Emperor Higashiyama
Emperor Higashiyama was the 113th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Higashiyama's reign spanned the years from 1687 through to his abdication in 1709 corresponding to the Genroku era. The previous hundred years of peace and seclusion in Japan had created relative economic stability. The arts and theater and architecture flourished.
Events of Higashiyama's life
Early life
Before Higashiyama's ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name was Asahito or Tomohito. Tomohito was born on October 21, 1675 and was the fifth son of Emperor Reigen; his birth mother was a lady-in-waiting named Matsuki Muneko. While Prince Tomohito was the son of a secondary consort, he was adopted by empress Takatsukasa Fusako. Tomohito's Imperial family lived with him in the Dairi of the Heian Palace. Events that took place before Tomohito became Crown Prince include a great flood that devastated Edo, a great famine that devastated Kyoto, and the Great Tenna Fire in Edo. The Shingon Buddhist temple Gokoku-ji was also founded in Edo where it remains today as one of the few sites in Tokyo that survived World War II. Tomohito-shinnō was proclaimed Crown prince in 1682, and given the pre-accession title of Go-no-miya. For the first time in over 300 years a ceremonial investiture was held for the occasion. A fire burned the Kyoto Imperial Palace to ashes in 1684 prompting reconstruction that took a year to complete. The effects from this fire on the Imperial family, if any, are unknown. Emperor Reigen's brother, former-Emperor Go-Sai, died on March 26, 1685 and a great comet was observed crossing the night sky.Reign
Prince Tomohito acceded to the throne on May 2, 1687 as Emperor when his father abdicated in his favor, the era's name was changed from Jōkyō to Genroku to mark this event. While he held the political title of Emperor, it was in name only as the shoguns of the Tokugawa family controlled Japan. Initially, Emperor Reigen continued to rule in Higashiyama's name as a Cloistered Emperor as had been done in the Heian period. While this move caused trouble by provoking the ruling shogunate, Higashiyama's gentle character helped to improve relations with the Shōgun. This warmed relationship caused imperial property to be increased, and repairs carried out on Imperial mausoleums. Reigen meanwhile lived out his retirement in the Sentō-gosho, and is now known for being the last "Cloistered Emperor" of Japan. On December 20, 1688 the esoteric Daijō-sai ceremony was revived because of the shogunate's insistence. This Shinto ritual had been in abeyance for over a century, and is performed only once by the emperor in the period of the enthronement ceremonies.- 1688 : The Tokugawa shogunate revised the code of conduct for funerals, which incorporated a code of conduct for mourning as well.
- September 16, 1689 : German physician Engelbert Kaempfer arrives at Dejima for the first time. Bakufu policy in this era was designed to marginalize the influence of foreigners; and Kaempfer had to present himself as "Dutch" in dealings with the Japanese. Regardless of this minor subterfuge, an unintended and opposite consequence of sakoku was to enhance the value and significance of a very small number of thoughtful observers like Kaempfer, whose writings document what he learned or discovered first-hand. Kaempfer's published accounts and unpublished writings provided a unique and useful perspective for Orientalists and Japanologists in the 19th century; and his work continues to be rigorously examined by modern researchers today.
- 1695 : Minting begun of Genroku coinage. The shogunate placed the Japanese character gen on the obverse of copper coins, the same character used today in China for the yuan. There is no connection between those uses, however.
- 1695 : First kennel is established for stray dogs in Edo. In this context, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi comes to be nicknamed the "Dog Shōgun".
- 1697 : The fourth official map of Japan was made in this year, but it was considered to be inferior to the previous one—which had been ordered in 1605 and completed in 1639. This Genroku map was corrected in 1719 by the mathematician Tatebe Katahiro, using high mountain peaks as points of reference, and was drawn to a scale of 1:21,600.
- 1697 : Great fire in Edo.
- 1697 : Another great fire in Edo. A new hall is constructed inside the enclosure of the Edo temple of Kan'ei-ji.
- 1703 : when the Akō Incident took place, in which a band of Forty-seven rōnin avenged the death of their master Asano Naganori, due to the bloodshed, Emperor Higashiyama nearly withdrew the imperial will.
- 1703 : First performance of Chikamatsu Monzaemon's play The Love Suicides at Sonezaki.
- 1703 : The Great Genroku earthquake shook Edo and parts of the shōguns castle collapsed. The following day, a vast fire spread throughout the city. Parts of Honshū's coast were battered by tsunami, and 200,000 people were either killed or injured.
- October 28, 1707 : 1707 Hōei earthquake. The city of Osaka suffers tremendously because of a very violent earthquake.
- November 15, 1707 : An eruption of Mt. Fuji; cinders and ash fell like rain in Izu, Kai, Sagami, and Musashi.
- 1708 : The shogunate introduces new copper coins into circulation; and each coin is marked with the Hōei nengō name.
- 1708 : There was a great fire in Heian-kyō.
- 1708 : Italian missionary Giovanni Sidotti landed in Yakushima, where he was promptly arrested.
- 1709 : Shōgun Tsunayoshi appoints commission to repair and restore Imperial mausoleums.
- 1709 : Tokugawa Ienobu, Tsunayoshi's nephew, becomes the 6th shōgun of the Edo bakufu. and Emperor Nakamikado accedes to the throne.
- July 27, 1709 : Emperor Higashiyama abdicated and the throne passed to his son.
- January 16, 1710 : Higashiyama died.
Eras of reign
The years of Higashiyama's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō.- Jōkyō
- Genroku
- Hōei
Genealogy
Spouse
| Position | Name | Birth | Death | Father | Issue |
| Chūgū | Princess Yukiko | November 14, 1680 | March 18, 1720 | Arisugawa-no-miya Yukihito | First daughter: Imperial Princess Akiko |