孝謙

Empress Koken (717-770) ruled Japan at the height of the Nara Era. Born Princess Abenaishinno to Emperor Shomu, Koken took the throne in 749 when her devoutly Buddhist father abdicated to become a monk. Koken inherited her father's devotion to Buddhism, surrounding herself with Buddhist priests as advisors and issuing edicts proscribing the unneccesary killing of living things.

The entrenched nobility of the imperial court began to view Koken's coterie of Buddhist priests as a threat to their tradtional authority. In 758, leading nobles led by Koken's cousin Fujiwara Nakamaro convinced her to abdicate in favor of her nephew, who became the emperor Junnin, so she could lead a life of quiet Buddhist contemplation.

But rather than disappearing from the political scene as the nobles hoped, the retired Empress soon fell under the influence of a faith-healing Buddhist mystic, Dokyo, at whose urging she continued to exercise considerable influence over her weak nephew and the rest of the court. When Dokyo began to show signs of political pretentions beyond his priestly station, Nakamaro rose up in arms against Koken, but she crushed him with the help of an army of Dokyo's folowers. Koken then deposed Junnin and reassumed the throne in 764 as Empress Shotoku.

In blatant defiance of the now thoroughly undermined nobles, Koken elevated Dokyo to high office as her right-hand man and granted him vast authority over the day to day running of the Empire. Allegedly, Dokyo attempted to persuade Koken to abdicate again and make himself Emperor, but Koken refused, although she apparently intended Dokyo to succeed her at a later date. Dokyo never got his wish, however. When Koken died suddenly in 770, the nobility quickly moved to depose Dokyo, and set in place new regulations to close off the imperial household to outsiders.

Dokyo's influence over Koken's court may have brought about a revulsion against female empresses. Although no official ban was set in place, females began to be routinely passed over in the line of succession to the throne. Japan would not see another women on the throne for nearly 1,000 years, until Go-Sakuramachi ascended in 1762.

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