Japan Karatedo Organization : JKO Forums : Japanese History website

EMPERORS, EMPRESSES, SHOGUNS, CHANCELLOR, REGENTS, CHIEF MINISTERS
& ODA NOBUNAGA
OF JAPAN FROM THE YEAR 660 B.C.E

Pictures : Oda Nobunaga and his favorite vice (red wine),
a 20th century lacquerwork intended to make fun of Shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi's overdose of love of dogs,
and Lord Chancellor Toyotomi Hideyoshi's idea of having fun -- which was a most common one.

Click here for the basic Japanese beliefs, philosophy, ethics and so on that made the backbone of everything that went on there since the year 600, kept the Imperial House alive, secured the grip of the warrior class, enabled any system to work and radical changes to happen without whacking the country apart.

Click here for the origin of that hazy mixture of beliefs.

Click here for the feudal territorial units of governance.

EMPERORS

Emperor Jimmu

Emperor Meiji

Imperial crest

Scroll doooooown for more pictures of Japanese Emperors.

Jimmu (B.C. 660-585), Suisei (B.C. 581-549), Annei (B.C. 584-511), Itoku (B.C. 510-477), Kosho (B.C. 475-393), Koan (B.C. 392-291), Korei (B.C. 290-215), Kogen (B.C. 214-158), Kuaika (B.C. 157-98), Sujin (B.C. 90-30), Suinin (B.C. 29 - A.D. 70), Keiko (71-130), Seimu (131-191), Chuai (192-200), Ojin (270-310), Nintoku (313-399), Richiu (400-405), Hansho (406-411), Inkio (412-453), Anko (454-456), Yuriyaku (457-479), Seinei (480-484), Kenso (485-487), Ninken (488-498), Buretsu (499-506), Keitai (507-531), Ankan (534-535), Senkua (536-539), Kimmei (540-571), Bidatsu (572-585), Yomei (586-587), Sujun (588-592), Jomei (629-641), Kogioku (642-644), Kotoku (645-654), Saimei (655-661), Tenchi (668-672), Kobun (672), Temmu (673-686), Mommu (697-707), Gemmio (708-714), Gensho (715-723), Shomu (724-748), Junnin (759-764), Konin (770-781), Kuammu (782-805), Heijo (806-809), Saga (810-823), Junwa (824-833), Nimmio (834-850), Montoku (851-858), Seiwa (859-876), Yozei (877-884), Koko (885-887), Uda (888-897), Daigo (898-930), Shunjaku (931-946), Murakami (947-967), Reizei (968-969), Enniu (970-984), Kuasan (985-986), Ichijo (987-1011), Sanjo (1012-1016), Go-Ichijo (1017-1036), Go-Shujaku (1037-1046), Go-Reizei (1047-1068), Go-Sanjo (1069-1072), Shirakawa (1073-1086), Horikawa (1087-1107), Toba (1108-1123), Shutoku (1124-1141), Konoye (1142-1155), Go-Shirakawa (1156-1158), Nijo (1159-1165), Rokujo (1166-1168), Takakura (1169-1180), Antoku (1181-1185), Go-Toba (1184-1198), Tsuchi (1199-1210), Juntoku (1211-1221), Chiukio (1222), Go-Horikawa (1222-1232), Shijo (1233-1242), Go-Saga (1243-1246), Go-Fukakusa (1247-1259), Kameyama (1260-1274), Go-Uda (1275-1287), Fushimi (1288-1298), Go-Fushimi (1299-1301), Go-Nijo (1302-1307), Hanazono (1308-1318), Go-Daigo (1319-1338), Go-Murakami (1339-1367), Chokei (1368-1383), Go-Kameyama (1383-1392), Go-Komatsu (1393-1412), Shoko (1413-1428), Go-Hanazono (1429-1464), Go-Tsuchi (1465-1500), Go-Kashiwara (1501-1526), Go-Nara (1527-1557), Ogimachi (1558-1586), Go-Yozei (1587-1611), Go-Miwo (1612-1629), Go-Komio (1644-1654), Gosai (1655-1662), Reigen (1663-1686), Higashiyama (1687-1709), Nakano (1710-1735), Sakuramachi (1736-1746), Momozono (1747-1762), Go-Sakuramachi (1763-1770), Go-Momozono (1747-1762), Kokaku (1780-1816), Ninko (1817-1846), Komei (1847-1866), Meiji (1867-1925), Showa (1926-1989), Heisei (since 1989)

1. Emperors and Empresses of Japan are of one single unbroken family-tree from the beginning of prehistory to -- whenever history ceases to be, or so people believe. But names of who's reigning at a time didn't really mean power was there to tap. Often the one who controlled Japanese politics was the ex-Emperor -- father or grandpa of the officially enthroned -- and center of powergaming was in such cases often laid in monasteries.

