Emperor Nakamikado

Before Nakamikado's ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (imina) was Yasuhito (慶仁)[4][2]. Yasuhito was born on January 14, 1702 and was the fifth son of Emperor Higashiyama, while his birth mother was a lady-in-waiting named Kushige Yoshiko. Due to tradition he was brought up as if he were the son of the Empress consort (Arisugawa no Yukiko).[2] Yasuhito's Imperial family lived with him in the Dairi of the Heian Palace. The early years of Yasuhito's life were marked with disasters and incidents that included two major earthquakes, and a revenge plot involving leaderless samurai to avenge their fallen master. The two major earthquakes that took place were in 1703, and then again in 1707. The first of these is the 1703 Genroku earthquake, which caused parts of the shōgun's castle to collapse in Edo. The city was consumed by a large fire that swept through the city on the following day.[5][6] In response, the era's name was changed to Hōei (meaning "Prosperous Eternity") the following year in hopes of better fortune. The second earthquake (1707 Hōei earthquake), dealt serious damage and suffering to the city of Osaka.[6] Mt. Fuji also erupted that same year causing ash to fall on Izu, Kai, Sagami, and Musashi.[6][7] In 1708, Yasuhito became Crown Prince and was given the pre-accession title of Masu-no-miya (長宮). On a particular note, Shōgun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi appointed a commission to repair and restore Imperial mausoleums shortly before his death on February 19, 1709.[8]

The 1710 Ryukyuan mission, in this scroll a Japanese printer depicts Ryukyuan guards and a music band escorting the envoy and his officials through Edo.

Prince Yoshihito acceded to the throne on July 27, 1709 as Emperor when his father abdicated in his favor.[9] While he held the political title of Emperor, it was in name only as the shoguns of the Tokugawa family controlled Japan. Due to his young age at the time, Imperial powers were exercised in his name by his now retired father Emperor Higashiyama. On January 16, 1710 Higashiyama died, and the imperial powers were now exercised in Nakamikado's name by his also retired grandfather Emperor Reigen.[10] Events that took place during this transitional time included a Ryukyuan diplomatic mission, which lasted from July 7, 1710 to March 22, 1711. This particular mission was led by King Shō Eki of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, and was received by the shogunate. While this mission did not concern the young prince, this was the largest delegation in the Edo period at 168 people involved.[11]

Nakamikado was formally enthroned as Emperor in 1711, and the era's name was changed from Hōei to Shōtoku. His reign would corresponded to the period from the sixth to the eighth shōgun. During this period, relations with the Tokugawa shogunate were fairly good in part due to former Emperor Higashiyama's warmed relationship with predecessors. Relations warmed to the point of marriage talks between Imperial Princess Yaso-no-miya Yoshiko (八十宮吉子内親王), daughter of Retired Emperor Reigen and the seventh shōgun, Tokugawa Ietsugu. These plans later became moot with the sudden death of Ietsugu at the age of six in Edo.[12][13] On April 20, 1715 celebrations were held throughout the empire regarding the 100th anniversary of the death of the founding shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu (posthumously known as Gongen-sama).[3] After Ietsugu's death in 1716, Tokugawa Yoshimune became the next shogun. He implemented the Kyōhō reforms the following year which eventually resulted in partial success.[14] While the Emperor had no say in these reforms, Yoshimune had the Imperial mausolea repaired in 1718.[15]

The next several years of Nakamikado's reign saw the implementation of the shogun's reforms, by 1730 the shogunate officially recognized the Dojima Rice Market in Osaka; and government supervisors (nengyoji) are appointed to monitor the market and to collect taxes.[16] The transactions relating to rice exchanges developed into securities exchanges, used primarily for transactions in public securities.[17] This development of improved agriculture production caused the price of rice to fall in mid-Kyohō.[18] Intervening factors like famine, floods and other disasters though exacerbated some of the conditions which the shōgun intended to ameliorate. On August 3, 1730 a great fire broke out in Muromachi, 3,790 houses were burnt, and over 30,000 looms in Nishi-jin were destroyed.[15] The Kyōhō famine started in 1732 and lasted into 1733, due to swarms of locust that devastated crops in agricultural communities around the inland sea.[19]

Emperor Nakamikado abdicated on April 13, 1735 in favor of his son Teruhito, who became Emperor Sakuramachi. Nakamikado took on the title of Daijō Tennō (Retired Emperor), and the era's name was changed to Genbun (meaning "Original civility") to mark the occasion. Even though he was retired, Nakamikado continued to exercise Imperial powers in the same way his predecessors had done.[20] While the Emperor had no say, a major milestone occurred in Japanese monetary history when the shogunate published an edict in 1736 regarding coinage. This edict declared that henceforth, authorized coinage in the empire would be those copper coins which were marked on the obverse with the character 文 (Genbun, also pronounced bun in Japanese).[21] The practice of placing the name of the era on coinage continues to present day with Akihito (平成). Nakamikado died in 1737 due to unknown causes, his kami is enshrined in an Imperial mausoleum (misasagi), Tsuki no wa no misasagi, at Sennyū-ji in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto.[2] Also enshrined in this location are his immediate Imperial predecessors since Emperor Go-Mizunoo – Meishō, Go-Kōmyō, Go-Sai, Reigen, and Higashiyama. Nakamikado's immediate Imperial successors, including Sakuramachi, Momozono, Go-Sakuramachi and Go-Momozono, are enshrined here as well.[22]