nntsuzu/KFTT huggingface dataset:
English: On Feburary 9, 1869, Shoken entered the court and obtained imperial proclamation to become a consort, and on the same day she became an empress.
Japanese: 12月28日(旧暦)（1869年2月9日）入内して女御の宣下を蒙り、即日皇后に立てられた。
English: On this occasion, to avoid the fact that Shoken was three years older than the Emperor, her birth year was officially announced as1850.
Japanese: この際、天皇より3歳年長であることを忌避して、公式には嘉永3年（1850年）の出生とされた。
English: In the beginning, she was placed in the Chugushiki (Office of the Consort's Household) and was called Chugu following the tradition from the Medieval Period, but in the following year, the Chugushiki was changed to Kogogushiki (Queen-consort's Household Agency) and her title also changed to Kisai no Miya (empress).
Japanese: 当初、中世以来の慣行に従って中宮職を付置され、中宮と称されたが、翌年、中宮職が皇后宮職に改められ、称号も皇后宮と改められた。
English: This official date was put off by two days from the real date as a measure to quickly replace Minister of the Imperial Households Chiaki WATANABE, who was almost in the reach of the law for his usage of bribery during his time as the Chief of Kuraryo of the Imperial Household Ministry.
Japanese: まる2日ずらされたのは、宮内省内蔵頭当時の収賄で司直の手が及びかけていた渡辺千秋宮内大臣を急遽更迭させるための措置。
English: This measure is thought to be taken due to the belief that if WATANABE, who was the chief officer of the Imperial mourning, was arrested during the time of the Imperial mourning which lasts for about three months, the Imperial Household Ministry's dignity would be lost.
Japanese: 大喪最高責任者となるはずの渡辺が大喪の終るまでの約3ヶ月の間にもし逮捕されると、宮内省の威信が地に落ちると考えられたためと思われる。
English: On May 9 of the same year, by the Imperial Household Ministry notification no. 9, Shoken was given the posthumous title "Empress Dowager Shoken," and on May 1 of the following year, she was enshrined along with Emperor Meiji in the Meiji-jingu Shrine.
Japanese: 同年5月9日、宮内省告示第9号により「昭憲皇太后」と追号され、翌年5月1日に、明治天皇とともに明治神宮の祭神とされた。
English: As an empress after the Restoration, Shoken took the lead in social work promotion and greatly contributed to the establishment of Kazoku Jogakko (present day Gakushuin School Corporation Girl's Division) and Tokyo Joshi Shikan Gakko (present day Ochanomizu University), along with the development of the Japanese Red Cross Society and others (it is said that the official crest for the Red Cross Society, the "Red Cross Kiritake Phoenix," was decided on from the crown, made by a combination of paulownia wood and bamboo, which Shoken happened to be wearing on the occasion she was consulted for the decision of the crest.
Japanese: 維新期の皇后として社会事業振興の先頭に立ち、華族女学校（現学習院女子部）や、お茶の水の東京女子師範学校（現お茶の水女子大学）の設立、日本赤十字社の発展などに大きく寄与した（赤十字社の正式紋章「赤十字桐竹鳳凰章」は、紋章制定の相談を受けた際、皇后がたまたま被っていた冠が桐と竹の組み合わせで出来ていた事から、「これがよかろう」という事で決められたという）。
English: She was strongly aware of her position as an empress to lead the policy of Europeanization, and after 1886, she changed all her clothes she wore, except nightclothes, to western clothing.
Japanese: 皇后として欧化政策の先頭に立たなければいけない立場を強く自覚しており、1886年（明治19年）以降は、着用の衣服を寝間着を除いてすべて洋服に切り替えた。
English: As another reason for taking the lead in wearing western clothes, the empress herself was quoted as saying"Kimono that is not separated into upper and lower parts limits a girl's movements and is inconvenient."
Japanese: 洋服を率先着用した理由としてもう一つ「上半身と下半身の分かれていない着物は女子の行動を制限して不自由である」という皇后自身の言葉も伝えられている。
English: The reason why the present Imperial family wears Japanese traditional clothes surprisingly less often than expected is because they are following this policy.
