Empress Kōjun

She was therefore a princess by birth, as the daughter of Kuniyoshi, Prince Kuni (1873–1929) by his consort, Chikako (1879–1956).

While her father was a scion of the imperial family itself, her mother descended from daimyōs, the feudal or military aristocracy.

Nagako would become one of the last Japanese who could remember what life was like inside the Japanese aristocracy in the years before the Second World War.

As a young girl, Nagako attended the Girls' Department of Peers' School in Tokyo (now Gakushūin), which was a school set up especially for the daughters of the aristocracy and imperial family.

Among her cohort was Crown Princess Bangja of Korea (then known as Princess Masako Nashimoto).

Following her betrothal at age fourteen, Nagako was withdrawn from this school and began a six-year training program aimed at developing the accomplishments deemed necessary for an empress.

Nagako was betrothed to her distant cousin the Crown Prince Hirohito, later the Emperor Shōwa (1901–1989) at a very young age, in a match arranged by their parents, which was usual in Japanese society at that time.

Her lineage and her father's unblemished military career were the major considerations.

In a step away from tradition, Hirohito was allowed to choose his own bride.

Nagako herself had no choice in the matter.

Nagako (6 March 1903 – 16 June 2000), posthumously honoured as Empress Kōjun, was a member of the Imperial House of Japan, the wife of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) and the mother of Emperor Emeritus Akihito.

Princess Nagako was born in Kuni-no-miya's family home in Tokyo, Japan on 6 March 1903, into one of the Ōke branches of the Imperial House of Japan, which were eligible to provide an heir to the throne of Japan (by adoption).

In 1917, at the age of 14, she and other eligible candidates for betrothal participated in a tea ceremony at the Imperial Palace while the Crown Prince watched unseen from behind a screen.

He eventually selected Nagako.

Prime Minister Yamagata Aritomo, a prince from a rival clan, was said to be opposed to Hirohito's choice.

He and other royal clans tried to dissuade him from marrying her, arguing that she had colour-blind relatives on her mother's side of the family.

In January 1919, the engagement of Princess Nagako to the then-Crown Prince Hirohito was announced.

During their six-year courtship, they met only nine times and were always accompanied by a chaperone.

The wedding had been delayed in the aftermath of the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake and following an assassination attempt on Hirohito's life.

Their marriage marked the last time a future empress was chosen from minor princely families that usually provided brides for the main line.

Princess Nagako married Crown Prince Hirohito on 26 January 1924 and became the Crown Princess of Japan.

She was empress consort of Japan (皇后, kōgō) from 1926 until her husband's death in 1989, making her the longest-serving empress consort in Japanese history.

She became the Empress Of Japan upon Hirohito's accession to the throne on 25 December 1926.

Unlike his royal predecessors, Emperor Hirohito decided to abandon his 39 court concubines.

Over the first decade of their marriage, Empress Nagako gave birth to four daughters (see Issue).

As she had failed to produce a son, courtiers attempted to persuade the Emperor to take concubines, but he remained monogamous.

They also gave her the nickname onna bara, "girl womb" or "girl tummy".

It was only on 23 December 1933, almost ten years after their wedding, that the young couple had a son, and gave Japan an heir, in the birth of Akihito (明仁).

There were nationwide celebrations across Japan following his birth, which was described by Nagako as "the happiest moment in my life".

In all, Hirohito and Nagako had seven children, five daughters and two sons, three of whom predeceased Nagako.

(see Issue)

Empress Nagako performed her ceremonial duties in a traditional manner.

She initially came to live in the palace during the time when people there spoke an archaic imperial form of Japanese that has largely disappeared.

Her role required her to attend special ceremonies such as those for the 2600th anniversary of the legendary foundation of the Empire of Japan in 1940 or the conquest of Singapore in 1942.

During the Second World War, Nagako was largely confined to palace grounds and her duties involved tending to wounded generals and writing to families who had lost loved ones during the war.

Their children were sent to the countryside, while she and Hirohito resided at the Obunko imperial air-raid shelter, which was built in the Fukiage Gardens on palace grounds.

Nagako also assisted with growing vegetables and raising poultry.

Her personal views on the war are not well known, though she is reported to have described the war years as "the hardest time of my life".

NHK reported that "her heart was in pain when she saw the emperor deeply agitated every day during and immediately after World War II."

After the occupation of Japan, the court became more accepting of Western and foreign traditions and Nagako took English lessons from two American tutors.