In ancient history, the phenomenon of women becoming emperors was not common. In China's ancient dynasties, the status of women was only Wu Zetian. But in ancient Japan in the 6th to 8th centuries, there were actually eight female emperors, and so many female emperors appeared so frequently in such a period of time. This is very worth studying, and the social phenomenon of women calling themselves emperors predates Japan before China. Why did the "Female Emperor Era" appear in ancient Japan?
Film and television drama - Wu Zetian
Japanese accounts of the age of female emperors were originally recorded in the Biography of the Wei ZhiWuren, and between the 6th and 8th centuries AD, there were even eight female emperors.
The cause of the Japanese female emperor is very mysterious, and the frequency of occurrence is also very dense. Throughout the history of the 6th century period, it can be found that the emergence of female emperors is closely related to Factors such as Buddhism, the struggle of the Japanese nobility, and diplomatic ties with the Sui Dynasty. However, the female emperors of Japan are different from Wu Zetian, and their emergence is due to the needs of society, which is a transitional state.
In the description of the "Secretary of Japan", it was Iyanagi and Iyenami who created this world, and Iyenami is a moon goddess, and from this we can also see that the status of Japanese women is relatively high.
Attitude towards the throne
The emperors of ancient Japan were not originally called "emperors", but "great kings". The king was the leader of several tribes and could not have real secular rights, and in such a system only sacrifice was the one who really controlled the tribe, because sacrifice had control over the spread of religion. Moreover, at that time, the Japanese tribes divided power into political power and religious authority, and imperial power belonged to religious authority. At the same time, because women have the ability to procreate, they will have religious overtones, which also creates a precondition for the emergence of a female emperor in Japan.
The system of succession to the throne of the Emperor
In ancient Japan, the main system of succession to the imperial family was "passed from brother to brother", so the first line of succession of Japanese emperors was brothers, not children of emperors. So there will be a situation of brothers fighting. At the same time, the system of brother succession is derived from the matriarchal system, which makes it impossible for the emperor to pass on his throne to his children, but to his half-brothers. It is precisely because of Japan's matriarchal system that it will lay the groundwork for the emergence of female emperors.
In Japan, the root of the female title of emperor is to prevent the imperial power from falling into the hands of other imperial relatives and nobles, and the essence of the female emperor is to keep the imperial line and pass on the rule of her own line from generation to generation. Moreover, the emergence of the female emperor era is also because Japan's imperial system will develop from a matriarchal society to a patriarchal power. With the increase in productivity, japan's imperial succession was able to change from male.
Ancient Japanese Girls
The struggle of the Japanese nobility
Since the beginning of its existence, the ancient Japanese nobles have continuously expanded their sphere of influence, thus relying on their own strength to control the imperial family. These nobles would divide a part of the royal family's rights by binding them to the members of the royal family, and the royal family also gained support by attaching themselves to the nobles in this form. In Japan before the 6th century, most of the emperor's mothers were nobles. After these aristocratic women married into the royal family, they would unite their families to try to control the royal family, which also prepared for the emergence of female emperors.
At the same time, these giants will also quietly accumulate their own strength, by supporting the future heirs of the royal family or by directly replacing them. But these will inevitably lead to bloodshed. The so-called battles in these imperial families are actually a contest of strength between the Japanese nobles. In order to ease these struggles, certain concessions were made between the royal family and the nobility, and the usual solution was to favor a woman as emperor.
The title of emperor by women weakens the rights of the royal family, but also weakens the struggle between the nobles and the nobility. Moreover, for the aristocratic family, it is the women in the family who succeed to the throne, although the results of the male succession are not satisfactory, but it is still beneficial to the family. Therefore, supporting women to ascend to the throne of the emperor is an inevitable result of the power contest between the nobility and the royal family.
For example, Emperor Yuanming, the political situation during his reign was not stable, in order to quell these turmoil, Emperor Yuanming chose to cede his throne to his daughter. In this way, Emperor Motomei could continue to control the Japanese court through his status as Emperor Taishang. The act of making her daughter a female emperor also avoids the innocent death of the prince, and at the same time ensures that the ruling power of the royal family is still in his hands.