Japanese: 現在の皇室で意外なほど和服が着られないのは、この時の方針が踏襲されているからである。
English: Furthermore, Shoken composed more than thirty thousands Japanese poems, and some of them are handed down as "Empress Dowager Shoken's Gyoshu"
Japanese: また、生涯に3万首を超える和歌を詠み、その一部が『昭憲皇太后御集』として伝わる。
English: As one of Empress Dowager Shoken's poems, a school song given to Tokyo Joshi Shihan Gakko 'when not polished, jewels and mirrors are worthless, the way of studying is much the same way' (If you don't polish a jewel or mirror they won't do much good.
Japanese: 昭憲皇太后の御歌としては、1876年（明治9年）2月、東京女子師範学校に下賜した校歌「磨かずば玉も鏡もなにかせむ学びの道もかくこそありけれ」（玉も鏡も磨かなければ何にもならない。
English: Studying is the same way) is famous, and, "Kongouseki" and "Mizu no Utsuwa"and others, which read about education guidelines of Kazoku Jogakko, are also widely sang as songs of Jinjo Elementary School.
Japanese: 勉強もそういうもの）が有名であり、また、華族女学校の教育指針を詠んだ「金剛石」「水は器」等も、尋常小学校唱歌として広く歌われた。
English: At the time of her death, "Times of London" ran an article highly evaluating her great achievements.
Japanese: 崩御に際して「ロンドンタイムズ」は彼女の功績を高く評価する記事を掲載した。
English: When Hirobumi ITO, who was having a strained relationship with Emperor Meiji over the reform of the Imperial Court, was taken with illness, Empress Dowager Shoken sent an envoy on behalf of the Emperor to ITO and made an opportunity for the two to reconcile.
Japanese: 1884年（明治17年）に宮中改革を巡って明治天皇とギクシャクしていた伊藤博文が病気で倒れた際には、天皇に代わって見舞いの使者を出して両者の仲直りのきっかけを作った。
English: Also in the same year, when Empress Dowager Shoken attended the opening ceremony of Nippon Railway Ueno Station – Takasaki Station, which Tomozane YOSHII who was the Kunai-taifu (post of Imperial Household Ministry) used to be president of, the empress handled the event with a smile throughout the whole time even though Emperor Meiji did not show much enthusiasm to attend and it was raining all day; YOSHII was greatly touched because of this (a letter written by YOSHII to Seiichi MIYAJIMA).
Japanese: また、同年に宮内大輔の吉井友実が以前に社長を務めていた日本鉄道の上野駅－高崎駅間開通式典に出席した際に、明治天皇は出席に乗り気ではなく天気も一日中雨であったが、皇后は終始笑顔で応対し吉井を感激させた（吉井の宮島誠一郎宛書簡）。
English: Due to the return of political power to the court during Meiji Period, there was a possibility that the empress along with advisers close to the empress could take part in the national government, like the O-oku in the Edo Bakufu or the Imperial Court in Western countries, but the Empress disciplined herself and prohibited themselves from taking part in the national government.
Japanese: 明治になって再び朝廷に政権が返った事により、江戸幕府の大奥や西洋の宮廷の例のように皇后やその周辺の側近が国政に関与する可能性も存在したが、彼女は自らを律して国政に直接関与する事を戒めた。
English: Furthermore, Empress Dowager Shoken was blessed with close advisers around her, such as Keizou KAGAWA and Utako SHIMODA, and was able to establish her role as an empress in modern Japan.
Japanese: また、香川敬三や下田歌子などの周囲の側近に恵まれて、近代日本の皇后としての役割を確立することができた。
English: In Feburary 1904, on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War, when the Empress was staying in the Imperial palace in Hayama, she said that a samurai about 37 or 38 years old wearing a white frock came into her dreams and swore the protection of the Japanese Navy at war.
Japanese: 1904年（明治37年）2月、日露戦争の前夜、葉山の御用邸に皇后が滞在していた折であったが、37,8歳の武士が白衣で皇后の夢枕に立ち、戦いの際の海軍(日本)守護を誓ったという。
English: This ran in the newspapers arousing the morale of the nation, which lead to the establishment of a monument for loyal souls in front of Ryoma SAKAMOTO's grave in Reizan Gokoku Shrine.
