Empress - Kogo

Japanese: 皇后 - こうごう

It is also called "Kisaki", "Kisai no Miya" or "Shobo". It refers to the legal wife of the emperor. Before the Meiji period, it referred only to the legal wife who was formally appointed as the empress. Under the Ritsuryo system, it was stipulated that in principle, the person who received the appointment as the empress should be a female member of the imperial family. However, since Emperor Shomu appointed his vassal Fujiwara no Fuhito's daughter, Komyo (Empress Komyo), as the empress, there were many cases where the daughter of a vassal, especially a minister, became the empress. Since ancient times, the status of the empress has been treated very highly, and the same words as those for the emperor, such as "death" and "mountain tomb", were used, but the honorific title was "Denka" until the Meiji period. In principle, there could not be more than one empress at the same time, but there were cases where the empress of the previous emperor continued to call herself empress even after abdicating and was concurrently the empress of the new emperor, or where two empresses coexisted under one emperor at the same time. In such cases, one was called the empress and the other the chugu, and the offices of the empress's court and chugu were established as subsidiary offices, respectively. The ceremony to establish an empress was temporarily abolished during the period of the Northern and Southern Courts, but after the Edo Shogunate was established, it was held again when Hidetada Tokugawa's daughter Kazuko was made empress of Emperor Gomizunoo. After the Imperial House Law was enacted in February 1889, it was decided that the crown prince's wife would automatically assume the position of empress when the crown prince succeeded to the throne. In addition, if a woman married someone who was already the emperor, a special imperial edict to establish an empress was to be issued. In January 1947, the new Imperial House Law was enacted and promulgated, and the case of establishing an empress was to go through a deliberation at the Imperial House Council.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

「きさき」「きさいの宮」「椒房」などともいう。天皇の正妻のことで，明治以前では，特に正式に立后の宣命を受けた正室だけをさした。この立后の宣命を受けるものは，律令制のもとでは皇族の女子を原則とすると定められていた。しかし，聖武天皇が臣下の藤原不比等の娘光明子 (光明皇后 ) を立后して以来，臣下，特に大臣の娘が皇后となる例もしばしばみられた。古くから皇后の地位に対する身分的待遇はきわめて高く，崩御，山陵など天皇に対すると同じ言葉が使われたが，敬称は明治まで殿下であった。皇后は同時に2人以上併立しないことが原則であったが，前帝の皇后が譲位後も皇后と称し，新帝の皇后と併立したり，1人の天皇に2人の皇后が同時に併存したりする例もみられた。このような場合には，職制のうえでは一方を皇后，他方を中宮と称し，それぞれ付属職制として，皇后宮職，中宮職をおいた。南北朝のときから立后の儀式は一時廃止されたが，江戸幕府が成立すると，徳川秀忠の娘和子が後水尾天皇の皇后に立后されてから，再び行われるようになった。 1889年2月，『皇室典範』が制定されてからは，皇太子妃は，皇太子が皇位を継承すると同時に自動的に皇后の地位につくことと定められた。これ以外にすでに天皇の地位にある人と結婚した場合には，特に立后の詔書が発布されることになっていた。 1947年1月，新皇室典範が制定，公布されて，立后の場合，皇室会議の議を経ることとなった。

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