The social situation of female emperors was also caused by the maintenance of the stability of the Japanese court and the reduction of the death and injury caused by men vying for the throne of the emperor. Japan's first female emperor was Emperor Tuiko, and her appearance was also because the struggle between the nobles made the rule of the imperial family fragile, in order to maintain the rule of his own family, Emperor Tuigu's father decided to make Emperor Tuigu a female emperor, which could not only get the recognition of the people, but also allow the nobles to no longer compete for the throne by force.
Matriarchy
The reason why there are so many female emperors in Japan is also because the social climate at that time was still willing to recognize the status of women, and the root of this social trend came from the matriarchal worship of the primitive period.
In the 3rd century BC, Japan was still in the matriarchal clan era, and the overall society had not yet developed into the feudal era, so the status of women who were endowed with fertility was very high in Japan at that time. And because of the long-term existence of matrilineal clans, matrilineal worship has also been strengthened in Japanese history.
In Japanese historical mythology, there is no shortage of records of female deities, such as the "Amaterasu Daijin". It is precisely because of the existence of female gods that Japanese society has slowly recognized the existence of female emperors. In ancient feudal society, the imperial family usually implemented its rule through "natural theocracy", so the female emperor of Japan not only had a legitimate reason for existence, but also was revered by the people because of religious worship.
In the society of the time, women were often considered religious or witchy. According to Japanese texts, a female emperor named Emperor Goji asked for rain from heaven and was fulfilled. And this mythical story also shows the rationality of the appearance of female emperors.
Institution of marriage
In Japan in the 3rd century, the marriage system was in the form of "visiting the wife", specifically, the man went to the woman's house to spend the night. If the "wife visit" is more than three days, the woman's parents can recognize the validity of the marriage. And more importantly, if the two have children, they are raised through the woman's family.
Film and television drama - ancient Japanese women
In Japan in the 7th century, the popular way of marriage in society was "recruiting a son-in-law", which specifically refers to the man's life in the woman's home, and the leader of this marriage is a woman. This form of marriage is strongly matrilineal, and it is recorded that the woman can dissolve the marriage at any time according to her own wishes.
It is precisely because of this marriage system, and at the same time, as described above, the women of the rich family marry the royal family and occupy a dominant position. Moreover, in Japan in the 7th century, children were generally more closely related to the mother's family, and even the name of the child was determined by the mother. The formation of this marriage system also led to the phenomenon of more respected women's status in ancient Japanese society.
According to Chinese historical records: "Establish a woman as king, do things ghosts and gods, and can confuse the people." This account also illustrates the status of women revered in Japan.
According to Japanese historical records, the love between half-siblings or siblings is not against human morality, but it is strictly forbidden by society for half-siblings. And this phenomenon is also very common in the imperial family, such as the emperor of Tuigu. This completely opposite social attitude towards half-motherhood and half-motherhood also shows Japan's matriarchal status. At that time, the Japanese imperial family, out of the legitimacy of maintaining their own bloodline, chose the empress candidate basically as an imperial daughter. It was not until the spread of Chinese Confucian culture to Japan that the social concept of male superiority over female inferiority slowly formed.
With the passage of time, the "concubine" slowly became the "dual". The status of women in this form of marriage has also been raised, and even women are in charge of the family's property. Japanese women in this period had the right to inherit the property of their families from birth, and they did not lose this inheritance right after marriage. In such a female-oriented marriage system, the social trend of the time would be biased towards the mother as the center, and the mother was also the center of the society at that time out of blood. In this way, the ethical concept of female domination will slowly be formed. From this point, it can also explain why there are female emperors in Japan.
The japanese female emperor appeared because of the political and social factors at that time, but in the final analysis, it was because he wanted the imperial family to "have one lineage". From the perspective of the nobles, the succession to the throne is a woman from her own family, which will also make her family grow, so she also gladly accepts the setting of the female emperor. The appearance of the female emperor also avoided endless confrontation between the royal family and the nobility. In short, the existence of the female emperor was not only influenced by the matrilineal clan at that time, but also carried a mysterious religious color, but also avoided bloody conflicts and maintained social stability. More importantly, it was precisely because of the era of female emperors that Japanese society was able to develop towards patriarchy.
bibliography:
A Study of The Ancient Female Emperors of Japan: Centered on the Reign of the World
A study of the image of women in the Chronicle of the Emperor in the Chronicles
On the emergence of the ancient Japanese female emperor and its causes