page_title: Empress Go-Sakuramachi
section_title: Daijō Tennō
hierarchical_section_title: Empress Go-Sakuramachi / Events of Go-Sakuramachi's life / Daijō Tennō
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 泉涌寺 月輪陵拝所
context_page_description: Empress Go-Sakuramachi was the 117th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. She was named after her father Emperor Sakuramachi, the word go- before her name translates in this context as "later" or "second one". Her reign spanned the years from 1762 through to her abdication in 1771. The only significant event during her reign was an unsuccessful outside plot, that intended to displace the shogunate with restored Imperial powers.
  Go-Sakuramachi, and her brother Emperor Momozono were the last lineal descendants of Emperor Nakamikado. She had one nephew who became Emperor Go-Momozono upon her abdication in 1771. Her nephew's reign did not last long, as he died eight years later after a serious illness with no heir to the throne. A possible succession crisis was averted when Momozono hastily adopted an heir on his deathbed upon the insistence of his aunt. In her later years, Go-Sakuramachi became a "guardian" to the adopted heir until her death in 1813. In the history of Japan, Go-Sakuramachi was the last of eight women to take on the role of empress regnant.
context_section_description: Go-Sakuramachi became a Daijō-tennō (Retired Empress) upon her abdication, but her nephew's reign as Emperor did not last long. Emperor Go-Momozono became deathly ill in 1779, and having no heir to the throne this created a potential succession crisis. Go-Sakuramachi consulted with the senior courtiers and imperial guards, and planned to accept Prince Sadayoshi of Fushimi-no-miya as an adopted son. For one reason or another the choice went instead to Prince Morohito, who was a member of the Kanin branch of the Imperial family. Morohito was the sixth son of Prince Kan'in-no-miya Sukehito (閑院宮典仁), and was supported by the Emperor's chief advisor (aka the Kampaku). Go-Momozono hastily adopted Prince Morohito, who became Emperor Kōkaku upon his death. After the throne had switched to that branch of the imperial line, Go-Sakuramachi came to be referred to as the Guardian of the Young Lord, referred to the Emperor. The largest event that took place before her death occurred in 1789, when she admonished Kōkaku for his role in a scandal involving his father's honorary title. The former empress Go-Sakuramachi died on 24 December 1813 at the age of 73.
  Go-Sakuramachi's kami is enshrined in the Imperial mausoleum (misasagi), Tsuki no wa no misasagi, at Sennyū-ji in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto.  Also enshrined in this location are this empress's immediate Imperial predecessors since Emperor Go-Mizunoo – Meishō, Go-Kōmyō, Go-Sai, Reigen, Higashiyama, Nakamikado, Sakuramachi and Momozono, along with her four immediate successors – Go-Momozono, Kōkaku, Ninkō, and Kōmei.
caption: The kami of Go-Sakuramachi is enshrined in Tsuki no wa no misasagi
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