Emperor Goen'yu

Japanese: 後円融天皇 - ごえんゆうてんのう

Year of death: 4th April 26th, Meitoku (6th June 1393)
Year of birth: Enbun 3/Shohei 13.12.12 (1359.1.11)
Emperor of the Northern and Southern Courts period (reigned 1371-82). Fifth Emperor of the Northern Court. Second son of Emperor Go-Kogon. His mother was Fujiwara no Nakashi (Sukenmon'in), daughter of Zenpoji Michikiyo, an official at the Ishiyama Shrine. He was proclaimed prince in March 1371 (Oan 4/Kentoku 2). His given name was Ohito. Emperor Suko was abducted by the Southern Court during the Kan'o Disturbance (1350-52) and imprisoned in Kanao, Yamato. After returning to Kyoto in 1357 (Enbun 2/Shohei 12), he temporarily gave up on the imperial line, but was unable to give up and fought with Go-Kogon over putting his son Yoshihito on the throne. In the end, with the strong intervention of Kanrei Hosokawa Yoriyuki, Go-Kogon's wishes were respected and Ohito ascended to the throne. After 11 years on the throne, he abdicated in April 1382 (Eitoku 2/Kowaka 2) to Go-Komatsu. Suko, who was still alive at this time, appealed to the Muromachi Shogunate to allow Eihito to ascend the throne, but Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu firmly refused, leading to Gokomatsu's accession to the throne and Go-En'yu's cloistered government. However, Go-En'yu's cloistered government was put in a difficult position by the political power of Yoshimitsu, who had begun to rule directly, and the shogunate gradually took away the judicial power and administrative rights in Kyoto that had been controlled by the dynasty. In the first year of the cloistered government, he fought with Yoshimitsu over the implementation of the enthronement ceremony, but Yoshimitsu allied with Regent Nijō Yoshimoto and refused the demands of the retired emperor. The retired emperor also suspected Yoshimitsu of having an affair and attacked Empress Genshi (Tsūyōmon'in) with a sword and expelled the female court official Ansatsukyoku from the palace. In response, rumors spread that Yoshimitsu was plotting to have the retired emperor exiled, and the retired emperor shut himself in the palace's Buddhist altar and attempted to commit suicide, but was stopped. This turmoil was calmed down by his mother Nakako, and thereafter the retired emperor became submissive to Yoshimitsu. He was the same age as Yoshimitsu and was a cousin, and they fought a fierce power struggle, but in the end he succumbed to Yoshimitsu's political power. He was the last retired emperor of the Insei period who held some kind of power, and is therefore important as the last holder of royal authority in the imperial family. <References> Akira Imaya, "Royalty in the Muromachi Period"

(Akira Imaya)

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

Japanese:

没年：明徳4.4.26(1393.6.6)
生年：延文3/正平13.12.12(1359.1.11)
南北朝時代の天皇(在位1371～82)。北朝第5代天皇。後光厳天皇の第2皇子。母は石清水祠官善法寺通清の娘藤原仲子(崇賢門院)。応安4/建徳2(1371)年3月親王宣下。諱は緒仁。観応の擾乱(1350～52)で南朝に拉致され大和賀名生に幽閉された崇光天皇は,延文2/正平12(1357)年帰京後,いったん皇統を断念したが諦め切れず,息栄仁を皇位につけようとして後光厳と争い,結局管領細川頼之の強い介入で後光厳の意思が尊重され緒仁が践祚することになった。在位11年にして永徳2/弘和2(1382)年4月,後小松に譲位した。このときも健在であった崇光は室町幕府に栄仁の践祚を働きかけたが,将軍足利義満の峻拒にあって後小松践祚,後円融の院政が実現した。しかし親政を開始した義満の政治力の前に後円融院政は苦境に立たされ,王朝が掌握していた裁判権や京都の施政権も次々と幕府に奪われた。院政の初年には即位礼の実施を巡って義満と争ったが,義満は摂政二条良基と結んで上皇の要求を拒否した。また上皇は義満との密通を疑って女御厳子(通陽門院)に刃傷を振るい,女官按察局を宮中から追放,これに対し義満が上皇の遠島を企てているとの噂が立ち,上皇は宮中持仏堂にこもって自殺しようとして止められるという事件を起こした。この騒動は母仲子の収拾により鎮静化し,以後上皇は義満に従順となった。義満と同年で従兄弟同士に当たり,激しい権力闘争を演じたが結局義満の政治力の前に屈服した。何らかの権力を有した院政期最後の上皇,すなわち皇家最後の王権保持者として重要。<参考文献>今谷明『室町の王権』

(今谷明)

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