Cloistered Emperor

A cloistered emperor (太上法皇, daijō hōō, also pronounced dajō hōō) is the term for a Japanese emperor who had abdicated and entered the Buddhist monastic community by receiving the Pravrajya rite. The term can also be shortened to Hōō (法皇, lit. "Dharma emperor").

Cloistered emperors sometimes acted as Daijō Tennō (retired emperors), therefore maintaining effective power. This title was first assumed by Emperor Shōmu and was later used by many other emperors who "took the tonsure", signifying a decision to become a Buddhist monk. The last cloistered emperor was Emperor Reigen (r. 1663-1687) in the Edo period.

List of retired emperors who became monks

See also

• Emperor Daijō
• Cloistered rule

Notes

References

• Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1956). Kyoto: The Old Capital of Japan, 794-1869. Kyoto: The Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 36644
• _____________. (1963). Vicissitudes of Shinto. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 36655
• Siyun-zai Rin-siyo (1834). Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon [Annals of the Emperors of Japan] (in French). Paris: Parbury, Allen, and Company.

1. Cloistered rule
2. Daijō Tennō
3. Sesshō and Kampaku
4. Emperor Go-Shirakawa
5. Emperor Go-Fukakusa
6. Emperor Fushimi
7. Samurai
8. Minamoto no Yoritomo
9. Emperor Go-Uda
10. Emperor Kameyama
11. Shogun
12. Sanjūsangen-dō
13. Emperor Shirakawa
14. Emperor Shōkō
15. Heian period
16. List of emperors of Japan
17. Hōjō Tokimasa
18. Emperor Higashiyama
19. Emperor Konoe
20. Emperor Go-Horikawa