Emperor Go-Mizunoo was the 108th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Go-Mizunoo's reign spanned the years from 1611 through 1629. This 17th-century sovereign was named after the 9th-century Emperor Seiwa and go-, translates as "later", and thus, he could be called the "Later Emperor Mizunoo". The Japanese word go has also been translated to mean the "second one", and in some older sources, this emperor may be identified as "Mizunoo II".
Prince Masahito became emperor following the abdication of his emperor-father. The succession was considered to have been received by the new monarch; and shortly thereafter, Emperor Go-Mizunoo is said to have acceded. The events during his lifetime shed some light on his reign. The years of Go-Mizunoo's reign correspond with a period in which Tokugawa Hidetada and Tokugawa Iemitsu were leaders at the pinnacle of the Tokugawa shogunate.
29 June 1596: The birth of an Imperial prince who will become known by the posthumous name of Go-Mizunoo.
20 May 1610 : Toyotomi Hideyori came to Miyako to visit the former-Shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu; and the same day, Go-Yōzei announced his intention to renounce the throne.
9 May 1611 : In the 26th year of Go-Yōzei-tennō 's reign, he abdicated; and the reign of Emperor Go-Mizunoo is considered to have begun. The young emperor was aged 16.
1614 : Siege of Osaka. Shōgun Tokugawa Hidetada vanquished Toyotomi Hideyori and set fire to Osaka Castle, and then he returned for the winter to Edo.
26 November 1614 : There was a strong earthquake. The same year a great bell for the Daibutsu Temple in Kyoto was cast.
1615 : Osaka Summer Battle begins
1615 : Tokugawa Ieyasu and his son, Shōgun Hidetada, marched again to Osaka Castle, which was captured and burned. Hideyori committed suicide. However his body was never found; it was rumored that he fled to Satsuma, where he had prepared a refuge in advance.
1620 : Tokugawa Masako, the daughter of Shōgun Hidetada, entered the palace as a consort of the emperor; and the marriage was celebrated with great pomp.
1623 : Tokugawa Iemitsu, son of Hidetada, came to the court of the emperor where he was created Shōgun.
25 October 1623 : Go-Mizunoo visits Nijō Castle, which was built in 1603 by Tokugawa Ieyasu
1627 : The "Purple Robe Incident": The Emperor was accused of having bestowed honorific purple garments to more than ten priests despite the shōgun's edict which banned them for two years. The shogunate intervened making the bestowing of the garments invalid. The priests which had been honored by the emperor were sent into exile by the bakufu.
22 December 1629 : Go-Mizunoo abdicated. The emperor renounced the throne in favor of his daughter, Okiko, on the same day that the priests of the "Purple Robe Incident" went into exile. Okiko became the Empress Meishō.
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-Mizunoo's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:
