Before Tsuchimikado's accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (imina) was Tamehito-shinnō (為仁親王).[4] He was the firstborn son of Emperor Go-Toba. His mother was Ariko (在子) (1171–1257), daughter of Minamoto no Michichika (源通親).
Tsuchimikado's Imperial family lived with him in the Dairi of the Heian Palace. His family included three sons by three different consorts:[2]
18 February 1198 (Kenkyū 9, 11th day of the 1st month): In the 15th year of Go-Toba-tennō's reign (後鳥羽天皇十五年), the emperor abdicated; and the succession (senso) was received by his eldest son.[6]
1198 (Kenkyū 9, 3rd month): Emperor Tsuchimikado is said to have acceded to the throne (sokui).[7]
1203: Yoritomo's successor as head of the Kamakura shogunate, Minamoto no Yoriie, was assassinated; and former emperor Go-Toba was responsible for good relations with the shogunate when it was headed by Minamoto no Sanetomo from 1203 through 1219.[8]
1210: Go-Toba persuaded Tsuchimikado to abdicate in favor of his younger brother, who would become known as Emperor Juntoku.
In Kyōto, Minamoto no Michichika took power as steward, and in Kamakura, in 1199, upon the death of Minamoto no Yoritomo, Hōjō Tokimasa began to rule as Gokenin.
Tsuchimikado's official Imperial tomb is in Kyoto. The emperor is venerated at a memorialShintoshrine (misasagi). This mausoleum shrine is formally named Kanegahara no misasagi.[10]
Kugyō
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.
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 Tsuchimikado's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:
^ abPonsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan, pp. 86–87.
^Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon, pp. 221–230; Brown, Delmer et al. (1979). Gukanshō, pp. 3339–341; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki. pp. 220–221.
^Ponsonby-Fane, p. 9; Titsingh, p. 221; Brown, p. 339; Varley, p. 220.
^ abmother of Emperor Go-Saga – see Ponsonby-Fane, p. 20.
^Brown, p.339; Varley, p. 44; n.b., 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.