Nakayama Yoshiko
| Lady Yoshiko | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| Born | 16 January 1836 | ||||
| Died | 5 October 1907 (aged 71) | ||||
| Burial | Toshimagaoka Imperial cemetery, Bunkyo, Tokyo | ||||
| Spouse | Emperor Kōmei | ||||
| Issue | Emperor Meiji[1] | ||||
| |||||
| House | Imperial House of Japan | ||||
| Father | Nakayama Tadayasu | ||||
| Mother | Matsura Aiko | ||||
Nakayama Yoshiko (中山慶子, 16 January 1836 – 5 October 1907) was a Japanese lady-in-waiting in the court of the Imperial House of Japan. She was a favourite concubine[2] of Emperor Kōmei[3] and the mother of Emperor Meiji.[4]
Biography
Parents
Nakayama Yoshiko was the daughter of Lord Nakayama Tadayasu, Minister of the Left (Sadaijin) and a member of the Fujiwara clan. Her mother was Matsura Aiko (1818–1906), the 11th daughter of the daimyo of the Hirado domain, Matsura Seizan.
At the court
She was born in Kyoto and entered service of the court at the age of 17. She became a concubine of Kōmei, and on November 3, 1852, gave birth to Mutsuhito, later known as Emperor Meiji, at her father’s residence outside of the Kyoto Imperial Palace. She returned with her son to the Palace five years later. Her son was the eldest of six born to Emperor Komei.
After the Meiji Restoration, she relocated to the new capital to Tokyo in 1870 at the behest of the Emperor. She is buried in Toshimagaoka cemetery in Bunkyo, Tokyo.
Honours
- Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown (17 January 1900)
Order of precedence
- Third rank (Fourth day, eighth month of Keio (1868))
- Second rank (Seventh day, ninth month of Keio (1868))
- Senior second rank (1889)
- First rank (15 January 1900)
Sources
- ^ The Emperors of Modern Japan by Ben-Ami Shillony
- ^ Japan's imperial conspiracy, Volume 2 by David Bergamini
- ^ Births and rebirths in Japanese art: essays celebrating the inauguration of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures
- ^ Keene 2002, p. 10.