Emperor Suzaku (朱雀天皇)
Emperor Suzaku (September 7, 923 - September 6, 952) was the sixty-first Emperor (his reign was from December 14, 930 to May 16, 946). His posthumous name was Yutaakira.
Genealogy
He was the eleventh prince of the sixtieth Emperor, Emperor Daigo. His mother was FUJIWARA no Mototsune's daughter, the second consort of an Emperor, FUJIWARA no Onshi.
Brief Personal History
He became the crown prince in 926. In the background how he became the crown prince was that the previous crown princes--his brother Prince Yasuakira and his son, Prince Yoshiyori--died young, thus the mother, Onshi, was afraid of bad spirits and looked after Prince Yutaakira within the layered Kicho (a partition of fabric used during the Heian period). In 930, following the death of Emperor Daigo, he took over the throne (senso) in September and succeeded to the throne (sokui) in November at the age of eight. His uncle, FUJIWARA no Tadahira, took actual control of the politics as a regent and chancellor.
In 935, during his reign, there was an incident caused by TAIRA no Masakado in the Kanto area, and the following year there was another one in the Inland Sea (of Japan) caused by FUJIWARA no Sumitomo.
(The Shohei and Tengyo Rebellion)
The government tried to reconcile the incident but it failed, so in 940 FUJIWARA no Tadafumi was appointed as Seii Raishogun (literally, "great general who subdues the barbarians") to send the troops to defeat Masakado, FUJIWARA no Hidesato subjugated Masakado. The following year FUJIWARA no Sumitomo was subjugated byTACHIBANA no Toyasu, and both incidents finally converged.
During Emperor Suzaku's reign there were many disasters or abnormal events such as the eruptin of Mt. Fuji, earthquakes and flooding; moreover, not only did the Emperor have no children, but he also abdicated to pass the throne to his younger half-brother, Prince Nariakira (later called Emperor Murakami) and left the Imperial Palace to live at Ninna-ji Temple. However, he regretted it afterwards and gave an invocation to be restored to the throne. He became a priest in 952 and died in the same year at 30 years of age.
Posthumous name, Tsuigo, a different name
He had the posthumous name 'Suzaku in - the Retired Emperor Suzaku,' since he spent his time in Suzaku as 'Go-in' (the palace where an ex-emperor lived after his abdication) once he abdicated the throne.
The Imperial Mausoleum
The Emperor was entombed in Daigo no misasagi (the Daigo (Imperial) Mausoleum), Higashi Ura cho-Town, Daigo goryo of Fushimi Ward, Kyoto City, which is not far from Yamashina no misasagi, the mausoleum of his father, Emperor Daigo.