Kōken
Also known as Shōtoku, Koken, Kouken
Empress of Japan
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1860
- Died
- 1912
- Works
- 17
Top works
- Ueber fossile säugethiere aus China nach den sammlungen des Herrn Ferdinand freiherrn von Richthofen ...
- Die Gastropoden des baltischen Untersilurs
- Die Deutsche geologische Gesellschaft in den Jahren 1848-1898 mit einem Lebenabriss von Ernst Beyrich
- Die Vorwelt und ihre Entwickelungsgeschichte
- Die Leitfossilien
via Open Library + Wikidata
Key facts
- Reign
- 749–758
- Predecessor
- Shōmu
Article
HouseImperial House of Japan FatherEmperor Shōmu MotherEmpress Kōmyō
Empress Kōken (born Abe, known as Empress Shōtoku during her second reign; 718–770) was the 46th and 48th monarch of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Seeking to protect the bloodline of Prince Kusakabe, her father, Emperor Shōmu, proclaimed her the first crown princess in Japanese history in 738, and she succeeded her father as empress regnant in 749 after he retired to become a Buddhist monk. With the backing of her mother, Empress Kōmyō, and cousin Fujiwara no Nakamaro, she was able to outmaneuver a largely hostile Daijō-kan (Council of State). Her father died in 756, having named a cousin unrelated to the Fujiwara clan as Kōken's heir; this outraged her maternal Fujiwara relatives and their supporters, and Kōken replaced him with Prince Ōi, a close ally of her mother and Nakamaro. In 757, she headed off a conspiracy to overthrow her by Tachibana no Naramaro, and resigned the following year to serve as empress emerita (Daijō Tennō), while Ōi reigned as Emperor Junnin.
Connections
Categories
718 births770 deaths8th-century Buddhist nuns8th-century empresses regnant8th-century Japanese monarchs8th-century Japanese people8th-century Japanese womenBuddhist nuns of the Nara periodDaughters of Japanese emperorsJapanese emperors who abdicatedJapanese empresses regnantPeople of the Nara period