Empress Shoken
| Empress Shōken 昭憲皇后 |
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| Empress consort of Japan | |||||
| Tenure | 11 January 1869 – 30 July 1912 |
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| Enthronement | 11 January 1869 | ||||
| Born |
9 May 1849 Heian-kyō, Japan |
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| Died | 9 April 1914 (aged 64) Numazu, Japan |
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| Burial | Fushimi Momoyama no Misasagi, Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Japan | ||||
| Spouse | Emperor Meiji | ||||
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| House | Imperial House of Japan | ||||
| Father | Tadaka Ichijō | ||||
| Mother | Tamiko Shinbata | ||||
| Religion | Shinto | ||||
| Full name | |
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| Masako (雅子?) later:Haruko (美子?) |
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Styles of Empress Shōken |
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| Reference style | Her Majesty |
| Spoken style | Your Majesty |
| Alternative style | Ma'am |
Empress Shōken (昭憲皇后 Shōken-kōgō?, 9 May 1849 – 9 April 1914), also known as Empress Dowager Shōken (昭憲皇太后 Shōken-kōtaigō?), was the wife of Emperor Meiji of Japan.
Born Masako Ichijō (一条勝子 Ichijō Masako?), she was the third daughter of Tadaka Ichijō, former Minister of the Left and head of the Ichijō branch of the Fujiwara clan. Her mother was a daughter of Prince Fushimi Kuniie.
As a child, Princess Masako was somewhat of a prodigy; she was able to read poetry from the Kokin Wakashū by age four and had composed some waka verses of her own by age five. By age seven, she was able to read some texts in classical Chinese, with some assistance, and was studying Japanese calligraphy. By age twelve, she had studied the koto and was fond of Noh drama. She had also studied ikebana and the Japanese tea ceremony. Usual for the time, she had also been vaccinated against smallpox. The major obstacle to her eligibility was that she was three years older than Emperor Meiji, but this issue was resolved by changing her official birth date from 1849 to 1850.
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Wikipedia