Asahito (
Japanese: 朝仁), posthumously honored as Emperor Higashiyama (東山天皇, Higashiyama-
tennō, October 21, 1675 – January 16, 1710), was the 113th
emperor of Japan, according to the traditional
order of succession.[1][2] Higashiyama's reign spanned the years from 1687 through to his
abdication in 1709 corresponding to the
Genroku era.[3] The previous hundred years of peace and seclusion in Japan had created relative economic stability. The arts flourished, including theater and architecture.
Events of Higashiyama's life
Early life
Before Higashiyama's ascension to the
Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (imina) was Asahito (朝仁) or Tomohito.[4] Tomohito was born on October 21, 1675, and was the fifth son of
Emperor Reigen; his birth mother was a lady-in-waiting named Matsuki Muneko. While Prince Tomohito was the son of a secondary
consort, he was adopted by empress
Takatsukasa Fusako (chief consort or
Chūgū).[5] Tomohito's Imperial family lived with him in the
Dairi of the
Heian Palace. Events that took place before Tomohito became Crown Prince include a great flood that devastated Edo, a great famine that devastated Kyoto, and the Great Tenna Fire in Edo.[6] The
Shingon Buddhist templeGokoku-ji was also founded in Edo where it remains today as one of the few sites in Tokyo that survived
World War II.[7] Tomohito-shinnō was proclaimed
Crown prince in 1682, and given the pre-accession title of Go-no-miya (五宮). For the first time in over 300 years a ceremonial investiture was held for the occasion.[5] A fire burned the
Kyoto Imperial Palace to ashes in 1684 prompting reconstruction that took a year to complete.[8] The effects from this fire on the Imperial family, if any, are unknown.
Emperor Reigen's brother, former-
Emperor Go-Sai, died on March 26, 1685, and a great comet was observed crossing the night sky.[9]
Reign
Prince Tomohito acceded to the throne on May 2, 1687, as Emperor when his father abdicated in his favor, the era's name was changed from Jōkyō to Genroku to mark this event.[10] While he held the political title of Emperor, it was
in name only as the
shoguns of the Tokugawa family controlled Japan. Initially,
Emperor Reigen continued to rule in Higashiyama's name as a
Cloistered Emperor as had been done in the
Heian period. While this move caused trouble by provoking the ruling shogunate, Higashiyama's gentle character helped to improve relations with the Shōgun. This warmed relationship caused imperial property to be increased, and repairs carried out on Imperial mausoleums. Reigen meanwhile lived out his retirement in the Sentō-gosho (the palace for an ex-Emperor), and is now known for being the last "Cloistered Emperor" of Japan.[8] On December 20, 1688, the esoteric Daijō-sai ceremony was revived because of the shogunate's insistence.[11] This Shinto ritual had been in abeyance for over a century, and is performed only once by the emperor in the period of the enthronement ceremonies.[12]
1688 (Genroku gannen): The
Tokugawa shogunate revised the code of conduct for
funerals (Fuku-kiju-ryō), which incorporated a code of conduct for mourning as well.[13]
September 16, 1689 (Genroku 2):
GermanphysicianEngelbert Kaempfer arrives at
Dejima for the first time. Bakufu policy in this era was designed to marginalize the influence of foreigners; and Kaempfer had to present himself as "Dutch" in dealings with the Japanese. Regardless of this minor subterfuge, an unintended and opposite consequence of sakoku was to enhance the value and significance of a very small number of thoughtful observers like Kaempfer, whose writings document what he learned or discovered first-hand. Kaempfer's published accounts and unpublished writings provided a unique and useful perspective for
Orientalists and
Japanologists in the 19th century; and his work continues to be rigorously examined by modern researchers today.[14]
1695 (Genroku 8, 8th month): Minting begun of Genroku coinage. The shogunate placed the Japanese character gen (元) on the obverse of copper coins, the same character used today in China for the
yuan. There is no connection between those uses, however.[9]
1695 (Genroku 8, 11th month): First
kennel is established for stray dogs in
Edo. In this context,
Tokugawa Tsunayoshi comes to be nicknamed the "Dog Shōgun" (犬公方, Inu-kubō).
1697 (Genroku 10): The fourth official map of Japan was made in this year, but it was considered to be inferior to the previous one—which had been ordered in 1605 (Shōhō 1) and completed in 1639 (Kan'ei 16). This Genroku map was corrected in 1719 (Kyōhō 4) by the mathematician Tatebe Katahiro (1644–1739), using high mountain peaks as points of reference, and was drawn to a scale of 1:21,600.[15]
1697 (Genroku 11): Another great fire in Edo. A new hall is constructed inside the enclosure of the Edo temple of
Kan'ei-ji (which is also known as
Tōeizan Kan'ei-ji or "Hiei-san of the east" after the principal temple of the
TendaiBuddhist sect—that is to say, after the temple of
Enryaku-ji at
Mount Hiei near to
Heian-kyō).[9]
1703 (Genroku 15, 14th day of the 12th month): when the
Akō Incident took place, in which a band of
Forty-seven rōnin (leaderless
samurai) avenged the death of their master
Asano Naganori, due to the bloodshed, Emperor Higashiyama nearly withdrew the imperial will.
1703 (Genroku 16, 28th day of the 11th month): The
Great Genroku earthquake shook Edo and parts of the shōgun's castle collapsed.[16] The following day, a vast fire spread throughout the city.[9] Parts of Honshū's coast were battered by
tsunami, and 200,000 people were either killed or injured.[16]
October 28, 1707 (Hōei 4, 14th day of the 10th month):
1707 Hōei earthquake. The city of Osaka suffers tremendously because of a very violent earthquake.[9]
November 15, 1707 (Hōei 4, 22nd day of the 10th month): An eruption of
Mount Fuji; cinders and ash fell like rain in
Izu,
Kai,
Sagami, and
Musashi.[17]
1708 (Hōei 5): The shogunate introduces new copper coins into circulation; and each coin is marked with the Hōei nengō name (Hōei Tsubo).[17]
1708 (Hōei 5, 8th day of the 3rd month): There was a great fire in Heian-kyō.[17]
• First son: Prince Ichi • Second son: Prince Ni • Fourth son: Prince Hisa • Second daughter: Princess Tomi • Fifth son: Imperial Prince Yasuhito (later
Emperor Nakamikado) • Sixth son: Imperial Prince Kan'in-no-miya Naohito
Reizei Tsuneko (冷泉経子)
1678
1755
Unknown
• Third son: Imperial Prince priest Kōkan
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Takatsuji Nagakazu (Aka: Sugawara - 菅原)
• Third daughter: Princess Kōmyōjyō'in • Fourth daughter: Princess Syōsyuku
Higashiyama appears under the name of Tomohito in the novel The Samurai's Wife by author
Laura Joh Rowland. In the novel, detective Sano Ichiro is sent to investigate the murder of an important official in the Imperial Court. Tomohito is labelled as a suspect, and is portrayed as a childish oaf at the start of the novel. He is later revealed to be the instigator behind a coming revolution against the
Tokugawa regime, so he can seize control of Japan himself. However, his plan fails, and he is once again placed in the Imperial Palace, where he seems to have accepted his fate to never leave the palace.
^Titsingh, p. 415; Varley, H. Paul. (1959). A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki, p. 44; n.b., a distinct act of senso is unrecognized prior to
Emperor Tenji; and all sovereigns except
Jitō, Yōzei,
Go-Toba, and
Fushimi have senso and sokui in the same year until the reign of
Emperor Go-Murakami.