Japanese: これが新聞に載って国民の士気を鼓舞し、京都霊山護国神社にある坂本龍馬の墓前に忠魂碑が立てられるに至った。
English: Empress Dowager Shoken had a sharp nose, which was rare for a Japanese female during her time, so her husband, Emperor Meiji, is said to have teasingly nicknamed her 'Mrs. Tengu.'
Japanese: その当時の日本女性には珍しく鼻筋の通った顔立ちであり、夫君の明治天皇にからかい混じりに「天狗さん」と渾名されていたという。
English: Due to the Kouzokushinirei, the Hanretsu (ministers without official announcement) of the three ranks: Empress, Empress Dowager, and Grand Empress Dowager, are ordered as 1. Empress 2. Grand Empress Dowager 3. Empress Dowager, and for a posthumous title, the highest rank she took during her lifetime is chosen.
Japanese: 皇后・皇太后・太皇太后の3つの身位の班列は、皇族身位令により、1.皇后、2.太皇太后、3.皇太后の順と定められ、諡号・追号には生前帯びていた身位のうち最高のものをつけることになっている。
English: Her rightful posthumous title should have been 'Empress Shoken' since she was an empress.
Japanese: 皇后であった彼女の追号は、本来なら「昭憲皇后」とされるはずであった。
English: The reason she became 'Empress Dowager' instead is said to be due to a mistake from following the posthumous title of Emperor Komei's legal wife and Emperor Meiji's 'real mother' (biological mother), Empress Dowager Eisho, who was an 'Empress Dowager.'
Japanese: それが「皇太后」になった理由は、孝明天皇の正妻であり明治天皇の「実母」（嫡母）であった英照皇太后の追号が「皇太后」であったことから、誤ってそれに倣って命名してしまったものとされている。
English: The fact that the establishment of the Kozokushinirei happened in 1910 so it's contents were not firmly established enough, along with the fact that the regulation of the Taiho Code was different from this and the order was set as 1. Grand Empress Dowager 2. Empress Dowager 3. Empress, also possibly influenced her posthumous title.
Japanese: また、皇族身位令の制定が1910年（明治43年）であっていまだその内容が充分に定着していなかったこと、さらに大宝律令の規定ではこれとは違い、1.太皇太后、2.皇太后、3.皇后の順と定められていたことも影響していると考えられる。
English: In life, Empress Dowager Eisho stayed as a consort and was never installed as an empress, and she was titled Empress Dowager to accompany Emperor Meiji's enthronement, so this posthumous title is correct, but this does not hold true for Empress Dowager Shoken.
Japanese: 英照皇太后は生前女御のままで皇后には冊立されず、明治天皇の即位にともなって皇太后とされたので、その追号は正確なものであったが、昭憲皇太后にはこれは当てはまらない。
English: A posthumous title is an imperial decision, so even when a mistake is discovered, due to the old belief that what an Emperor says once cannot be taken back, the mistake could not be fixed, and this is why this mistake still exists today.
Japanese: 追号は勅裁により定められたものであるから、誤りが判明しても「綸言汗の如し」としてこれを改めることが出来ず、現在に至っている。
English: Meiji-Jingu Shrine, which enshrines the Empress, requested the Kunaisho (Imperial Household Ministry) and Imperial Household Regency for her posthumous title to be changed to 'Empress Shoken' two times, in 1920 and 1963, but was denied both times.
Japanese: 彼女を祭神とする明治神宮は、1920年（大正9年）と1963年（昭和38年）の2度にわたって「昭憲皇后」への改号を宮内省・宮内庁に要請しているが、いずれも拒否された。
English: The following two empresses, Empress Teimei and Empress Kojun were given a posthumous title which accurately reflected that they were empresses during their lifetime.
Japanese: 続く貞明皇后と香淳皇后の2人の皇后は、生前皇后であったことを正確に反映した追号を贈られている。
English: Empress Teimei (June, 25, 1884 - May 17, 1951) belonged to the Imperial Family of Japan.
Japanese: 貞明皇后（ていめいこうごう、1884年6月25日-1951年（昭和26年）5月17日）は、日本の皇族。
English: As the administrators of the Imperial Household Ministry (currently, Imperial Household Agency) were nominating potential princesses for the sickly Imperial Prince Yoshihito (Later, the Emperor Taisho), the healthy appearance of the Empress Teimei became the most distinctly important advantage for choosing her.
