Princess Tōchi
Who was Princess Tōchi?
Consort of emperor Kōbun of Japan
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Princess Tōchi (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Princess Tōchi (十市皇女; c. 648/653 – 3 May 678) was a Japanese imperial princess from the Asuka period, known as the wife of Emperor Kōbun and thus the Empress of Japan. Her name came from the Tōchi district, a neighborhood north of Asuka, showing how Japanese royalty were often named. She was the daughter of Emperor Tenmu and the poet Princess Nukata, giving her a background deeply rooted in the political and cultural life of the imperial court.
Princess Tōchi married her cousin Prince Ōtomo, who later became Emperor Kōbun. They lived in the capital city of Ōtsu in Ōmi Province, now Ōtsu in Shiga Prefecture. Emperor Kōbun took the throne after his father, Emperor Tenji, but his reign was brief. He was killed during the Jinshin War, a succession conflict in 672, by Princess Tōchi's father, Emperor Tenmu. This put Princess Tōchi in a tough spot, torn between her husband and her father.
After the Jinshin War, Princess Tōchi went back to Asuka, living at the Asuka Kiyomihara palace with her mother and son. Life after the war meant getting used to her father's new political order. In 675, she visited the Ise Grand Shrine with Princess Abe, an act of great religious and ceremonial importance in the imperial court's traditions.
In 678, Princess Tōchi was chosen by divination to be a Saiō, a high-ranking imperial priestess at the Ise Grand Shrine. She was set to leave for this sacred role on the seventh day of the fourth month but died suddenly before she could depart. Her unexpected death, just as she was about to begin a solemn religious role, added a special sadness to her passing. Prince Takechi, touched by her death, wrote three verses in her memory, which were preserved in the Man'yōshū, Japan's oldest poetry collection. She was buried at a place mentioned in the Nihonshoki as Akō.
Before Fame
Princess Tōchi was born between 648 and 653 to Prince Ōama, later Emperor Tenmu, and Princess Nukata, a famous poet in ancient Japan. Her early life took place during a time of significant political change, as the Yamato court was working to centralize power based on the Chinese imperial system. Growing up in the aristocratic Asuka court, she was immersed in high literary culture, religious ceremonies, and the complex alliances that shaped the lives of the imperial family.
Her rise to prominence was largely due to her marriage to Prince Ōtomo, placing her at the heart of the succession struggle after Emperor Tenji's death. As the wife of the briefly ruling emperor, she held one of the highest positions available to a woman in the Asuka-period court, even though the political situation around her was tragically unstable.
Key Achievements
- Served as Empress of Japan as wife of Emperor Kōbun during the late 7th century
- Visited the Ise Grand Shrine in 675 alongside Princess Abe, fulfilling an important religious and ceremonial role
- Selected by divination to serve as Saiō, the imperial priestess of the Ise Grand Shrine, one of the most prestigious religious appointments for an imperial woman
- Immortalized in Japanese literary history through three elegiac verses composed by Prince Takechi and preserved in the Man'yōshū
- Maintained a recognized presence at the Asuka Kiyomihara palace following the Jinshin War, helping to sustain continuity of the imperial family line
Did You Know?
- 01.Princess Tōchi died suddenly on the very day she was scheduled to depart her residence to begin her duties as Saiō, a sacred imperial priestess at Ise Grand Shrine.
- 02.Her mother, Princess Nukata, is one of the most celebrated poets in Japanese literary history, with numerous verses preserved in the Man'yōshū anthology.
- 03.Prince Takechi, who composed three elegies for Princess Tōchi collected in the Man'yōshū, was himself her husband's half-brother, illustrating the intricate relationships of the imperial family.
- 04.Her name comes from the Tōchi district, a neighborhood north of Asuka, following the ancient Japanese practice of naming imperial figures after geographic locations.
- 05.Princess Tōchi's father, Emperor Tenmu, was the very man responsible for killing her husband, Emperor Kōbun, during the Jinshin War of 672.