Empress Go-Sakuramachi

Empress Go-Sakuramachi 後桜町天皇
Empress of Japan
Reign	15 September 1762 – 9 January 1771
Enthronement	31 December 1763
Predecessor	Momozono
Successor	Go-Momozono
Shōgun	Tokugawa Ieharu (1762–1771)
Born	Toshiko (智子) (1740-09-23)23 September 1740 Tokugawa shogunate
Died	24 December 1813(1813-12-24) (aged 73) Kyoto, Tokugawa shogunate
Burial	Tsuki no wa no misasagi, Kyoto
Issue	Emperor Kōkaku (adopted son)
Posthumous name Tsuigō: Empress Go-Sakuramachi (後桜町院 or 後桜町天皇)
House	Imperial House of Japan
Father	Emperor Sakuramachi
Mother	Nijō Ieko
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Toshiko (Japanese: 智子, 23 September 1740 – 24 December 1813), posthumously honored as Empress Go-Sakuramachi (後桜町天皇, Go-Sakuramachi-tennō) was the 117th monarch of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.^[1][2] She was named after her father Emperor Sakuramachi, with the word go (後) before her name translating in this context as "later" or "second one". Her reign during the Edo period spanned the years from 1762 through to her abdication in 1771.^[3] The only significant event during her reign was an unsuccessful outside plot that intended to displace the shogunate with restored imperial powers. As of 2024, she remains the most recent empress regnant of Japan as the current constitution does not allow women to inherit the throne.

Empress Go-Sakuramachi and her brother Emperor Momozono were the last lineal descendants of Emperor Nakamikado. Her nephew succeeded her as Emperor Go-Momozono upon her abdication in 1771. Go-Momozono died eight years later after a serious illness with no heir to the throne. A possible succession crisis was averted when Go-Momozono hastily adopted an heir on his deathbed upon the insistence of his aunt. In her later years, Go-Sakuramachi became a "guardian" to the adopted heir, Emperor Kōkaku, until her death in 1813. In the history of Japan, Go-Sakuramachi was the last of eight women to take on the role of empress regnant.