Kōkyū

Pre-modern Japan
Part of a series on the politics and government of Japan during the Nara and Heian periods
Daijō-kan (Council of State)
Chancellor / Chief Minister	Daijō-daijin
Minister of the Left	Sadaijin
Minister of the Right	Udaijin
Minister of the Center	Naidaijin
Major Counselor	Dainagon
Middle Counselor	Chūnagon
Minor Counselor	Shōnagon
Eight Ministries
Center	Nakatsukasa-shō
Ceremonial	Shikibu-shō
Civil Administration	Jibu-shō
Popular Affairs	Minbu-shō
Military	Hyōbu-shō
Justice	Gyōbu-shō
Treasury	Ōkura-shō
Imperial Household	Kunai-shō

Kōkyū (後宮^?) is the section of the Japanese Imperial Palace called the "Dairi" (内裏) where Imperial Family and court ladies lived.

Many cultured women gathered as wives of Emperors, and court ladies, as well as the maids for these women; court officials often visited these women for influence, literary charm, or romances. Significant contributions to the literature of Japan were created in the Kōkyū during this period: works such as The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon, and many anthologies of waka poems.

The term "Dairi" refers not only to the buildings in which the Japanese Imperial family resided; it also refers indirectly to the women of the Imperial family (the Kōkyū), to the Imperial court of Japan, or as an indirect (now archaic) way of referring to the Emperor himself.

The names of the several gates in the walls surrounding the Imperial grounds refer not only to the specific wall-openings themselves; these names were also used to refer indirectly to a nearby residence of an empress whose husband had abdicated, or as an indirect way of referring to the Empress Dowager herself, e.g., Empress Dowager Kenrei (建礼門院,, Kenrei-mon-In^?), whose official home, after the abdication and death of Emperor Takakura, was located near the Kenrei Gate.

In this same way, the term kōkyū has multiple meanings, referring to the group of buildings situated near the sovereign's personal apartments where the consorts resided, and also describing the staff of female palace officials assigned to the service of those consorts. More broadly, the term kōkyū could be used in identifying the array of consorts below the empress.