Legend holds that Japan’s inaugural sovereign seized the Chrysanthemum Throne back in 660 BC. From Emperor Jimmu’s rise onward, historians tally roughly 126 monarchs who have sat upon the Japanese throne, even though the earliest rulers may belong more to myth than fact.
10 Unusual Fascinating Tales of Imperial Japan
10 Sudo
Emperor Sudo never actually occupied the throne while he was alive; his imperial status was bestowed only after his death. In his mortal days he was known as Prince Sawara, the younger sibling of Emperor Kanmu.
Ambitious Sawara schemed to eliminate Fujiwara no Tanetsugu, a favoured minister of his elder brother. When the plot surfaced, Kanmu ordered the conspirators’ execution and exile, dispatching the disgraced prince to the remote outpost of Awaji Island.
Sawara perished of hunger en route to Awaji, yet the misfortunes continued. The empress soon fell ill and passed away, and Kanmu’s designated successor, Prince Ate, also contracted a fatal illness. When ritual offerings failed to revive Ate, rumors swirled that Sawara’s restless spirit was haunting the court. To pacify the specter, Kanmu commissioned a shrine in his memory.
By the year 800, worried that Sawara’s lingering soul still sought vengeance, Kanmu conferred upon him the posthumous title Emperor Sudo. The newly recognized emperor was interred among the ancestral mausoleums, and a dedicated shrine rose in his name. Six years later, in 806, Kanmu issued a formal pardon to all participants in Fujiwara no Tanetsugu’s demise, permitting the exiled conspirators to return.
9 Sushun
Curiously, Emperor Sushun met his end at the hands of the very figure who installed him. In 587, after the death of his half‑brother Emperor Yōmei, the rival clans Mononobe and Soga vied for succession. Sushun’s sibling, Prince Anahobe, allied with the Mononobe but was ultimately slain by the Soga under the command of Soga no Umako.
When the conflict subsided, Umako installed Sushun as a compromise emperor. Yet Sushun seethed with rage over his brother’s murder and openly expressed his loathing for Umako. At one point he commanded a boar to be slain, declaring, “I desire the death of my enemy as surely as this boar met its end.”
Umako, displeased by the emperor’s threats, arranged for a loyalist to murder Sushun, then later executed that assassin by hanging him from a tree after a dispute. Possessing immense authority, Umako faced no repercussions for the regicide. Even Prince Shōtoku, Sushun’s nephew, argued that the emperor’s fate was justified, and Sushun received a swift burial devoid of customary imperial rites.
8 Daigo
Throughout the Kamakura era (1185‑1333), Japan fell under the dominion of military dictators known as shoguns. While the emperor retained a ceremonial position, real authority rested with the shogunate. In 1318, Emperor Go‑Daigo ascended, yearning to revive the sovereign power of his forebears.
Following several setbacks, including an exile that temporarily stripped him of the throne, Go‑Daigo and his allies ignited a revolt that toppled the regime in 1333. The ensuing three‑year Kenmu Restoration saw him reinstated as emperor, yet his reforms alienated key backers, notably the samurai class.
By 1336, the restoration collapsed and Go‑Daigo was once more deposed. A former confidant, Ashikaga Takauji, assumed the shogunate in 1338, relegating the emperor once again to a symbolic role.
Nevertheless, after two depositions, Go‑Daigo refused surrender. Rejecting the legitimacy of his successor, he escaped Kyoto and established a rival court in Yoshino.
For the following sixty years, Japan endured a bifurcated imperial system: one lineage traced to Go‑Daigo, the Southern Court, while the shogunate backed a rival Northern line. The Southern Court persisted until 1392, when its final emperor abdicated, reconciling with the shogunate.
7 Komatsu
Although Go‑Daigo’s progeny formed the Southern Court, the Ashikaga shogunate sanctioned a succession of six monarchs dubbed the Northern Court. Subsequent scholarship questioned this line’s validity, and since 1911 the Southern Court has been acknowledged as the rightful dynasty.
In fact, not every Northern Court ruler is deemed a pretender; Emperor Go‑Komatsu, the sixth and final sovereign of that line, is regarded as a legitimate emperor.
At the outset, following the 1392 capitulation of the Southern Court’s last emperor, a pact stipulated that a successor from that lineage would follow Go‑Komatsu. To balance power and avoid monopolizing the throne, the agreement called for alternating succession between the two factions.
Nevertheless, the arrangement was never fulfilled. Go‑Komatsu abdicated in 1412, succeeded by his son Shōkō rather than a Southern heir. Consequently, the Southern line never reclaimed the throne, and although historically deemed legitimate, all later Japanese emperors descend from the Northern Court.
6 Anko
Traditionally, the emperor’s eldest son inherited the throne. Yet during Emperor Ingyō’s reign, ending around 453, a love scandal robbed his firstborn of succession.
Designated heir Prince Kinashi no Karu became enamored with his half‑sister, pursuing a forbidden affair that tarnished his standing with the court. Upon their father’s death, his younger sibling Anaho contested his claim; Kinashi was defeated, exiled, and eventually took his own life.
Ascending as Emperor Anko, Prince Anaho’s reign, steeped in coercion, foreshadowed a violent demise.
At one point Anko dispatched an envoy to his uncle Okusaka, seeking a matrimonial alliance for his younger brother. Though Okusaka consented, the messenger falsely reported a rejection. Without verifying, Anko rashly ordered troops to slay Okusaka and abduct his spouse.
