was the 110th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.
Go-Kōmyō's reign spanned the years from 1643 through 1654.
Genealogy
Before Go-Kōmyō's accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (his imina) was ; and his pre-accession title was .
He was the fourth son of Emperor Go-Mizunoo. His mother was Fujiwara no Mitsuko, the daughter of the Minister of the Left (Sadaijin); but he was raised as if he were the son of Tōfuku-mon'in. His predecessor, Empress Meishō, was his elder paternal half-sister.
Go-Kōmyō's Imperial family lived with him in the Dairi of the Heian Palace. His family included only one daughter and no son:
• Lady-in-waiting: Niwata Hideko (d. 1685; 庭田秀子), Niwata Shigehide's daughter
• First daughter: Imperial Princess Takako (1650–1725; 孝子内親王) later Empress Dowager Reiseimon』in (礼成門院)
Events of Go-Kōmyōs life
Tsuguhito-shinnō was granted the title of Crown Prince; and the following year, he became Emperor when Empress Meishō abdicated. His sister stepped down from the throne and the succession (senso) was received by the new monarch. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Go-Kōmyō is considered to have acceded to the throne (sokui). The events during his lifetime shed light on his reign. The years of Go-Kōmyō's reign correspond with a period in which Tokugawa Iemitsu and Tokugawa Ietsuna were leaders at the pinnacle of the Tokugawa shogunate.
• April 20, 1633: The birth of an Imperial prince who will become known by the posthumous name of Go-Kōmyō-tennō.
• 1641 (Kan'ei 19): Prince Tsuguhito was named heir; and he was given the title of Crown Prince.
• 1643 (Kan'ei 20, 29th day of the 9th month): The empress ceded her throne to her brother by abdicating; and the succession (senso) was received by his younger brother.
• November 14, 1643 (Kan'ei 20, 3rd day of the 10th month): Go-Kōmyō accepted the title; and he is said to have acceded to the throne (sokui). He was age 11. His reign is considered to have begun.
• 1645 (Shōhō 2, 23rd day of the 4th month): The shōgun was elevated to the rank of sadaijin.
• 1649 (Keian 2, 20th day of the 2nd month): There was a major earthquake in Edo.
• 1651 (Keian 4): Tokugawa Ietsuna was proclaimed shōgun.
• 1652 (Keian 5, 5th month): Nihon Ōdai Ichiran is first published in Kyoto under the patronage of the tairō Sakai Tadakatsu, lord of the Obama Domain of Wakasa Province.
• 1653 (Jōō 2, 12th day of the 8th month): A violent fire destroyed a large part of the imperial palace and many temples which were nearby. Shortly thereafter, several girls, aged 12–14 years, were imprisoned for arson involving this fire as well as other fires in Kyoto.
• 1654 (Jōō 3, 6th day of the 7th month): Ingen, a Buddhist priest who would eventually become very influential, arrived at Nagasaki from China. His intention was to reform the practice of Buddhism in Japan.
• October 30, 1654 (Jōō 3, 20th day of the 9th month): The emperor died. He was buried at Sennyū-ji on the 15th day of the 10th month. There is a probability that the emperor died of smallpox.
Go-Kōmyō is among those enshrined in the imperial mausoleum, Tsuki no wa no misasagi, at Sennyū-ji in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto. Also enshrined are Go-Kōmyō's immediate predecessors, Emperor Go-Mizunoo and Empress Meishō. Go-Kōmyō's immediate Imperial successors are also memorialized in this misasagi, including Go-Sai, Reigen, Higashiyama, Nakamikado, Sakuramachi, Momozono, Go-Sakuramachi and Go-Momozono.
Kugyō
is a collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in pre-Meiji eras. Even during those years in which the court's actual influence outside the palace walls was minimal, the hierarchic organization persisted.
In general, this elite group included only three to four men at a time. These were hereditary courtiers whose experience and background would have brought them to the pinnacle of a life's career. During Go-Kōmyō's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:
• Sesshō, Nijō Yasumichi, 1635–1647
• Sesshō, Kujō Michifusa, 1647
• Sesshō, Ichijō Akiyoshi, 1647
• Kampaku, Ichijō Akiyoshi, 1647–1651
• Kampaku, Konoe Hisatsugu, 1651–1653
• Kampaku, Nijō Mitsuhira, 1653–1663
• Sadaijin
• Udaijin
• Naidaijin
• Dainagon
Eras of Go-Kōmyōs reign
The years of Go-Kōmyō's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō.
• Kan'ei (1624–1644)
• Shōhō (1644–1648)
• Keian (1648–1652)
• Jōō (1652–1655)
Ancestry
後光明天皇（；1633年4月20日 - 1654年），後水尾天皇第四皇子，諱紹仁，幼名素鵝宮。母親為園基任之女園光子（壬生院）。1642年立為太子，第二年由異母姊明正天皇讓位而成為天皇。由於他的性格相當激烈，對於幕府方面頗有抵抗之意。另一方面，他是個愛好學問的人，受到當時儒者藤原惺窩的影響，積極引進朱子學。此外，他再次提出恢復神宮例幣儀式，也有意要復興大學寮。承應三年九月二十日(1654年10月30日)，後光明天皇罹患痘瘡而駕崩，年僅二十一歲，安葬於月輪陵（位於今日京都市東山區）。