＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49) on X
(Reference) Original article in Japanese
・残念な天皇の話(その１５)。崇徳天皇は一生不幸で日本三大怨霊の一人となった
The Japanese Imperial Family (Imperial Household) is said to be “the world’s longest-running royal family.” If Emperor Jimmu, as described in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, was a real person, then the Imperial Family has a history of over 2,600 years, up to the current 126th Emperor.
Even if Emperor Keitai (450?–531), the 26th Emperor and a descendant of Emperor Ojin, is definitively the first emperor, it remains “the world’s longest-running royal family.”
Throughout this long history of the Imperial Family, there have been tyrannical emperors, incompetent emperors, lecherous emperors, and foolish emperors, but there were also emperors who suffered misfortune throughout their lives. Emperor Sutoku, whom we will introduce here, is an emperor whose resentment escalated to the point where he became a “vengeful spirit.”
1. Who was Emperor Sutoku?
Emperor Sutoku (1119-1164, reigned 1123-1142), the 75th emperor, was the eldest son of Emperor Toba (1103-1156, reigned 1107-1123), and his mother was Empress Fujiwara no Shōshi (Taikenmon-in).
At first glance, his circumstances seem privileged. Like his father, Emperor Toba, he became emperor at a young age and abdicated young.
However, while his father, Emperor Toba, maintained real power through “cloistered rule” for three generations—Emperor Sutoku, Emperor Konoe, and Emperor Go-Shirakawa—until his death, Emperor Sutoku held absolutely no real power.
Furthermore, he was defeated by his younger brother, Emperor Go-Shirakawa, in the Hōgen Rebellion of 1156, exiled to Sanuki, and never allowed to return to Kyoto, ending his life in misfortune.
Why did he endure such an unfortunate life?
(1) Ascending the throne at the age of 3, becoming a child emperor
He became Crown Prince on January 28, 1123, but on the same day, his father, Emperor Toba, abdicated, so he ascended the throne and became emperor on February 19.
Despite being the firstborn son, he was disliked by his father, Emperor Toba. The reason was that he was not Emperor Toba’s biological son, but the result of an affair between his great-grandfather, Emperor Shirakawa (1053-1129, reigned 1073-1087), and his mother, Fujiwara no Shōshi. In other words, he was an “uncle-son” (a relationship where his father called him uncle).
Incidentally, it was widely believed at the time that Taira no Kiyomori (1118-1181) was also an “illegitimate son of Emperor Shirakawa.”
(2) He abdicated at the age of 22, becoming a retired emperor without real power.
Furthermore, Emperor Shirakawa’s pressure on Emperor Toba to abdicate and the subsequent enthronement of the young Emperor Sutoku intensified Emperor Toba’s resentment.
This later led to Emperor Toba pressuring Emperor Sutoku to abdicate in favor of Emperor Konoe (Sutoku’s younger brother, born after Emperor Shirakawa’s death).
At this time, Emperor Konoe (1139-1155, reigned 1142-1155) was only two years old and died at the young age of 16. There are theories that he was cursed.
Next, Emperor Toba designated Emperor Go-Shirakawa, Emperor Sutoku’s younger brother, as his successor. This marked the beginning of a long and painful conflict and struggle between Emperor Sutoku and Emperor Go-Shirakawa.
(3) The Hōgen Rebellion
This was more than just a simple sibling quarrel; it involved conflicts within the Fujiwara aristocracy and rivalries between the Minamoto and Taira samurai clans.
Their various motives became intricately intertwined, eventually escalating into the Hōgen Rebellion (1156), a civil war that engulfed the entire imperial court.
In short, the Hōgen Rebellion was a political upheaval caused by a dispute over imperial succession and internal conflicts within the regent families, dividing the court into two factions: one supporting Emperor Go-Shirakawa and the other supporting Emperor Sutoku.
(4) Exile to Sanuki
Ultimately, Emperor Sutoku’s faction was defeated, and he was exiled to Sanuki (Kagawa Prefecture). The use of samurai power to resolve this internal court conflict increased the samurai’s influence and became one of the catalysts for the subsequent 700-year period of samurai rule.
(5) Life in Exile
While under house arrest in this place, Emperor Sutoku longed to return to Kyoto and, burdened by the sorrow of not being allowed to bid farewell to his deceased father, Emperor Toba, he copied the “Five Great Mahayana Sutras.” One account says he even copied them with his own blood.
He sent these to the imperial court, requesting them be enshrined in a temple in Kyoto, but Emperor Go-Shirakawa returned them, fearing they might contain curses.
From the moment these sutras were returned, Emperor Sutoku began his journey down the path of a vengeful spirit.
2. The Terrifying Legend of Emperor Sutoku (Sutoku-in), One of Japan’s Three Great Vengeful Spirits
Emperor Sutoku, who was exiled to Sanuki Province as a result of the Hogen Rebellion in 1156 and died there, is one of the “Three Great Vengeful Spirits of Japan,” alongside Sugawara no Michizane and Taira no Masakado.