Japanese: 彼女が健康であることは、病弱な嘉仁親王（大正天皇）の妃となる大きな決め手にもなったようである。
English: On February 11, 1900, when the Empress Teimei was fifteen years old, she became engaged to the Imperial Prince Yoshihito, who was five years her senior.
Japanese: 明治33年（1900年）2月11日、15歳で、5歳年上の皇太子嘉仁親王と婚約。
English: At the begging of her marriage life, the Empress Teimei was taught civilities and rules of etiquette in the Imperial Court in a stern manner by Yukiko MADENOKOJI, a senior court lady and the educator,; this put the Empress Teimei in a difficult position.
Japanese: 成婚当時は教育係の万里小路幸子という老女官に宮中での礼儀作法を厳しく躾けられ困惑した。
English: The Emperor Taisho and the Empress Teimei lived happily together as husband and wife, and the Empress Teimei seemed to break with Imperial court custom, as she took if upon herself to look after her husband's needs.
Japanese: 大正天皇との夫婦仲は至って良好で、慣例を打ち破って夫の身辺の世話を自ら見たという。
English: Additionally, it was very rare, in that the Empress Teimei gave birth to four Imperial princes, so this fact helped to establish the concept of monogamy in Japan.
Japanese: また、皇后が皇子を4人儲けたのは稀有というべきであり、一夫一妻制の確立に大いに貢献した。
English: Besides, because the Empress Teimei bore four princes, she acquired great position inside the Imperial court, with remarkably influential power.
Japanese: また皇子4人を産んだことで、宮中での彼女の地位は絶大なものがあった。
English: Three years later, on November 10, 1915, the Sokui no rei (The enthronement of the Emperor) ceremony was held at the Kyoto Imperial Palace; but the Empress Teimei did not attend this ceremony due to her pregnancy with the forth child (later became Mikasanomiya).
Japanese: 3年後の大正4年（1915年）11月10日に京都御所にて即位の礼が行なわれたが、貞明皇后は第四子（のちの三笠宮）を懐妊中のため欠席した。
English: As successor to the Empress Dowager Shoken, the Empress Teimei promoted silk yarn threads and the silk industry; she herself, engaged in the production of sericulture (Kogo's Goshinsan [Empress's sericulture]).
Japanese: 昭憲皇太后の後継者として、蚕糸・絹業を奨励し、自身も養蚕（皇后御親蚕）に取り組んだ。
English: Furthermore, it is also known that the Empress Teimei rendered her service to the Kyurai (Helping care for the lepers [the patients with Hansen's disease]) project and supported lighthouse keepers.
Japanese: また、救癩（ハンセン病）事業に尽くし、灯台守を支援したことでも知られる。
English: Although the Empress Teimei had great respect for the conventions and traditions of the Imperial household and Shinto religion, she still invited scholars such as Yuka NOGUCHI and Kikuno GOKAN of The Modern Women Education discipline to the Imperial court as her advisors.
Japanese: 皇室や神道のしきたりや伝統を大切にした一方で、野口幽香、後閑菊野など近代女子教育の研究家を相談相手に宮中に招いた。
English: Additionally, after the Emperor Taisho was confined due to his illness, the Empress Teimei took care of the imperial household business on behalf of the Emperor Taisho and aggressively engaged with the Genro (elder statesmen) and the Jushin (chief vassals).
Japanese: また、大正天皇が病に陥った後は、天皇に代わり皇室を取り仕切り、元老や重臣たちと渡り合った。
English: Although the Empress Teimei carefully nursed the Emperor Taisho, the Emperor Taisho met his demise during the course of care while under medical treatment.
Japanese: 1926年12月25日、貞明皇后の手厚い看護も空しく療養中の大正天皇が崩御。
English: It is said that after the Emperor's death, like her daily task, the Empress Teimei spent her time inside the room where the portrait of the deceased Emperor Taisho was enshrined, for almost all hours of the morning.
Japanese: 天皇の死後、貞明皇后は日課の如く、午前中の大部分を大正天皇の遺影を安置した部屋で過ごしたという。
English: In 1931, the Japanese government established a 'Leprosy Prevention Association' by using imperial donation from the Empress Teimei.
