Kōgyoku

The empress Kōgyoku (皇極天皇, Kōgyoku Tennō , 594 - August 24th 661), which reigned one second time under the name of Saimei (斉明天皇, Saimei Tennō ) was at the same time the thirty-fifth and the thirty-seventh imperial leader of the Japan, according to the traditional order of the succession. It is a back-small-girl of the emperor Bidatsu, and its name of birth is Takara princess.

Biography

Marry and empress consort of the emperor Jomei, it puts to him in the world three children: the princes Naka No Ōe (which becomes later the emperor Tenji and Ōama (the future emperor Temmu) and the Hashihito princess.

First reign

To died of her husband, it assembles under the throne as a Kōgyoku empress the February 18th 642. During this first reign, the clan Soga seizes the capacity. His/her son Naka No Ōe plans a Coup d'etat and assassinates Soga No Iruka at the court, opposite the throne of Kōgyoku (see the article Itsushi No hen) . Shocked, this one abdicates and leaves to the throne in favor of his/her son the crown prince Naka No Ōe, but this one insists that it is the emperor Kōtoku, brother of Kōgyoku who goes up on the throne, the July 12th 645. Kōgyoku takes the name of Sume-semi-oya No Mikoto .

Second reign

After the death of Kōtoku the November 24th 654, and although Naka No Ōe is the crown prince, it gives his/her mother on the throne as an empress Saimei the February 14th 655, and continuous to reign under this name until its death in 661. However, it is indeed the prince who holds the reins of the policy of Japan.

Saimei sends several military forwardings against the Ezo of the north of Kyūshū. In 660, the Korean kingdom of Paekche is destroyed by the kingdom close to Silla, and Japan comes to assistance of the Paekche loyal supporters to try to recover their territory. With the beginning of the year 661, Samei leaves its capital of the Province of Yamato (Honshū) with an Army and a marine, and crosses the Inland sea of is in west. The empress settles then in the temporary Palate of Ishiyu, in the Province of Iyo (today Dōgo Onsen). She arrives in May at the Asakura palate, in the north of the Province of Tsukushi in Kyūshū (today part of the Préfecture of Fukuoka. The allied army of the Japanese and Paekche is then ready with the war against Silla, when Saimei dies right before the departure of the army for the Korea. In October, its body is brought back of Kyūshū by the sea to the port of Naniwa-zu (current the Osaka). Its funerary ceremony takes place at the beginning of November 661.

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