Go-Saga died without leaving instructions as to which son's heirs should have rights to the throne. At the time of Fushimi's birth it appeared power would rest with Kameyama's line.
Born to a lesser consort during the early years of the struggle for power between the lines descended from the two heirs of Go-Saga, Fushimi's chances of ascending to the throne were considered slim. He therefore spent his childhood relatively free of the pressures facing one expected to become emperor. From his early years he was adept at calligraphy, poetry, sports, and music. He was tutored in the classics as a youth and appears to have been especially taken with the mythological elements of the Nihon shoki (Chronicles of Japan, 720). This knowledge of the classics would provide a base for much of his poetry.
The future Empress Eifukumon'in was born in 1271 as Shshi, the eldest daughter of the politically shrewd and poetically talented Saionji Sanekane. By marrying off his daughters to heirs on both sides of the imperial dispute, Sanekane gained political clout and eventually became the official liaison between the government in Kamakura and the imperial family in Kyoto.
This is a free page. This page contains 187 words. This
biography contains 4,137 words (approx. 14 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Biography with our Eifukumon'in Access Pass.