Japanese: 昭和6年（1931年）、貞明皇后からの下賜金をもとに「癩予防協会」が設立された。
English: While the financial help from the Empress Teimei saved the lives of some patients, it is undeniable that the placement of patients into quarantine was justified by using the phrase, 'prevention.'
Japanese: 皇太后の経済支援により生活が救済された患者もいる一方、「予防」のための強制隔離が正当化された面も否めない。
English: Furthermore, without consideration of the Empress Teimei intentions, the Japanese government justified these types of activities (putting patients in quarantine) and continued to politically utilize her name as the 'Kouon (Emperor's kindness)'and 'Jinji (Emperor's benevolence).'
Japanese: また、このような活動が皇太后の真意に関わらず「皇恩」「仁慈」として、その後も政治利用された側面もある。
English: Even through her last day, the Empress Teimei planned to engage in the established practice of the eshaku (salutation, greeting) ritual to labor service groups, but had an attack of angina pectoris while she was preparing for the practice, and then suddenly passed away.
Japanese: この日も恒例の勤労奉仕団への会釈（挨拶）を行なう予定だったが、その準備をしている時に発作を起こし、急逝。
English: The posthumous title, 'Teimei (貞明),' was taken from one sentence of the source text, "Ekikyo (I Ching [Yi Jing] or The Book of Changes).": 'The path ways of the sun and the moon (or times of days and months) are firm adherence to one's principles (Tei, [貞]) and clear (mei, [明]).'
Japanese: 追号の「貞明」は、『易経』にある「日月の道は貞（ただ）しくして明らかなり」の一文を出典とする。
English: Please refer to a book by Yasuhiko NISHIKAWA, "The Empress Teimei: the world of her waka (Japanese poetry) and poems; Collections of poetry by the Empress Teimei", published from Kinseisha in 2007.
Japanese: 西川泰彦『貞明皇后その御歌と御詩の世界－貞明皇后御集拝読』錦正社2007年を参照。
English: Since the Empress Kojun was a legitimate princess by birth (Her official court title was Princess) in the Kuninomiya family, the close associates who surrounded the Empress Teimei thought that her stern treatment toward the Empress Kojun was caused by her jealousy over the family lineage of the Empress Kojun (Although the Empress Teimei came from the Kujo family which was descended from the Gosekke [five top Fujiwara families whose members were eligible for the positions of Sessho and Kanpaku], she was not a legitimate princess by birth, but an illegitimate child.).
Japanese: それは皇族久邇宮家の嫡出の王女（身位は女王）であった香淳皇后に対する家柄への妬み（貞明皇后は五摂家の九条家の出身ではあるものの、嫡出ではなく庶子である）と周囲の人間から考えられていた。
English: However, the Empress Kojun had an extremely unpretentious character, and on the other hand, the Empress Teimei had grown up in a brawny manner until her school age, because she was placed into nursery care with a farmer's family who lived near Koen-ji Temple in the suburbs of Tokyo: therefore, the two of them were fundamentally different in values.
Japanese: しかし、香淳皇后はかなりおっとりした性格で、学齢まで東京近郊の高円寺近くの農家に里子として逞しく育てられた貞明皇后とは、根本的に価値観の不一致があった。
English: The family home of the Empress Kojun, the Kuninomiya family, was a maternal relative of the Imperial family, so the Empress Kojun took advantage of her position to behave selfishly on many occasions.
Japanese: また香淳皇后の実家久邇宮家は外戚であることをかさに身勝手な振る舞いが多くあった。
English: However, Tsuneko TAKEYA, a chief lady of the court for the Empress Dowager who had served the Empress Teimei, and Sigeko TAKEYA, a chief lady of the court who had served for the Empress Kojun were sisters.
Japanese: が、貞明皇后に仕える竹屋津根子皇太后宮女官長、香淳皇后に仕える竹屋志計子女官長は姉妹であった。
English: Chief court ladies and court ladies, who served for the Empress Teimei and the Empress Kojun, actually witnessed the conflict between two Empresses when the Crown Prince (later, the Emperor Showa) and his princess wife (later, the Empress Kojun) visited the Emperor Taisho in his place of medical treatment at the Hayama goyotei (Imperial property) a few months before the death of Emperor Taisho.