Emperor Go-Shirakawa

Emperor Go-Shirakawa of 1086 was an example in this. He abdicated, shaved his head, became a monk, chanted Buddhist psalms whenever someone visited, while his son was put on the throne. The son was soon forced to adopt a premature retirement when he turned out to have his own mind to think with. Then Go-Shirakawa put his grandson in the Imperial Palace as the next Emperor, but the kid was bullied and constrained so badly by Go-Shirakawa that he died shortly afterwards.

And that's not the worst.

After the politically acerbic and fraternally lethal Shogun Minamoto Yoritomo (click here for story and pictures of why I just said that) died in 1199, his sociopolitically corrosive widow Lady Hojo Masako declared that she renounced worldly matters from then on, and packed up to spend the rest of her life in a monastery. And she ruled from there, for real, by endlessly enthroning a series of underage kids and babies. That's why in the history of Japan there is always a footnote about Lady Masako, her unofficial title being 'Shogun Nun' ('Ama-Shogun' in Japanese).

Hojo Masako

Hojo Tokimasa

Lady Masako's clan -- the Hojos, not the Minamotos -- were notoriously meddlesome in their times, and they were the actual rulers behind a good many Regents and Emperors without having the right to do so and without being eligible to get a formal title in which to rule directly by themselves. Her daddy Lord Hojo Tokimasa was just as infamous in this biz as the daughter has been. The two conspired in many cases.

2. There have never been prehistoric tombs pried open and scientifically ransacked in Japan; such things would have been against the entire idea of getting ruled by one with a mandate directly from heaven. Most of the time you could take the early Emperors as semi-mythical in the same sense as what you apply when browsing the Bible (not that I think you ever did, but you know what I mean).

3. List of Emperors here is infinite, but the rest of the lists don't extend beyond the last Shogun on earth, Tokugawa Yoshinobu -- who was forced to abdicate when Emperor Meiji took control in 1868, because.....well, that's where my interest in Japanese sociopolitical stuff reaches its outermost edge. There are a lot of sites catering to the need for info about modern (i.e. since 1868) Japanese Prime Ministers, Cabinet members, parliamentary flocks, and so forth anyway.

4. Emperors and Empresses are usually referred to in their posthumous names. But even if they aren't, Japanese Emperors, Empresses, Princes and Princesses never have a surname, family name, clan name, or the like. The idea is, you wouldn't have one either if your first ancestor were God.

EMPRESSES

Empress Jingu Kogo

Empress Suiko

Imperial crest

Jingu (201-269), Suiko (593-628), Koken (749-758), Shotoku (765-769), Jito (690-696), Meisho (1630-1643)

Empresses here obviously mean ruling females, not just wives of Emperors.

CHIEF MINISTERS

Chief Minister Taira Kiyomori

Chief Minister Toyotomi Hideyori

Fujiwara crest

Taira crest

Ichijo crest

Toyotomi crest

FUJIWARA Kamatari (644-649), Kaneie (l. 929-990), Morosuke (l. 908-960), Michinaga (l. 966-1028), Sadaie (l. 1162-1241), Yoritsugu (1244-1251), Yoritsune (1226-1244)

TAIRA Kiyomori (1118-1181)

ICHIJO Norifusa (1468-1500)

TOYOTOMI Hideyoshi (1584 -1592), Hidetsugu (1592-1593), Hideyori (1593-1615)

Chief Ministers ruled whenever there was no military power beyond the court's reach. When there was a Shogun, if a Chief Minister existed, his job was just a formality. In some cases the Chief Minister was double-jobbing as Shogun or overlord, like Taira Kiyomori and Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

An anomaly in the matter of power (Toyotomi's kind of anomaly was solely confined to pedigree) happened in the case of Ichijo Norifusa.

He was not a Shogun, not an overlord, not even a locally powerful warlord in his times; but 1468 was a year of strife and Kyoto was ravaged all over by the Onin War. Emperor Go-Tsuchi ran away from the city, crossed the thin waterway, landed in Shikoku island and sought sanctuary at Ichijo clan's little domain in Tosa province.

