 2024, the former Prime minister Yoshihiko Noda of the Democratic Party of Japan held another Parliament meeting, suggesting women should be allowed to marry without losing their titles, lead their own branch of the Imperial family, and possibly rule. To this day Princess Sumiko remains one of the only women to lead a branch of the imperial family. On March 15, 2024, there were more discussions about allowing women to rule with discussions of women being allowed to retain their titles upon marriage on March 18 of the same year. As of June 2024, parties did agree women should marry without losing their title, with no conclusion on the status on their spouses. Emperor Naruhito has also admitted the family is running out of male heirs. Shigeru Ishiba who became the Japanese prime minister on October 1, 2024, is known to support a female emperor (''Josei Tennō'') The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, had requested the succession laws be looked at. Takeshi Iwaya, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, expressed his displeasure in this request. The request will look over the part of the constitution which only allows men to succeed and not women. A woman has not been a female emperor (''Josei Tennō'') since Empress Go-Sakuramachi. On April 29, 2024 a plan to secure a sufficient number of Imperial family members was announced and will be presented before the House of Councillors this summer. The idea of women retaining their title upon marriage is popular but with divided opinions on the status of their spouses and children. Later in 2025, it was revealed that a plan was in the works to be put forward in the House of Councillors to secure a sufficient number of members of the Imperial family, discuss female marriage, and tackle female succession. A woman marrying and retaining her title remained popular, but there was devides on whether a woman's husband or children would be granted a title. However the draft was later postponed to allow longer talks. A separate plan was talked about to discuss female marriage (which all party's agree a woman should marry without losing her status), however the speaker of the house asked to push that back also and think about it as devides remain in the titles and statu' of their spouse's and children.

Gallery

File:Jingū_Kōgō.jpg, Empress Jingū, the first mythical empress regnant.
File:Kitahanauchi_Otsuka_Kofun,_haisho.jpg, The tomb of Empress Iitoyo, also known as Empress Tsunuzashi. The validity of her reign in disputed.
File:Empress_Suiko_by_Tosa_Mitsuyoshi_1726_Eifukuji_Osaka.png, Empress Suiko, the first woman whose reign is historically verifiable.
File:EmpressKōgyoku.jpg, Empress Kōgyoku/Saimei, the second historically verifiable empress.
File:Empress_Jito_by_Katsukawa_Shunsho.png, Empress Jitō, the third historically verifiable empress, first to use the title ''Josei Tennō''
File:Empress_Gemmei.jpg, Empress Genmei, the fourth historically verifiable empress.
File:Empress_Genshō_Tsubosaka-dera.jpg, Empress Genshō, the fifth historically verifiable empress.
File:Empress_Kōken1878(Cropped).jpg, Empress Kōken/Shōtoku, the sixth historically verifiable empress.
File:Meisho_of_Japan.jpg, Empress Meishō, the seventh historically verifiable empress.
File:Empress_Go-Sakuramachi.jpg, Empress Go-Sakuramachi, the eight and final historically verifiable empress.

See also

* Himiko
* Toyo
* Emperor of Japan

Notes

References

{{reflist

Japanese empresses regnant
Noble titles of women
680s establishments