Kings and their demesnes · The court at Kyoto and its provinces · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Tsuchimikado

A three-year-old emperor who reigns and does not rule.

He is the ritual head of the realm and the source of every rank and office, but every act in his name is made by Go-Toba's cloistered office, the regent Konoe Motomichi and the Naidaijin Michichika, in whose Tsuchimikado mansion he was born and from which he takes his name. He has no consort and no sons. He is a Michichika asset: while he sits, Michichika is the grandfather of the sovereign.

His danger is that Go-Toba prefers his younger half-brother Morinari.

Who he is

Name
Tsuchimikado (personal name Tamehito)
Title
Emperor (tennō)
Since
Received the throne on Kenkyū 9/1/11 (18 February 1198 Julian); enthroned in the 3rd month, 10 April 1198 (English Wikipedia)
Born
Kenkyū 6/12/2 (3 January 1196 Julian), so three years old by Western count and four by the Japanese count
Family
Father Go-Toba; mother Zaishi (Ariko, 1171-1257, later Shōmeimon-in), adopted daughter of Minamoto no Michichika; half-brothers include Morinari (b. 1197) and Prince Nagahito (b. 1196)
Confidence
high

English Wikipedia (Emperor Tsuchimikado) for the birth, the mother and the accession; Michichika page for the adoption.

Overlord

His father Go-Toba, the cloistered emperor, and in practice his maternal grandfather by adoption, Michichika

What it holds

  • The throne and the imperial household's own revenues (the lands that support the palace service)
  • The right to issue edicts (senji) and to grant rank and office, exercised for him by others

How it was acquired

Succession by his father's abdication, engineered by Michichika and Go-Toba in 1198.

Allies and rivals

Allied with Michichika by blood; rival of Morinari's party; Kamakura has no say in the throne.

How things stand that morning

A child on the throne, living in a borrowed mansion because the great palace burned in 1177. Nothing is expected of him until he is grown.

Wealth

The household revenues of the imperial court; no private wealth of his own at this age.

Threats

  • Go-Toba's preference for Morinari: on the likely course Morinari is made crown prince in 1200 (month not pinned here) and Tsuchimikado is made to abdicate to him in December 1210 (English Wikipedia, Juntoku)

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

  1. Shōji 2 (1200), 4th month by the lunar count, about mid-April to mid-MayMorinari is named crown prince, which makes Tsuchimikado's line the junior oneDepends on: Go-Toba's choice Stopped by: Go-Toba changing his mind; Michichika's counter-pressure

Later, on the likely course

  1. 12 December 1210Tsuchimikado gives the throne to Morinari (Juntoku); after the Jōkyū war of 1221 he asks to be exiled and goes to Tosa and then Awa, dying there in 1231 (recollection)Depends on: Go-Toba's pressure; later events Stopped by: n/a

Places of note

  • The imperial residence: A satodairi (temporary palace); exact mansion on 1 January 1200 not known

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: English Wikipedia pages on Tsuchimikado, Juntoku and Michichika; the exile is recollection.

On the map: Person record with a seat point only.

Primary sources for Kyoto court

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

4 more in the sources library for Korea and Japan.

Sources and studies

  1. OMNIA kja regional brief (KJA_BRIEF.md), the campaign's dated traps and realm table
  2. Emperor Tsuchimikado, English Wikipedia
  3. Emperor Juntoku, English Wikipedia
  4. Minamoto no Michichika, English Wikipedia

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.