Emperor Go-Uda (後宇多天皇, Go-Uda-tennō, 17 December 1267 – 16 July 1324) was the 91st emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 1274 through 1287.[1]
This 13th-century sovereign was named after the 9th-century Emperor Uda and go- (後), translates literally as "later"; and thus, he is sometimes called the "Later Emperor Uda," or in some older sources, may be identified as "Emperor Uda, the second" or as "Emperor Uda II."
Yohito-shinnō became crown prince in 1268. According to the terms of the late emperor's will (Go-Saga died in 1272), in 1274, he would become emperor upon the death or abdication of Emperor Kameyama.
6 March 1274 (Bun'ei 11, 26th day of the 1st month): In the 15th year of Kameyama-tennō's reign (亀山天皇十五年), the emperor abdicated; and the succession (senso) was received by his cousin.[3]
4 May 1274 (Bun'ei 11, 26th day of the 3rd month): Emperor Go-Uda is said to have acceded to the throne (sokui).[4]
The retired Emperor Kameyama continued to exercise power as cloistered emperor.
During his reign, the unsuccessful Mongol invasions of Japan occurred, first in 1274 and again in 1281. Though they established a beachheadatHakata, Kyushu, they were driven out within a short time.
23 November 1275 (Kenji 1, 5th day of the 11th month): Hirohito-shinnō was named Crown Prince and heir to his first cousin, the Daikakuji-tō Emperor Go-Uda. This was the result of political maneuvering by Hirohito's father, the Jimyōin-tō Emperor Go-Fukakusa.[5]
In 1287, retired Emperor Go-Fukakusa, dissatisfied with the fact that his own lineage (the Jimyōin-tō) did not control the throne, while that of his younger brother, the retired Emperor Kameyama (the Daikakuji-tō) did, persuaded both the Bakufu and the imperial court to compel the Emperor to abdicate in favor of Go-Fukakusa's son (Emperor Fushimi).
After this time, the struggle between the Jimyōin-tō and the Daikakuji-tō over the imperial throne continued. After Go-Uda's abdication, his Daikakuji-tō controlled the throne from 1301 to 1308 (Emperor Go-Nijō) and again from 1318 until the era of northern and southern courts (begun 1332) when they became the southern court (ending in 1392).
Go-Uda was cloistered emperor during the reign of his own son, Go-Nijō, from 1301 until 1308, and again from 1318, when his second son Go-Daigo took the throne until 1321, when Go-Daigo began direct rule.
Memorial Shinto shrine and mausoleum honoring Emperor Go-Uda.
16 July 1324 (Genkō 4, 25th day of the 6th month): Go-Uda died at age 58.[6]
Emperor Go-Uda's Imperial mausoleum is the Rengebuji no misasagi (蓮華峯寺陵) in Ukyō-ku, Kyoto.[7]
Kugyō (公卿) is a collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in pre-Meiji eras. Even during those years in which the court's actual influence outside the palace walls was minimal, the hierarchic organization persisted.
In general, this elite group included only three to four men at a time. These were hereditary courtiers whose experience and background would have brought them to the pinnacle of a life's career. During Go-Uda's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:
^Titsingh, p. 261; Varley, p. 44; a distinct act of senso is unrecognized prior to Emperor Tenji; and all sovereigns except Jitō, Yōzei, Go-Toba, and Fushimi have senso and sokui in the same year until the reign of Emperor Go-Murakami.
