Taikenmon-in Temple

Japanese: 待賢門院 - たいけんもんいん

Year of death: Hisayasu 1.8.22 (1145.9.10)
Year of birth: Kōwa 3 (1101)
Empress of Emperor Toba in the late Heian period. Her given name was Shoshi. Mother of Emperors Sutoku and Goshirakawa. Daughter of Gon Dainagon Fujiwara no Kinzane. Her mother was the daughter of Fujiwara no Takakata, and was the wet nurse of Emperor Horikawa and Emperor Toba, named Mitsuko, of Junior Second Rank. She was initially adopted by Emperor Shirakawa's favorite concubine, Gion no Nyogo, and was later raised under the Emperor. The Emperor's doting love for her is detailed in the Imakagami, and it is said that the young Shoshi always slept next to him. Eventually, the Emperor wanted her to marry the eldest son of the Chancellor Fujiwara no Tadamichi, but due to Tadamichi's opposition, in 1117, he had Shoshi enter the court of his grandson, Emperor Toba. According to Tadamichi's diary, Tonoreki, there were various rumors of Shoshi's promiscuity at the time, and she was called a "strange and mysterious Empress." The following year she became the Empress, and in 1119 she gave birth to Akihito (Emperor Sutoku). This prince was actually the son of the retired emperor, a fact that Emperor Toba was aware of, which later became one of the causes of the Hogen Rebellion (1156). In 1123 (Hoan 4), Prince Akihito ascended to the throne, and the following year (1124) he was given the title of Emperor Taikenmon'in. In July 1129 (Taji 4), when the retired emperor, who had been his greatest patron, died, his relationship with the retired Emperor Toba deteriorated with the entry of Tadazane's daughter Yasushi into the Imperial Court and the appearance of Fujiwara no Tokushi (Bifukumon'in), and in 1141 (Eiji 1), Prince Taihito (Emperor Konoe), son of Tokushi, ascended to the throne through the maneuverings of the retired Emperor Toba, causing him to lose his power. In his later years, he devoted himself to the construction of Hokongoin Temple at Ninna-ji Temple, which he had begun after the death of Emperor Shirakawa. He had his youngest son, Prince Motohito, enter the household of Prince Kakuho at Ninna-ji Temple, and he himself became a monk at Hokongoin Temple in 1142.

(Megumi Tsuchitani)

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

Japanese:

没年：久安1.8.22(1145.9.10)
生年：康和3(1101)
平安後期,鳥羽天皇の皇后。諱璋子。崇徳,後白河天皇の生母。権大納言藤原公実の娘。母は藤原隆方の娘で,堀河,鳥羽天皇の乳母の従二位光子。初め白河法皇の寵姫祇園女御の養女となり,のちに法皇の下で養育される。法皇の溺愛ぶりは『今鏡』に詳しく,幼い璋子は常に法皇の懐で添い寝したという。やがて法皇は関白藤原忠実の嫡男忠通との婚姻を望むが,忠実の反対に遭い,永久5(1117)年に孫の鳥羽天皇に璋子を入内させる。忠実の日記『殿暦』によれば,当時璋子には様々な乱淫の噂があり,「奇怪不可思議の女御」といわれた。翌年には中宮となり,元永2(1119)年に顕仁(崇徳天皇)を生む。この皇子は実は法皇の子で,鳥羽天皇もその事実を知っており,のちの保元の乱(1156)の一因となる。保安4(1123)年には顕仁親王が即位し,翌天治1(1124)年に院号宣下を得て待賢門院と称す。大治4(1129)年7月,最大の庇護者であった法皇が死去すると,忠実の娘の泰子の入内や,藤原得子(美福門院)の出現によって鳥羽上皇との関係は悪化,永治1(1141)年に得子の生んだ体仁親王(近衛天皇)が鳥羽上皇の策動によって即位すると,その権勢を失う。晩年は白河法皇の死後に始めた仁和寺法金剛院の造立に打ち込み,末子の本仁親王を仁和寺の覚法法親王のもとに入室させ,自身も康治1(1142)年に法金剛院で出家した。

(土谷恵)

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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