Takayoin Temple

Japanese: 高陽院 - かやのいん

Year of death: 16 December 1156 (10 January 1156)
Year of birth: 1095
A late Heian period Empress. Empress of the Retired Emperor Toba. Her name was Fujiwara Yasuko. She was the daughter of the regent Fujiwara Tadazane and Minamoto no Shishi. Her father Tadazane had refused when Emperor Shirakawa asked him to have his daughter enter the Imperial Court, but when Emperor Toba asked her to do so, he accepted, which angered the Emperor, and in 1120 she was suspended from the Imperial Court (effectively dismissed from her position as regent). After that, her father lived in seclusion during the reign of Emperor Shirakawa, and her daughter remained unmarried. It is said that Tadazane's refusal to enter the Imperial Court was due to the chaos in the harem of Emperor Shirakawa, but it can also be said that this incident brought to the surface the tensions between the Retired Emperor and the Sekkan family, who were becoming increasingly autocratic. When Toba's cloistered government began, in 1133, at the age of 39, she entered the harem of Emperor Toba, contrary to Emperor Shirakawa's will, and took the name Isamu. The following year she became empress and changed her name to Yasuko. It was considered unprecedented for the wife of a retired emperor to be made an empress. She was given the title of inn in 1139, and became a nun in 1141. Although she was not much favored by the retired emperor, she was intelligent and maintained a good relationship with him. She also tried to mediate between his younger brother Tadamichi and Yorinaga, and her death was a major blow to Yorinaga.

(Ritsuko Nakagomi)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：久寿2.12.16(1156.1.10)
生年：嘉保2(1095)
平安後期の女院。鳥羽上皇の皇后。名は藤原泰子。関白藤原忠実と源師子の娘。父忠実は,白河法皇より娘の入内を望まれた際これを固辞したにもかかわらず,鳥羽天皇よりの入内要請は承諾したため法皇の逆鱗に触れ,保安1(1120)年内覧を停止(事実上の関白解任)された。以後,白河法皇在世中は父は籠居し,娘も不婚で過ごした。忠実の入内固辞は白河法皇の後宮の乱れにあったともいうが,専制化を強める院と摂関家との緊張関係が表面化した事件といえる。鳥羽院政が開始されると長承2(1133)年,白河法皇の遺言に反して39歳で鳥羽上皇の後宮に入り,勲子と名乗った。翌年皇后となり泰子と改名。上皇の妃の立后は前代未聞とされた。保延5(1139)年院号宣下,永治1(1141)年出家。上皇の寵愛は薄かったが,聡明で上皇と忠実の間をよく結んだ。弟忠通・頼長間の調停にも努め,彼女の死は頼長にとって大きな打撃となった。

(中込律子)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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