Background
Tenno Gemmei was born in Japan in 661. She was a daughter of Emperor Tenji.
Tenno Gemmei was born in Japan in 661. She was a daughter of Emperor Tenji.
In 697 Empress Jito abdicated, turning over the throne to the son of Empress Gemmei, who became Emperor Mommu.
He died in 707, however, and in accordance with his dying wish his mother ascended the throne to become Empress Gemmei, the forty-third ruler of Japan.
In 710 she moved the capital to Heijo-kyo, on the site of the present-day city of Nara, where it remained until it was moved to Kyoto in 794; the interval from 710 to 794 is accordingly known as the Nara period.
In 715 she turned over the throne to her daughter, who became Empress Genshō, though she continued until her death to play an active part in politics, doing her best to maintain the ritsuryo system of government.
She married Prince Kusakabe, the son of Emperor Temmu, but in 689 her husband died.