Japanese: 彼女たちに仕える女官長や女官が実際にその衝突を目撃したのは、大正天皇崩御の数ヶ月前、皇太子（昭和天皇）夫妻が療養先である葉山御用邸に見舞った際である。
English: The Empress Kojun was too nervous in front of the mother-in-law, the Empress Teimei, so the Empress Kojun squeezed the hand towel, which was used for cooling down the heat of the Emperor Taisho, by hand while still wearing her gloves, instead of using her bare hands (Now and before, female Imperial families always wore gloves when they were going out.), wetting her gloves.
Japanese: 香淳皇后が姑である貞明皇后の前で緊張のあまり、熱冷ましの手ぬぐいを素手ではなく、手袋（今も昔も女性皇族は外出の際は手袋を着用する）を付けたまま絞って手袋を濡らしてしまった。
English: The Empress Teimei said to the Empress Kojun, '(Whenever I ask you to do something) you are always disgraceful,' and then the Empress Kojun could not say any words to her remaining silent.
Japanese: 貞明皇后に「（お前は何をやらせても）相も変わらず、不細工なことだね」と言われ何も言い返せずただ黙っているしかなかった。
English: The Empress Teimei was bright, intelligent and courageous, but she never scolded her subordinates directly.
Japanese: 頭脳明敏で気丈な性格の貞明皇后ではあったが、目下の者にも決して直接叱責することはなかった。
English: Therefore, those court ladies who witnessed this incident understood they had never got along well as a wife and her mother-in-law.
Japanese: それで、この一件を目の前にした女官たちに、二人は嫁姑として全くうまくいってないと知らしめる結果になってしまった。
English: On the other hand, the Empress Teimei loved the princesses (wives) of the younger brothers of the Emperor Showa, Chichibu no Miya, Takamatsu no Miya, and Mikasa no Miya enough to invite them very frequently for dinners and tea parties at the Imperial palace.
Japanese: 一方で弟宮の嫁達、秩父宮、高松宮、三笠宮の妃たちとは御所での食事や茶会を度々招いて、かわいがったそうである。
English: Especially, the Empress Teimei seemed to favor the Imperial Princess Chichibu Setsuko, who was the wife of her second son, Chichibu no Miya, and had an intimate relationship with her.
Japanese: 特に次男・秩父宮の妃であった雍仁親王妃勢津子はお気に入りであったらしく、お互い親交が深かった。
English: On the Peach Festival (also known as the Girls' Festival) celebrated every year on March 3, Setsuko displayed the hina dolls (dolls displayed at the Girls' Festival), which she brought with her from her family home when she married into the Imperial family, in the Imperial Palace.
Japanese: 毎年3月3日の桃の節句の折には勢津子が実家からお輿入れした際持ち込んだ雛人形を宮邸に飾った。
English: In her published book, "The Silver Bonbonniere (French word: A small, ornate box or dish for candy)," Setsuko wrote on this Peach Festival event, 'The Empress Teimei had four children who are all Imperial princes (boys), so she seems to look forward to the Peach Festival with pleasure.'
Japanese: 勢津子は自身の著書『銀のボンボニエール』において、そのことを「お子様4人全員が親王様（男子）であったので、毎年お楽しみにされているのでしょう」と語っている。
English: There was a heartwarming episode of their (mother and son) argument over the name of a bird they had seen at the Imperial Place, as if they were children.
Japanese: 皇居内で見かけた鳥の名前について子供染みた我の張り合いをしたというほほえましいエピソードもある。
English: Additionally, during the World War II, the Emperor Showa worried about his mother (the Empress Teimei) who refused to evacuate from the Tokyo area when the war condition worsened.
Japanese: また第二次大戦時においては、戦況の悪化の中でも疎開を拒む母を気遣った。
English: Because the Empress Teimei and Chichibu no Miya share the same birthday, the Empress Teimei seemed to strongly sense a shared fate with him.
Japanese: 彼女と宮の誕生日は同じであり、そのことから皇后は強い縁を感じていたとも言われる。
English: Regarding the marriage of Chichibu no Miya mentioned above, it is said that the Empress Teimei strongly recommended Setsuko as his princess; she was a grand daughter of the Emperor's enemy, Katamori MATSUDAIRA, and also a Heimin (commoner).
