Empress Kōgyoku

Empress Kōgyoku (皇極天皇, Kōgyoku-tennō; 7 August 594 – 24 August 661), also known as Empress Saimei (斉明天皇, Saimei-tennō), was the 35th and 37th monarch of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Both her reigns were within the Asuka period.

Kōgyoku was born on 7 August 594 as Princess Takara (宝). Her father, Prince Chinu [ja], was a minor prince of which little is recorded. Her mother, Princess Kibitsu-hime [ja] was similarly a minor princess of which little is written. Paternally Kōgyoku was a great-granddaughter of Emperor Bidatsu and his first wife Hirohime. Maternally she is a great-granddaughter of Emperor Kinmei (Bidatsu's father) and his concubine Soga-no-Kitashihime.

She would marry Prince Takamuku, a grandson of Emperor Yōmei. This marriage produced one child, a son, however the two separated. After separating she married Prince Tamura (later Emperor Jomei).

Tamura and another Prince, Prince Yamashiro, were political rivals. Both claimed that before the then monarch, Empress Suiko, died, she declared the respective Prince her heir. What ensued was a civil war, ultimately ending with Tamura winning. Upon this, Princess Takara would become the empress consort.

The Man'yōshū records correspondents the two sent to eachother. Once while the emperor was away, a messenger gave this letter that Takara sent him:

I hear the twang of the mid-strings

Of his royal birchwood bow, Which my Sovereign, ruling in peace, Loves to handle at break of day, And fondly leans against with dusk. Now he must be out for his morning hunt, Now he must be out for his evening chase; I hear the twang of the mid-string

Of his loved birchwood bow!