Princess Kaoruko
{{Expand Japanese|topic=bio|馨子内親王|date=November 2011}}
{{Infobox royalty
| consort = yes
| name = Princess Kaoruko
| succession = Empress consort of Japan
| reign = 1069–1073
| spouse = Emperor Go-Sanjō
| issue =
| royal house = Imperial House of Japan
| father = Emperor Go-Ichijō
| mother = Fujiwara no Ishi
| birth_date = 1029
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death year and age|1093|1029}}
| death_place =
| burial_date =
| burial_place =
|}}
{{nihongo|Princess Kaoruko|馨子内親王|Kaoruko-naishinno|1029–1093}}, also known as Saiin-no Kōgō (西院皇后), was an empress consort (chūgū) of her cousin Emperor Go-Sanjō of Japan.Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1915). The Imperial Family of Japan, p. x.{{Cite book |last1=Hall |first1=John Whitney |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eiTWWfoyuyAC&dq=Moshi+Cambridge+history+of+Japan&pg=PA584 |title=The Cambridge History of Japan |last2=Shively |first2=Donald H. |date=1988 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-22353-9 |language=en}}
Biography
While a young child, she served as a Saiin (priestess) from 1032 until 1036. She was a daughter of Emperor Go-Ichijō, and as such, marriage to her represented a means to lessen some of the influence of the powerful Fujiwara family (from which imperial consorts usually came).{{Cite book |last1=Hall |first1=John Whitney |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J-tO9pOjzmsC&dq=go-ichij%C5%8D+daughter+go-sanjo&pg=PA70 |title=Medieval Japan: Essays in Institutional History |last2=Mass |first2=Jeffrey P. |date=1988 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-1511-9 |language=en}} She married her cousin the future emperor in 1051. In 1068, her husband became emperor, and she was appointed empress.
Her husband had three consorts: Kaoruko, Minamoto Motoko, and Fujiwara Shigeko. The emperor hoped that Kaoruko would bear an heir, and thus allow him to pass the throne to a non-Fujiwara son. She had no children, however, and after the death of her husband, she became a Buddhist nun under the name Saiin-no Kōgō (西院皇后). Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1915). The Imperial Family of Japan, p. x.
References
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{{succession box | before= Fujiwara no Kanshi | title=Empress consort of Japan | after=Fujiwara no Kenshi | years=1069–1073}}
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{{Consorts of Japan}}
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Category:Japanese empresses consort
Category:Japanese Buddhist nuns
Category:11th-century Buddhist nuns
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Category:History articles needing translation from Japanese Wikipedia
Category:Japanese Shinto priestesses