Kōgyoku/Saimei (594-661) was Japan’s second empress regnant according to the traditional chronology, with the notable particularity of having reigned twice.
Her first reign ends in blood
Though stable during Empress Suiko’s reign, the court reverted to a state of unrest after her death. Emperor Jomei, died without designating a successor. To put an end to the power struggles, his widow, Princess Takara, was chosen in 642. She was 49 years old and would thus be known as Kōgyoku Tennō.
As the region was hit by a severe drought, Kōgyoku prayed and the rain fell. She thus won her subject's respect.
In 645, her son, Prince Naka no Ōe , killed minister Soga no Iruka in front of her in the throne room. Kōgyoku knew nothing of the plot. As she confronted him, her son explained that Iruka was guilty of treason.
The empress left the scene and abdicated two days later in favor of her brother Kōtoku, with Naka no Ōe becoming heir apparent.
In 654, Kōtoku died of an illness and his sister took the throne again as the 37th Tennō, called Saimei.
A mediator and a builder
Saimei fostered international relations by sending envoys to Tang China and opening exchanges with the three kingdoms of Korea. She undertook many building projects to show the prosperity of her realm and receive foreign envoys.
Many of those buildings were made of stone. However, not all her projects were met with approval. Such was the case of a facility with an imposing stone wall and necessitating the manual digging of a canal. It nonetheless seems that this canal had two purposes: irrigate the fields and form a moat that would deter enemy invasions.
At the end of her life, Saimei planned a military to help the kingdom Korean kingdom of Baekje against Silla and China. She was at Tsukushi, readying her troops, when she died at age 68. Before passing away, she told her son Naka not to waste a great amount of labor in building her tomb.
The navy suffered a terrible defeat after her passing. Her son Naka no Ōe would later rule as emperor Tenji.
A loving grandmother
Saimei played an important role in politics by achieving peace between rival factions. She also raised her granddaughter Jitō, who would become a powerful empress in her own right. Extremely saddened by the death of her grandson prince Takeru in 658, she asked to be buried beside him and wrote two poems:
Above the hill
At Imaki
If even a cloud
Would only appear,
Then why should I grieve?
I did not think of him
As being a mere child, young
Like the young grass
By the river bank, where they track
The wounded deer.
Like the foaming waters
Of the Asuka river,
Moving on ceaselessly:
Without pause
Does my mind dwell on him
And:
Though I cross the mountains
And sail over the seas,
I shall not forget
The happy
Times in Imaki.
The salt current
At the river mouth
Flows back into the sea:
With darkness at my back,
Must I go, leaving him behind?
Must I go,
Leaving behind
My beloved young child?
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Further reading:
Toshio Akima, "The Songs of the Dead: Poetry, Drama, and Ancient Death Rituals of Japan"
"The story of Empress Saimei"
Aoki Michiko Y., “Jitō Tennō, the female sovereign”, in: Mulhern Chieko Irie (ed.), Heroic with grace legendary women of Japan
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