Empress Kōmyō (光明皇后) (701 – 23 July 760), born Fujiwara Asukabehime (藤原 安宿媛), was the consort of Japanese Emperor Shōmu (701–756) during the Nara Period.
Contents
Life
A member of the Fujiwara clan, her father was Fujiwara no Fuhito and her mother was Agata Inukai no Michiyo (県犬養三千代). During her life she was also known as Asukabehime (安宿媛), Kōmyōshi (光明子), and Tōsanjō (藤三娘), literally the third Fujiwara daughter.
In 716, Kōmyō married the future Emperor Shōmu when he was still the crown prince. Two years later, she gave birth to her daughter, Princess Abe, who would later rule as Empress Kōken and Empress Shōtoku. Her son was born in 727 and was soon named crown prince, but he died as an infant. Rumors circulated that Prince Nagaya cursed the infant prince using black magic, and Nagaya was forced to commit suicide in response.
Kōmyō was named queens-consort or "kōgō" in 729, a position that prioritized her offspring as heir to the throne. An extra-codal office was created for the queen-consort, the Kōgōgūshiki; this bureaucratic innovation continued into the Heian period. She was an influential political figure in her own right and helped balance tensions between Fujiwara and non-Fujiwara factions at court.
She is buried in Nara Prefecture's Hōrenji-cho in the mausoleum Sahoyama no Higashi no Misasagi 佐保山東陵 near Emperor Shōmu in the southern mausoleum.