For sheltering the Imperial refugees, Ichijo was given the title that normally would have been beyond his means to attain.

SHOGUNS

Shogun Minamoto Yoritomo

Shogun Ashikaga Takauji

How did a medieval
Japanese army
look like?
How did warlords
get the soldiers
for their armies?
How was its
chain of command?
How was it managed?
Click here.

Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu

Minamoto crest

Ashikaga crest

Tokugawa crest

MINAMOTO Yoritomo (1185-1199), Yoriiye (1201-1203), and Sanetomo (1203-1219)

ASHIKAGA Takauji (1335-1357), Yoshinori (1358-1367), Yoshimitsu (1368-1393), Yoshimochi (1394-1422), Yoshikaru (1423-1425), Yoshinori (1428-1440), Yoshikatsu (1441-1448), Yoshimasa (1449-1471), Yoshihisa (1472-1489), Yoshitane (1490-1493), Yoshitsumi (1494-1507), Yoshitane again (1508-1520), Yoshiharu (1521-1545), Yoshiteru (1546-1567), and Yoshiaki (1568-1573)

TOKUGAWA Ieyasu (1603-1604), Hidetada (1605-1622), Iemitsu (1623-1649), Ietsuna (1650-1680), Tsunayoshi (1681-1708), Ienobu (1709-1712), Ietsugu (1713-1716), Yoshimune (1717-1744), Ieshige (1745-1762), Ieharu (1762-1786), Ienori (1787-1837), Ieyoshi (1838-1852), Iesada (1853-1858), Iemochi (1858-1866), and Yoshinobu (1866-1868)

Before the end of the first thousand years, Emperors and Empresses ruled the country themselves like ancient kings of whichever spot on this planet. Randomly until the first quarter of the next thousand years they still exercised worldly politics to some extent, until the fixer of the title 'Shogun' (attaching it inextricably from the most popular meaning today), Minamoto Yoritomo, came to the scene in 1185 and ended the direct ruling of Emperors (there would be no more Empress) since.

The was a convention that unless one was a descendant of the Fujiwaras or Minamotos then he couldn't be a Shogun. It wasn't a law, only a tradition. Nonetheless it was observed without exception until the last minutes of the Japanese feudalism in 1868.

That's why Oda Nobunaga wasn't a Shogun, neither was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, although they were the most powerful men in their times and factually handled Japan like Shoguns. That was also why (even today) some people suspected that Tokugawa Ieyasu had faked his pedigree (the clan claimed descent from the Minamotos).

It didn't make a difference to Oda Nobunaga who only cared about the real powergame in the fields.

But, since Toyotomi Hideyoshi was a sucker for imperial titles because of his original humblest origin -- a peasant's son (see the Japanese sociopolitical ranks at another page of this section) -- then the Imperial House had to make up new titles especially tailored for him.

REGENTS

Hojo crest

Lord Hojo Tokimune

HOJO Tokimasa (1138-1215), Yoritsune (1220-1243), and Yoritsugu (1244-1251)

PRINCE Munetaka (1252-1265), Koreyasu (1266-1289), Hisaakira (1289-1307), Morikuni (1308-1313), Narinaga (1334-1398)

Note about the Princes: they were siblings of Emperors, who didn't become patriarchs of clans.

CHANCELLOR

Toyotomi crest

Lord Chancellor Toyotomi Hideyoshi

TOYOTOMI Hideyoshi (1592-1599)

Click here for story and pictures of how Toyotomi Hideyoshi became the one and only 'parvenu samurai' and a jumper of all ranks in the sociopolitical pyramid of Japan -- he was, just in case you forget, the son of a farmer.

UNTITLED

Oda crest

Lord Oda Nobunaga

ODA Nobunaga (1568-1582)

Oda Nobunaga is very loud everywhere at this site, but that's not the reason why he looms just as large here when there are Emperors around. It's just that he never took any Imperial title to rule Japan with.

Because Oda had conquered all the Central Japan, and had been factually ruling these territories, Emperor Ogimachi gave him the title equals to 'Chief Minister' in 1578. Oda accepted it just for the sake of courtesy. He handed a formal resignation less than 3 weeks later. He said he was too busy in battlefields to keep it, but the real reason was he knew he only had a minimum sort of talent in administration.

As you can see for yourselves, a huge chunk of the names above never even had any grain of resemblance to a leader, and another great part of them had zero talent in administration, too; but they obviously had never even daydreamt of retirement.