He declared, “I will become a great demon of Japan, taking the emperor and making him a commoner, and making the commoner the emperor,” and “I dedicate this sutra to the demonic path.” Afterward, he neither cut his hair nor his nails, nor maintained his appearance, and was described as a demon-like figure, a “Tengu” itself. At this time, Emperor Sutoku said, “I will become a great Tengu, and I will make the emperor a commoner, and the common people rule the land.”
Furthermore, even after his death, Emperor Sutoku was not allowed to return to Kyoto and was cremated in Sanuki. Later, the “Shiramine Imperial Mausoleum” was built at this site. One theory suggests that Emperor Sutoku was assassinated.
The calamities began 12 years after Emperor Sutoku’s death. Numerous disturbances occurred, including the “Enryaku-ji Temple Uprising,” the “Great Fire of Angen,” and the “Shishigatani Conspiracy.” Kyoto was engulfed in flames, and many people connected to the court who opposed Emperor Sutoku perished.
Fearing the consequences, Emperor Go-Shirakawa erected the “Sutoku-in Mausoleum” (Awata-no-miya) at the site of the Hogen Rebellion, and the hall where Emperor Sutoku’s original paintings were enshrined became Kansho-ji Temple (now connected to Yasui Konpira-gu Shrine). He also granted protection to the temple in Sanuki (present-day Shiramine-ji Temple) that had been commemorating Emperor Sutoku.
However, the calamities in Kyoto did not cease, and it is said that Emperor Sutoku’s vengeful spirit continued to wreak havoc until Emperor Go-Shirakawa’s death.
Until now, many members of the imperial family have met tragic ends, and some have become vengeful spirits, but their rage usually subsided after the death of their perceived enemy.
However, Emperor Sutoku continued to be feared by many people even afterward. Perhaps this is a case of “hatred that permeated the very bones”?
First, Emperor Nijō (the emperor who succeeded Emperor Go-Shirakawa) built Shiramine-gū Shrine at the place where Emperor Sutoku’s body was kept chilled and preserved before cremation. Minamoto no Yoritomo then renovated Jōshō-ji Temple, which had been Emperor Sutoku’s temple, to appease his spirit and pray for peace throughout the land.
Incidentally, the mausoleum of Emperor Sutoku, currently located behind the Gion Kaburenjō, is said to have originated when his favorite concubine, Awa no Naishi, enshrined his hair and prayed for his soul. Currently, this is the only mausoleum of Emperor Sutoku remaining in Kyoto.
From then on, a “Shikinensai” (ceremonial memorial service) was held every 100 years. The 700th Shikinensai in 1864 coincided with the turbulent Bakumatsu period (the end of the Edo period), and Emperor Komei, fearing a great disaster, decided to have Emperor Sutoku returned from Sanuki to Kyoto for enshrinement. However, Emperor Komei died before the shrine was completed, and Emperor Meiji took over its construction.
This is the Shiramine Shrine in Kyoto today. An imperial envoy of Emperor Showa also attended the 800th Shikinensai held at Shiramine Imperial Mausoleum in 1964.
It can also be seen as a period where the “samurai,” a “commoner,” held power for 700 years, and only after the “Imperial Restoration Proclamation” did the “Emperor” finally return to the forefront.
Can this be considered the breaking of “Emperor Sutoku’s curse”?
Personally, I believe that even after the Meiji Restoration, the Emperor remained merely a formal “symbol of authority,” a puppet of the “people” (the clan-based government dominated by the Satsuma and Choshu domains).
Emperor Meiji, though a “Northern Court lineage” emperor who had undergone the “unification of the two courts” during the Nanboku-cho period, engaged in suspicious actions, such as having a bronze statue of Kusunoki Masashige erected in front of the Imperial Palace, claiming to be of the “Southern Court lineage.”
This supports the theory that “Emperor Meiji was replaced by Omuro Toranosuke, a ‘descendant of the Southern Court’.”
Furthermore, there is also a theory that “Omuro Toranosuke was not actually a ‘descendant of the Southern Court’ at all, but a Choshu native of unknown lineage.” If this theory is correct, it would be in line with the “(Emperor Sutoku’s) Great Tengu prophecy” that “I will become a Great Tengu, the Emperor will become a commoner, and the people will rule the country.” 3. Emperor Sutoku, who has also been the subject of rakugo (traditional Japanese comic storytelling) and novels
(1) “Sutoku-in” in rakugo
Speaking of Emperor Sutoku, the poem from the “Hyakunin Isshu” (One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each) anthology, “Though the swift rapids of the waterfall are divided by rocks, I believe we will meet again in the end,” is famous.
The rakugo (traditional Japanese comic storytelling) story “Sutokuin” is based on this poem.
(2) Ueda Akinari’s novel “Ugetsu Monogatari” (Tales of Moonlight and Rain)
There is a scene where Saigyo Hoshi visits Emperor Sutoku’s mausoleum, “Shiramine-ryo,” and confronts the vengeful spirit of Emperor Sutoku.
(3) Kyokutei Bakin’s novel “Chinsetsu Yumiharizuki” (The Tale of the Crescent Moon), illustrated by Katsushika Hokusai
The vengeful spirit appears as someone who comes to the rescue of Minamoto no Tametomo when he is in danger.