He elevated his aunt to empress and adopted Okusaka’s seven‑year‑old son, Mayuwa. Fearing retribution, Anko’s concerns proved justified: as he rested in the empress’s embrace, Mayuwa seized the moment, stabbing his stepfather to death.
5 Kobun
Upon his 672 death, Emperor Tenji commanded such reverence that ceremonies honoring his rule persisted a hundred years later. Prior to his passing, Tenji’s brother Prince Ōama declined the throne, prompting Tenji’s son Prince Ōtomo to be named successor, assuming the title Emperor Kōbun.
What appeared a seamless transition soon spiraled into a fierce rivalry between Ōama and Kōbun, igniting a civil war known as the Jinshin Disturbance.
Ōama’s purported refusal was, in fact, a stratagem; he relocated from the capital to a shrine in Yoshino as part of his scheme.
Pretending monastic intentions, Ōama secretly marshaled a revolt against his nephew. Aligning with regional chieftains discontented by Tenji’s centralizing policies, he amassed forces and assaulted Emperor Kōbun.
The conflict was brief, spanning roughly a month. Ōama’s troops overwhelmed the imperial forces, razing the capital. After an eight‑month reign, Kōbun chose suicide by strangulation rather than endure capture.
His uncle then ascended as Emperor Tenmu. Contrary to his allies’ expectations, Tenmu intensified central governance.
4 Yozei
Within the elegant, delicate Heian court (794–1185), the unruly Emperor Yōzei posed a terrifying challenge. Ascending at merely nine years old, by his teens he cultivated grim amusements, relishing animal cruelty—staging battles between dogs and monkeys and forcing snakes to swallow frogs.
Beasts, however, were not his sole pastime. Sparse accounts claim Yōzei once slew a courtier without provocation, either by sword or bare hands. Authorities concealed the homicide, yet it likely represented the final provocation for many senior officials.
Fed up with Yōzei’s erratic conduct, regent Fujiwara no Mototsune lured the emperor to a race—a ruse that extracted him from the palace, after which Mototsune swiftly stripped him of his responsibilities.
Although deemed mad, Yōzei escaped imprisonment or execution following his removal. In his later years he turned to poetry; his lone extant verse appears in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, a celebrated Japanese anthology.
3 Sutoku
Following a reign from 1123 to 1141 (some accounts extend to 1142), Emperor Sutoku was abruptly deposed by his own father, Emperor Toba. Toba, together with consort Fujiwara no Nariko, had recently sired a son who was installed to replace Sutoku. The successor, Emperor Konoe, was frail; upon his 1155 death, Sutoku anticipated that either he or his progeny would ascend.
In truth, Toba never intended to restore Sutoku, instead naming another half‑brother, Emperor Go‑Shirakawa, to the throne. This contentious appointment, coupled with Toba’s death the following year, left no obstacle to Sutoku and his supporters launching a claim.
The ensuing clash, known as the Hōgen Rebellion, concluded with Go‑Shirakawa prevailing. Consequently, Sutoku was exiled to the remote Sanuki Province as punishment.
Historical records note Sutoku’s death in 1164. Folklore, however, portrays him as a resentful specter, a vengeful demon whose wrath was blamed for numerous calamities; his legend endures in Japanese folklore. Notably, in 1867 Emperor Meiji penned a letter to Sutoku, urging his spirit to return to the capital for reconciliation.
2 Kogyoku/Saimei
Mirroring the later Empress Kōken/Shōtoku, Empress Kōgyoku/Saimei uniquely reigned over Japan in two distinct eras. Born Princess Takara, she first ascended as Empress Kōgyoku following her husband’s 642 death. At that juncture, the Soga clan’s power surged within the court, a trend opposed by her son Prince Naka no Ōe.
In July 645, Naka no Ōe and accomplices ambushed Soga no Iruka no Ōmi, a Soga figure, right before Kōgyoku. As she exited the chamber, Naka’s men slew Iruka. Upon receiving his son’s body, the grieving father set fire to his residence and then took his own life.
The killing horrified Kōgyoku, prompting her resignation. Her brother succeeded her as Emperor Kōtoku, ruling until 654. Subsequently, Kōgyoku reclaimed the throne, now known as Saimei for her second tenure. Following Saimei’s demise, Prince Naka no Ōe ascended as Emperor Tenji.
1 Antoku
Emperor Antoku’s saga ranks among Japan’s most heartrending tales, forever etched in the epic The Tale of the Heike. He assumed the throne at two years old, under the regency of his grandfather, Taira no Kiyomori.
The rival Minamoto clan backed a different claimant, sparking the Genpei War—a civil conflict pitting Minamoto against Taira—that forced Antoku and the Taira faction to abandon Kyoto.
The Minamoto pursued the Taira to Dannoura, a harbour town at Honshu’s southern extremity. On 24 April 1185, the two sides met for a final naval confrontation. Amidst the clash, Taira commander Taguchi Shigeyoshi defected to the Minamoto, rendering the battle hopeless as he revealed the Taira’s strategies.
Antoku rode aboard one of the Taira vessels. As the Minamoto’s victory became evident, his grandmother seized the child and leapt into the sea, taking him with her.
Numerous Taira members chose self‑immersion over capitulation, drowning themselves. Folklore thereafter claims their spirits linger as Heike crabs—distinct Japanese crabs bearing a human‑like visage on their shells.
Tristan Shaw, an American author passionate about folklore, literature, and history, shares insights on Twitter.