Background
Tenno Komyo was born on the 11 of January in 1322. His personal name was Yutahito. He was the second son of Emperor Go-Fushimi and Empress Yasuko Fujiwara (Kogimon-in) and the younger brother of Emperor Kogon.
Tenno Komyo was born on the 11 of January in 1322. His personal name was Yutahito. He was the second son of Emperor Go-Fushimi and Empress Yasuko Fujiwara (Kogimon-in) and the younger brother of Emperor Kogon.
In his own lifetime, Tenno Komyo and those around him believed that he occupied the Chrysanthemum Throne from September 20, 1336 to November 18, 1348.
When Emperor Godaigo moved to the south, Takauji Ashikaga forced the Emperor to transfer the Shinki (three treasures symbolizing the emperorship) to Tenno Komyo in 1336. On November 18, 1348, he abdicated in favor of the eldest son of his older brother, the former claimant to the throne Emperor Kogon, who became Emperor Suko.
In April 1352, taking advantage of the Kan'ō Disturbance, a family feud in the Ashikaga clan, the Southern Emperor Emperor Go-Murakami entered Kyoto, capturing it and carrying away Tenno Komyo along with Emperor Kogon, Emperor Suko, and the Crown Prince Tadahito. They all ended up finally in Anau, the location of the Southern Court.
In the Shōhei Reunification, Komyo and his companions were placed under house arrest in Yamato Province, in what is today the village of Nishiyoshino, Yoshino District, Nara. In 1355, returning to Kyoto, he entered a monastery and spent the rest of his life in meditation and religious study.
