Fujiwara Yasuko - Fujiwara no Anshi

Japanese: 藤原安子 - ふじわらのあんし

Year of death: 29 April 1964 (11 June 964)
Year of birth: 927
Empress Dowager in the mid-Heian period. Daughter of Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Michisuke and Shoichii Fujiwara no Moriko. She gave birth to three sons and four daughters with Emperor Murakami: Emperors Reizei and En'yu, Prince Tamehira, and Princesses Tsuguko, Sukeko, Sukeko, and Senshi. In 940 (Tenkei 3), at the age of 14, she married Crown Prince Nariakira (Emperor Murakami) at Hikasha. When the prince ascended to the throne in April of the same year, she became a consort and then rose to the rank of Junior Third Rank. Her second son, Prince Norihira (Emperor Reizei), born in May 950 (Tenryaku 4), was made crown prince in July. Just before that, Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs Fujiwara no Motokata's daughter, Sukehime, gave birth to their first child, Prince Hirohira, but he missed out on the role of crown prince, disappointing father and daughter, and three years later Motokata and then Sukehime died. The bitterness between father and daughter became a "ghost" thereafter, and was believed to be the cause of Emperor Reizei's madness and the death of Yasuko. In the 10th year of Tenryaku, she was promoted to Junior Second Rank, and in the 2nd year of Tentoku (958), she became empress and was called Chugu. In April of the 1st year of Kōhō (964), she gave birth to Princess Senshi, and died a few days later in the Shudenryō. She was 38 years old. Emperor Murakami had many wives and concubines in his harem, but her tolerant and considerate personality, coupled with the guardianship of her father, Michisuke, earned her the Emperor's deep trust, and she is said to have had good relationships with her fellow consorts and to have shown kindness to those who served her. On the other hand, she also had a strong-willed side, as seen in her throwing shards of pottery through a hole in the wall at the Emperor's favorite, Empress Koichijō Yoshiko, and in her anger, when the Emperor decided to suspend her brothers, she spoke to him directly and had him issue an imperial decree, and she refused to allow her younger sister Noriko to enter the palace. She also showed the image of a wise Empress, advising the Emperor on good governance in response to his inquiries.

(Sanae Hattori)

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

Japanese:

没年：康保1.4.29(964.6.11)
生年：延長5(927)
平安中期の中后。右大臣藤原師輔と正一位藤原盛子の娘。村上天皇との間に,冷泉・円融両天皇,為平親王,承子・輔子・資子・選子内親王の3男4女を生む。天慶3(940)年14歳のとき,飛香舎で東宮成明親王(村上天皇)と結婚。同9年4月親王が天皇位につくと女御となり,次いで従三位。天暦4(950)年5月に生まれた第2皇子憲平親王(冷泉天皇)が,7月に立太子する。直前に民部卿藤原元方の娘祐姫が第1子広平親王を出産していたが,立太子を逸し父娘は落胆,3年後元方が,続いて祐姫も死亡する。この父娘の遺恨が,以後「物の怪」となり,冷泉天皇の狂気や,安子死去の要因とされた。天暦10年従二位となり,天徳2(958)年立后,中宮を称した。康保1(964)年4月に選子内親王を出産し,数日後主殿寮で死去。38歳だった。村上天皇の後宮には多くの妻妾たちがいたが,父師輔の後見と相まって寛容で思いやりのある人柄に天皇の信任は厚く,朋輩女御たちとの関係も良好で,身辺奉仕者たちにも温情をかけたといわれる。一方,天皇寵愛の小一条女御芳子に壁の穴から土器の破片を投げつけたり,怒った天皇が兄弟を謹慎処分にすると直談判して勅旨を出させたり,妹登子の入内を拒否するなど気の強い一面もあり,また,天皇の諮問に対し善政を助言する賢い后像もうかがえる。

(服藤早苗)

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