Episode 459 – The Empty Throne, Part 2

October 28, 2022

This week: Emperor Komei attempts to protect tradition in a nation beset by crisis. However, his efforts will be brought short by his untimely death, and the reigns of power passed to his untested boy successor: Meiji.

Sources

Keene, Donald. Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852-1912. 

Gilday, Edmund T. “Bodies of Evidence: Imperial Funeral Rights and the Meiji Restoration.” Japanese Journal of Religious studies 27, No 3 (Fall, 2000)

Hirai, Atsuko. Government by Mourning: Death and Political Integration in Japan, 1603-1912. 

Images

 

Kazunomiya, the widow of Tokugawa Iemochi. This particular photo is from several years after the fact.
The mausoleum of Emperor Komei at Sennyuji in Kyoto.
An image of the fighting at Hamaguri gate, the most intense site of conflict during the defeated Choshu coup d’etat of 1864
Tokugawa Iemochi. The boy shogun seems to have enjoyed Komei’s regard.