Japanese: 上記の秩父宮の婚姻に関しても、妃に朝敵・松平容保の孫でなおかつ平民である勢津子を強く推したのは貞明皇后であったと言われる。
English: It is said that the Empress Teimei contributed greatly toward the successful marriage of Setsuko and Chichibu no Miya (Toshiaki KAWAHARA).
Japanese: 勢津子との婚姻が成立したのも皇后の意向が大きく働いた結果であったと言われる（河原敏明）。
English: The definition of an imperial family depends on the historical timeframe and the country concerned, but in general it refers to the emperor's male family members and their spouses.
Japanese: 皇族（こうぞく）とは、時代や国によって定義が異なるが一般的に皇帝、天皇の親族の内、男系の血族及びその配偶者。
English: Of the Ritsuryo codes such as the Taiho Ritsuryo Code of 701, the Yoro Ritsuryo Code of 757 and so on, the imperial family is defined by the term Koshin (emperor's family).
Japanese: 701年の大宝律令、757年の養老令など、律令には皇親（こうしん）として規定。
English: In the Ritsuryo codes there is a distinction made between imperial princes (shinno) and princes (o); although the distinction between genders is not mentioned, women are referred to as imperial princesses (naishinno) or princesses (jyoo).
Japanese: 律令では、親王と王(皇族)の別があり、とくに性別を分ける記述はないが、女性はそれぞれ、内親王、女王と称せられた。
English: According to the 'Ordinance of the Court Ranks,' there were four imperial ranks, each receiving a stipulated stipend from the state.
Japanese: 「官位令」によれば、品位(身位)には一品親王から四品までがあり、それぞれ国家から決められた給付を受けた。
English: Similarly, there were positions reserved for ranked imperial princes including minister (director) of one of the eight central ministries, vice-commander of Daizaifu or provincial governor of some major provinces, guaranteeing them senior positions.
Japanese: また任官においても、八省卿（八省の長官）、大宰府帥、一部の大国の国守など、四品以上の親王に留保された官職があり、高官を保障された。
English: According to the 'Ordinance of the Heir to the Imperial Throne,' the scope of Koshin is stipulated as up to and including the emperor's great-grandchildren (fourth generation); the fifth generation, or great-great-grandchildren, were called princes but not considered to be part of the imperial heritage.
Japanese: 皇親の範囲は、「継嗣令」の規定では天皇の四世孫までが皇親とされ、五世孫は王を称したが皇孫にはあたらないとされた。
English: Subsequently, in the imperial rescript given in February 706, the Emperor's great-great-grandchildren (fifth generation) came to be recognized as a part of the Koshin, and the legitimate children of the great-great grandchildren were allowed to call themselves princes.
Japanese: のち慶雲3年（706年）2月の格で、五世孫までが皇親とされ、五世孫の嫡子に王の称が許された。
English: Furthermore, unlike the modern imperial family system, with this system one could not obtain or lose the status of Koshin through marriage.
Japanese: なお、近代の皇族制度とは違い、婚姻によって皇親身分を獲得したり喪失したりすることは無かった。
English: Accordingly, even an empress was not recognized as part of the Koshin if she had come from a subject's household, as seen with Empress Komyo (Fujiwara clan), whereas one who married into a subject's household could still be conferred a court rank, as with Imperial Princess Teishi who was conferred the second court rank after she had married FUJIWARA no Norimichi (Chapter December 19, 1041, "Fuso Ryakki" [A Brief History of Japan]).
Japanese: 従って、光明皇后（藤原氏）のように、皇后であっても臣下の家の出身者は皇親とは認められず、逆に藤原教通室となった禔子内親王の様に臣下に降嫁後に二品叙位を受けた例も存在する（『扶桑略記』長久2年12月19日条）。
English: The timing of the first shisei (bestowing a surname) is unclear, but the Tachibana clan is known as one of the initial clans of the Imperial family conferred with a family name.
Japanese: 最初の賜姓がいつであったかはさだかでないが、初期の賜姓皇族として橘氏がある。
English: The descendants of Emperor Bidatsu, Prince Kazuraki (TACHIBANA no Moroe) and Sai no Okimi (TACHIBANA no Sai) requested to be demoted from nobility to regular subjects.
Japanese: 敏達天皇の子孫であった葛城王（橘諸兄）と佐為王（橘佐為）は、聖武天皇の天平8年（736年）に臣籍降下を申し出た。