thumb|A scene from the [[Kasuga Gongen Genki E depicting the procession of the retired emperor Shirakawa]]

was a form of government in Japan during the Heian period. In this bifurcated system, an emperor abdicated, but retained power and influence. Those retired emperors, who withdrew to live in monasteries (), continued to act in ways intended to counterbalance the influence of Fujiwara regents and the warrior class. Simultaneously, the titular emperor, the former emperor's chosen successor, fulfilled all the ceremonial roles and formal duties of the monarchy.

Retired emperors were called Daijō Tennō or Jōkō. A retired emperor who entered a Buddhist monastic community became a Cloistered Emperor (in ).

There were retired emperors, including cloistered emperors, both before and after the Heian period, but the notion of cloistered rule as a system usually refers to the practice put in place by Emperor Shirakawa in 1086 and followed by his successors until the rise of the Kamakura shogunate in 1192. and their will was put into effect through offices known as Inzen (院宣) and In no Chō Kudashi Bumi (院庁下文). Cloistered emperors also had their own troops, the Hokumen no Bushi (北面の武士). The creation of these military units led eventually to the rise to power of the Taira clan, who used their membership of these units to gather political and economic power to themselves.

The end of the Heian period was marked by a rapid succession of cloistered emperors, to the point that there were several retired emperors living at the same time.

{| border=1 style="border-collapse: collapse"

|-

|+ Insei System of Imperial Rule

|-

! width="10" scope="col" | &nbsp;Emperor's<br>&nbsp;Ordinal<br>&nbsp;Number&nbsp;

! width="15" scope="col" | &nbsp;Reign&nbsp;dates

! width="15" scope="col" | &nbsp;Emperor&nbsp;of&nbsp;Japan&nbsp;

! width="15" scope="col" | &nbsp;Senior<br>&nbsp;Insei&nbsp;Emperor&nbsp;

! width="15" scope="col" | &nbsp;Other<br>&nbsp;Insei&nbsp;Emperors&nbsp;

|-

|-

| &nbsp;&nbsp; 71

| &nbsp;1067—1072&nbsp;

| &nbsp;Emperor Go-Sanjō

See also

  • Retired Emperor (disambiguation)
  • Cloistered Emperor
  • Daijō Tennō

Notes

References

  • Hurst, G. Cameron. (1976). " Insei: Abdicated sovereigns in the Politics of late-Heian Japan 1086–1185.' New York: Columbia University Press. ; OCLC 1584089
  • Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ; OCLC 58053128
  • Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 194887
  • ____________. (1956). Kyoto: The Old Capital of Japan, 794-1869. Kyoto: The Ponsonby Memorial Society.