by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2019

• Unofficial Royalty: Japanese Naming Conventions

Empress Kōjun is the posthumous name of the wife of Emperor Shōwa of Japan, also known as Hirohito. Born Princess Nagako Kuni on March 6, 1903, at her family’s home in Tokyo, Japan, she was the eldest daughter of Chikako Shimazu, daughter of Prince Tadayoshi Shimazu who was the last feudal lord of Satsuma, and Prince Kuniyoshi Kuni, a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army and a member from one of the branch houses of the imperial dynasty entitled to provide a successor to the throne of Japan by adoption.

Nagako had five siblings who are the uncles and aunts of Emperor Akihito of Japan:

• Prince Asaakira Kuni (1901 – 1959), married Princess Tomoko Fushimi, had eight children
• Marquis Kunihisa Kuni (1902 – 1935), married Matsuura Muko, no children
• Princess Nobuko Kuni (1904 – 1945), married Kimimasa Sanjonishi, had four children
• Princess Satoko Kuni (1906 – 1989), married Tomoko Otani, had four children
• Count Higashifushimi Kunihide (1910 – 2014), married Yasuko Kamei, had four children, became a Buddhist monk

Nagako attended the Girls’ Department of the Peers School in Tokyo (now called Gakushūin), established to educate the children of the Japanese nobility. One of her classmates was her first cousin Princess Masako Nashimoto who married Crown Prince Yi Un of Korea. They would have been Emperor and Empress of Korea if Korea had not been annexed to Japan.

In a step away from tradition, Crown Prince Hirohito, son of Emperor Taishō, was allowed to choose his own bride. In 1917, eligible young women participated in a tea ceremony at the Imperial Palace while Hirohito watched unseen from behind a screen. He selected 14-year-old Princess Nagako who had been chosen to participate in the tea ceremony because of her lineage and her father’s exemplary military career. Following her selection as Hirohito’s future bride, Nagako was withdrawn from the Peers School and began an educational program to prepare her for her future role as Empress. The engagement was announced in January 1919 but the marriage did not occur until January 26, 1924. Upon her marriage, Nagako became the Crown Princess of Japan.

Nagako and Hirohito had seven children. Three daughters, Princess Taka, Princess Yori, and Princess Suga, married commoners, and as required by law instituted after World War II, gave up their imperial titles and left the Japanese Imperial Family.

• Princess Teru (1925 – 1961), married Prince Morihiro Higashikuni, had five children
• Princess Hisa (1927 – 1928), died at five months from an infection
• Princess Taka (1929 – 1989), married Toshimichi Takatsukasa, no children, adopted a son
• Princess Yori (born 1931), married Takamasa Ikeda, no children
• Akihito, Emperor of Japan (born 1933), married Michiko Shōda, had three children including Naruhito, Emperor of Japan
• Prince Hitachi (born 1935), married Hanako Tsugaru, no children
• Princess Suga (born 1939), married Hisanga Shimazu, one son

On December 25, 1926, when Hirohito’s father Emperor Taishō died of a heart attack at the age of 47, Hirohito began his 62-year reign as Emperor of Japan and Nagako became Empress of Japan. Empress Nagako performed her duties according to tradition. After World War II, she became more active. She was honorary president of the Japanese Red Cross and visited orphanages, families affected by war, and elderly people. Accompanying her husband in his travels in Japan and abroad, Empress Nagako was the first Empress to travel out of Japan. Her elegance and smile earned him the nickname of “The Smiling Empress.”

Empress Nagako opposed the marriage in 1959 of her eldest son Crown Prince Akihito to the commoner Michiko Shōda. After the marriage, she treated her commoner daughter-in-law harshly. Michiko suffered from several nervous breakdowns because of the pressure of the media and the attitude of her mother-in-law which resulted in making her lose her voice for seven months in the 1960s.

A back injury following a fall in 1977 as well as other health problems forced Empress Nagako to start using a wheelchair in 1980 and limit her public appearances. Her last public appearance was for the 86th birthday of Emperor Hirohito in 1987. Emperor Hirohito died on January 7, 1989, at the age of 87 and his son Akihito became Emperor of Japan.

After her husband’s death, Nagako assumed the title of Empress Dowager and she remained in seclusion for the rest of her life due to her ill health. In 1995, she became the longest-living Dowager Empress of Japan, breaking the record of Empress Kanshi, who died in 1102. On June 16, 2000, at her home, the Fukiage Ōmiya Palace in Tokyo, Japan, Dowager Empress Nagako died at the age of 97. Emperor Akihito granted his mother the posthumous title of Empress Kōjun. She was buried near her husband at the Musashi Imperial Graveyard in Hachiōji, Tokyo, Japan.

• BBC: Japan’s Dowager Empress dies
• BBC: Japan mourns Empress Nagako

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State of Japan Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• State of Japan Index
• Japanese Emperors
• Japanese Imperial Burial Sites
• Japanese Imperial Dates
• Japanese Imperial FAQs
• Japanese Imperial Weddings
• Line of Succession to the Chrysanthemum Throne
• Profiles of the Japanese Imperial Family

Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Empress Kōjun. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_K%C5%8Djun [Accessed 26 Oct. 2018].
• Flantzer, S. (2018). Emperor Shōwa of Japan (Hirohito). [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/emperor-showa-of-japan-hirohito/ [Accessed 26 Oct. 2018].
• Fr.wikipedia.org. (2018). Nagako. [online] Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagako [Accessed 26 Oct. 2018].
• Ja.wikipedia.org. (2018). 貞明皇后. [online] Available at: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B2%9E%E6%98%8E%E7%9A%87%E5%90%8E [Accessed 24 Oct. 2018].