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JAPANESE IMPERIAL
GENEALOGY
(The Early Heian Period)
781 - 806 Kanmu Tennō, Fiftieth Emperor of Japan. Born Yamabe Ō in 737. The eras of his reign were: Tenō (781-782) and Enryaku (782-806). He moved the capital to Nagaoka in 784 and then to Heian (modern Kyōtō) in 794, where it would officially remain until 1868. Under his rule, Imperial Japan reached its greatest prosperity, but he was one fo the last Emperors to act independently of the Fujiwara family. He sent an expedition to conquer Northern Honshu, under the first Shogun; later Shoguns would overthrow both the Fujiwara family and the Imperial court and establish military dictatorships. He married (first) Fujiwara no Otomuro, Empress, daughter of Fujiwara no Yoshitsugu (see FUJIWARA). He married (second) Fujiwara no Tabiko, daughter of Fujiwara no Momokawa (see FUJIWARA). He had 32 children, including:
1) Heizei Tennō (son of Otomuro), Fifty-First Emperor of Japan - see below
2) Saga Tennō (son of Otomuro), Fifty-Second Emperor of Japan - see below
3) Junna Tennō (son of Tabiko), Fifty-Third Emperor of Japan - see below
4) A son, ancestor of the Taira (Kanmu Heishi) Clan.
806 - 809 Heizei Tennō (son of Otomuro), Fifty-First Emperor of Japan. Born Ate Ō in 773. He was appointed Crown Prince in 785. The eras of his reign were: Enryaku (806) and Daidō (806-809). He quarrelled with his younger brother and heir, Saga, and attempted to remove him from the succession. He was dissuaded from this course of action by an eclipse. He became ill and abdicated in favour of his brother Saga in 809. He married Fujiwara no Kusako, who conspired to restore Heizei to the throne in 810; she poisoned herself when the plot was uncovered. As a result of Kusako's plot Heizei spent the rest of his life under house arrest in Nara, where he was known as Nara no Tennō, dying there in 824. He had seven children, including:
1) Takaoka Shinnō (son of Kusako?). He was appointed Crown Prince in 809 and removed from the succession in 810 after his mother's rebellion. He became a Buddhist Priest with the name Shinnyo , studying under Kōbō, founder of Shingon Buddhism and travelling to Tang China. He died in China or in the Taklamakan Desert on his way to India.
809 - 823 Saga Tennō, Fifty-Second Emperor of Japan. Born Kamino Shinnō in 785. He became Crown Prince in 806, succeeding to the throne after the abdication of his older brother. The eras of his reign were: Daidō (809-810) and Kōnin (810-823). He was culturally inclined: poetry composing contests were first held at court in his reign and he was an accomplished calligrapher. The death penalty was abolished in his reign, it was eventually reintroduced in 1156. He married Tachibana no Kachiko, born 786 and died in 850, daughter of Tachibana no Ujitomo, Minister of the Right (844-847). He abdicated in 823 and died in 842, leaving 47 children, including:
1) Ninmyō Tennō (son of Kachiko), Fifty-Fourth Emperor of Japan - see below.
2) Minamoto no Makoto. Born 810, he chose to descend to commoner status, becoming the first Head of the Minamoto (Saga Genji) Clan. He was Minister of the Left (857-868). He died in 868.
3) Minamoto no Tokiwa. Born 812, he chose to descend to commoner status, becoming a member of the Minamoto (Saga Genji) Clan. He was Major Captain of the Inner Palace Guards of the Left, Minister of the Right (840-844) and Minister of the Left (844-854). He died in 854.
823 - 833 Junna Tennō, Fifty-Third Emperor of Japan. He was born Ōtomo Shinnō in 786 and became Crown Prince in 810 following the rebellion which attempted to restore Heizei to the throne. The eras of his reign were: Kōnin (823-824) and Tenchō (824-833). He abdicated in 833 and lived with his older brother Saga until his death in 840. He had 13 children, including:
1) Tsunesada Shinnō. Born 826. He was Crown Prince to Ninmyo, at the insistance of retired Emperors Saga and Junna. Within days of Saga's death in 842 Tsunesada was implicated in a conspiracy against the Emperor and removed from the succession.
833 - 850 Ninmyō Tennō, Fifty-Fourth Emperor of Japan. Born Masara Shinnō in 809. The eras of his reign were: Tenchō (833-834), Shōwa (834-848), and Kashō (848-850). Following the removal of his nephew as crown prince in 842, Ninmyo was reduced to a complete figurehead; all significant decisions were made by his Fujiwara ministers. He married (first) Gojō Kōgō, born Fujiwara no Junshi, daughter of Fujiwara no Fuyutsugu (see FUJIWARA). He married (second) Fujiwara no Sawako, daughter of Fujiwara Fusatsugi, Governor of Kii. He died in 850, and was buried at Fukasaka, and was therefore known as Fukasaka no Tennō. He had 24 children, including:
1) Montoku Tennō (son of Gojō), Fifty-Fifth Emperor of Japan - see below.
3) Kōkō Tennō (son of Sawako), Fifty-Eighth Emperor of Japan - see below.
4) Minamoto no Hikaru. Born 845, he descended to commoner status, becoming a member of the Minamoto (Ninmyō Genji) Clan. He was Minister of the Right (901-913) and died in 913.