Emperor Go-Sanjō

Go-Sanjō (1034 – 1073) was the seventy-first Emperor, reigning from 1068 to 1073. Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name was Takahito. His reign is known for weakening the Fujiwara and re-asserting the power of the emperor.

Takahito’s (Go- Sanjō’s) father was Emperor Go-Suzaku. His mother was Empress (kōgō) Sadako also known as Teishi, later Yōmei-mon-In (1012 – 1094), who was the daughter of Emperor Sanjō. His mother and father were grandchildren of Fujiwara no Michinaga maternally. He was the first emperor in 170 years whose mother was not Fujiwara paternally.

 Relation with Fujiwara

The relationship of the emperor and the Fujiwara clan was an important one, at least for the Fujiwara. The Fujiwara traditionally furnished wives and consorts to emperors, imperial princes, and other princes, thereby cementing their place in court; however, what was most important was that the emperor’s wife must come from one of the Five Regent Houses (Go-Sekke), whose family leaders monopolized the regency in the Imperial Court.

During the Late Heian Era, sometimes called the Fujiwara Era, the Go-Sekke controlled the emperor through a very simple but effective scheme. A Fujiwara Princess or Empress would give birth to a boy who would be designated Imperial Prince. The boy would be brought into the home of his maternal grandfather who would raise him. The Emperor would resign, the boy, still under the control of his Fujiwara grandfather, would be made emperor. The Fujiwara elder would rule as sessho (regent for a child) or kampaku (regent for an adult). It all depended upon Fujiwara women from the Five Regent houses producing a boy. This was the arrangement from the days of Fujiwara no Yoshifusa (804 – 872), culminating with Fujiwara no Michinaga. His son Fujiwara no Yorimichi (992 – 1074) served as regent (sessho and kampaku) for Emperors Go-Ichijō, Go-Suzaku, and Go-Reizei. Another son, Fujiwara no Norimichi (996 – 1075) was set to replace Yorimichi once Go-Reizei produced an heir. It changed after the reign of Emperor Go-Reizei, for Emperor Go-Sanjō’s mother, was not from the Go-Sekke.

Go-Sanjō’s father, Emperor Go-Suzaku, had three major empresses and consorts: his mother, Imperial Princess Teishi, Emperor Sanjō’s third daughter; Empress Fujiwara no Genshi, Fujiwara no Yorimichi’s adopted daughter; and Crown Princess Fujiwara no Yoshiko, Michinaga’s sixth daughter, with whom Go-Suzaku had a son, Imperial Prince Chikahito. Chikahito became Emperor Reizei. Emperor Reizei was provided three empresses: Imperial Princess Shoshi, Emperor Go-Ichijo’s daughter; Fujiwara no Hiroko, Fujiwara no Yorimichi’s adopted daughter; and Fujiwara no Kanshi, Fujiwara no Norimichi’s daughter. In his youth, Go-Sanjō was not expected to become emperor and Yorimichi treated him poorly, after all Go-Reizei had empresses who were daughters of both Yorimichi and Norimichi.  However, they did not have any children who survived.

The advocacy of Fujiwara no Yoshinobu (995 – 1065) became very important. Yoshinobu was the fifth son of Fujiwara no Michinaga. He was appointed to the chugu daibu (a master of the palace of the second consort of the emperor). Yoshinobu assumed the guardianship of Prince Takahito. Even though the child of Genshi was slated to be Imperial Prince, Yoshinobu started pressuring the Emperor Go-Suzaku to make Takahito imperial prince. He started with Go-Suzaku when he became seriously ill, and with Go-Reizei. Go-Suzaku relented, naming Takahito as Imperial Prince after Go-Reizei and Go-Reizei, having no surviving heir, agreed to the arrangement.

Yoshinobu had Takahito marry his daughter Moshi. Yoshinobu died before Takahito ascended the throne but named his adopted son, Fujiwara no Yoshinaga (1022 – 1082) as his successor.

Enthronement

Go-Reizei died and Takahito ascended the throne as Emperor Go-Sanjō. The chain of imperial mothers who were daughters of Fujiwara regents broke when Go-Sanjō acceded to the throne.

When Go-Sanjō became emperor, Yorimichi was 74 and Norimichi was 72. Go-Sanjō was 34 and the heir-apparent as kampaku was Morozane who was only 24. A reversal occurred, instead of a mature Fujiwara regent controlling a child emperor, it was the emperor who was in his prime of life dealing with two elderly men and a young man. Furthermore, Go-Sanjō profited from a power struggle between Yorimichi, Norimichi, and their sister, Shōshi, the former empress of Emperor Ichijō. Norimichi wanted his son, Fujiwara no Nobunaga, to succeed him as kampaku over Morozane and Shōshi had little faith in Norimichi. Highlighting the weakening of the Fujiwara, when Go-Sanjō was enthroned he proclaimed his boy, Sadahito (who was the son of Moshi, the daughter of Yoshinobu) as Imperial Prince. Sadahito was later to become Emperor Shirakawa.

Relations between Go-Sanjō and Fujiwara

In 1068 when Go-Sanjō ascended the throne, Fujiwara no Yorimichi had abdicated his position of kampaku, replaced by his younger brother Norimichi. However, Norimichi was to hold the position because his daughter, Fujiwara no Kanshi was empress to Emperor Go-Reizei, but since they produced no children, his position was meaningless.  Norimichi did have the position of chancellor (chief advisor to the Emperor) However, Go-Sanjō relied upon Fujiwara no Yoshinobu’s adopted son Fujiwara no Yoshinaga and Minamoto no Morofusa, of the Murakami Minamoto clan. Yoshinaga and Morofusa were used to oppose the sekke-ke (Fujiwara Regent Houses) and appointed lower government officials.

Government the Enkyu Period

Go-Sanjō’s reign has been described as one of good government. In 1069, he issued the Enkyū Shōen Regulation Decree, establishing a government office to certify Shōen records, and the Decree Restricting the Expansion of Private Estates (Enkyu no shōen seiri rei). It was particularly harmful to the finances of the Sekkan-ke, even confiscating some of the private estates of the Sekkan-ke. In an ironic twist, the rivalry of the Fujiwara brothers, Yorimichi and Norimichi, had grown to the point where Norimichi supported these measures, because they hurt Yorimichi. The following year, 1070, Go-Sanjō ordered the issuance of the silk fabric regulations. In 1072, he ordered the Enkyu measuring cup, the official measuring cup, and price regulations were established. Emperor Go-Sanjō also worked to strengthen the finances of the Imperial Household. He added area under imperial authority, especially Ezo (the name used at that time to refer to the lands located to the north of Japan), and the whole of Honshu (the main island), including the Tsugaru and Shimokita peninsulas.

Decline and Death    

In 1072, after four years of his enthronement, the Go-Sanjō intended to pass the throne to Imperial Prince Sadahito and start a cloister government. In 1073, he abdicated in favor of Sadahito and entered the Buddhist priesthood, however he became ill and died when he was only forty years old.

Consorts and Children

Go-Sanjō had three main consorts. The Imperial Empress (chugū) Kaoruko, who was Emperor Go-Ichijō’s daughter and Michinaga’s granddaughter, with whom no children were born. Fujiwara Shigeko (d.1062), Fujiwara Kinnari‘s daughter and Fujiwara no Yoshinobu‘s adopted daughter, with whom he had Imperial Prince Sadahito later Emperor Shirakawa and Imperial Princess Tokushi (1060–1114) who married Emperor Horikawa (his grandson), among others. Minamoto Motoko (1047-1134), who was Minamoto Motohira‘s daughter, with whom he had two sons.