Princess Iitoyo

Iitoyo (飯豊青皇女, 440–484) was a Japanese imperial princess and empress regnant.^[b][6] She was, according to traditional legend, ruler for a short period between Emperor Seinei and Emperor Kenzō. She is referred to as "Empress [Regnant] Iitoyo" (飯豊天皇 Iitoyo-tennō) in the Fusō Ryakuki and the Honchō Kōin Jōun-roku [ja], a 12th-century and a 15th-century collection of historical texts, respectively.^[7][6]

Princess Iitoyo 飯豊青皇女
Great Queen of Yamato (possibly)
Kitahanauchi Otsuka Kofun where she is believed to be buried.[1]
Empress of Japan (possibly)
Reign	484 (de facto)
Predecessor	Emperor Seinei (traditional)
Successor	Emperor Kenzō (traditional)
Born	Iitoyo-hime 440[a]
Died	484
Burial	Kitahanauchi Otsuka Kofun
Posthumous name Chinese-style shigō: Princess Iitoyo (Iitoyo-hime) (飯豊青皇女) Chinese-style shigō: Empress Iitoyo (Iitoyo-tennō) (飯豊天皇) Japanese-style shigō: Oshinumi-no-iitoyo-no-ao Posthumous name, according to other tradition Empress Tsunuzashi
House	Imperial House of Japan
Father	Emperor Richū or Ichinobe no Oshiwa
Mother	Kuro-hime (黒媛)[5] or Hae-hime (荑媛)

Traditional narrative

Tomb of Iitoyo.

The Japanese have traditionally accepted this royal's historical existence, and a mausoleum (misasagi) for Iitoyo is currently maintained. The following information available is taken from the pseudo-historical Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, which are collectively known as Kiki (記紀) or Japanese chronicles. These chronicles include legends and myths, as well as potential historical facts that have since been exaggerated and/or distorted over time. Princess Iitoyo was born sometime in 440 AD and is also referred to as "Aomi no Himemiko" (青海皇女).^[2][8][9] While both chronicles agree that Iitoyo descended from Emperor Richū, the exact degree of this relationship is told differently. According to the Kojiki, Iitoyo was born to Kuro-hime (黒媛) and was the younger sister of the imperial prince Ichinobe no Oshiwa.^[5] This would make her a daughter of Emperor Richū and aunt of the princes Woke and Oke.^[10] Alternatively, the Nihon Shoki states that Iitoyo was the daughter of Ichinobe no Oshiwa and his wife Hae-hime (荑媛), which would make her a sister of Woke and Oke and a grandchild of Emperor Richū.^[11]

According to the chronicles mentioned, after the death of the 20th Emperor Ankō (presumably ruled 453–456), his brother murdered all rivals who could claim the throne, and then ruled as the 21st Emperor Yūryaku (presumably ruled 456–479). His victims included above all his cousin Prince Ichinobe no Oshiwa, who was the eldest son and crown prince of Emperor Richū. Oshiwa's sons Ōke and Oke fled to the province after his murder, but there is no information about their aunt (sister, according to the Nihon Shoki) Iitoyo during this time.

Iitoyo appears in the chronicles for the first time in the history of the 22nd Emperor Seinei (presumably ruled 479–484), the son and successor of Emperor Yūryaku. Seinei had no children and otherwise no close relatives. Princes Ōke and Oke were in hiding, so another suitable heir to the throne from the lineage of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu had to be sought.

According to the Kojiki, this search ended with the discovery of Princess Iitoyo at the Tsunosashi Shrine, in Oshinumi, in Kazuragi, where she conducted her political affairs.^[1] She then appears to have taken over as regent until Wodate, the governor of Harima province, sent a message to the capital after his discovery of princes Ōke and Oke. Iitoyo then gave the order to bring her nephews to her in the palace, where she presumably handed the rule over to Ōke.

The course of these events is presented somewhat differently in the Nihon Shoki. In the Nihon Shoki, two grandsons of Emperor Richū were eventually found. However, both spent a year declining the throne so it was offered to Iitoyo. So she acted as regent until one of Richū's grandsons agreed to take the throne.^[12] It is unknown if before modern scholars, she was viewed as a regent or monarch in her own right.^[6] She gave herself the title Oshinomi no Ihitoyo no Awo no Mikoto. After eleven months in the winter of the same year, she died and was buried in a burial site (misasagi) on Mount Haniguchi in Katsuraki.

Historical assessment

After Empress Jingū, Princess Iitoyo is the second woman described in the chronicles as having governed the country for a certain period of time. But she is generally not recognized as a ruling empress by historians and she does not appear in the official list of emperors of Japan. In the 1219 Japanese historical work Gukanshō, written by the Buddhist monk Jien, Iitoyo was a reigning empress, based on the following explanation:

"Since the two brothers were unbending in deferring to each other, their young sister followed Seine on the throne as a reigning empress in the second month of the year in which Seine died. But she herself died in the 12th month of that same year. Perhaps that it is why we do not find her reign listed in the ordinary Imperial chronologies and why people know nothing at all about her. She was called Empress Iitoyo and it is said that her reign was in the kinoe-ne year of the 60-year cycle." - Jien: Gukanshō

Iitoyo's entry as Empress Tsunuzashi in the Tennō list (list of emperors) by Ernest Mason Satow, Japanese Chronological Tables, 1874

Iitoyo's name was entered as Empress Tsunuzashi in the list of emperors by Ernest Mason Satow in the Japanese Chronological Tables (1874).

After Isaac Titsingh's translation of Nihon Ōdai Ichiran, which was written in 1625, Iitoyo was not counted among the official emperors as she had ruled for less than ten months, but she had been given a posthumous imperial name after her death (Japanese: 飯豊天皇, Empress Iitoyo). Iitoyo is also known under other posthumous names (Okurina) such as Empress Pagei and Empress Tsunuzachi. She is also recognized as a sovereign empress on various occasions, for which information can also be found in the Nihon Shoki, where the term bō is used for her death, which is otherwise reserved exclusively for emperors.

Historians have a variety of theories about her reign. According to one,^[who?] Iitoyo may be identical to Queen Taiyoo, a successor to Himiko, who ruled Yamatai. The historian Shinobu Orikuchi sees her as the first ruling empress in the history of Japan, who combines the roles of the shaman and the sovereign. Mitakō Mihoo, on the other hand, believes that Iitoyo was a rival ruler at the time of the 26th Emperor Keitai (traditionally ruled 507–531) before he became ruler of a unified Yamato. Mizuno Yū even argues that the Emperors Seinei, Kenzō, and Ninken did not exist at all, and that Iitoyo reigned after Emperor Yūryaku for 15 years.

See also

• List of emperors of Japan
• Imperial cult

Explanatory notes

1. Most scholars agree with the Nihon Shoki, where Princess Iitoyo is described as being the aunt of Princes Woke and Oke.^[2][3][4]
2. She was most likely an empress regnant (at least in the traditional narrative) but has also been referred to as a "Placeholder Empress"