Kotohito (; ; 29 June 1596 â 11 September 1680, posthumously honored as , was the 108th Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Go-Mizunoo's reign spanned the years from 1611 through 1629, and he was the first emperor to reign entirely during the Edo period.
This 17th-century sovereign was named after the 9th-century Emperor Seiwa, sometimes posthumously referred to as because this is the location of his tomb, while 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, the second" or "Mizunoo II".
Before Go-Mizunoo's accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (his imina) was or Masahito. He was the third son of Emperor Go-YÃ Âzei and his consort, Konoe Sakiko. Prince Kotohito had 11 full siblings (7 sisters and 4 brothers).
He resided together with concubines in the Kyoto Imperial Palace. He had 33 children with his empress consort and 6 concubines.
Consort and issue(s):
Prince Masahito became emperor following the abdication of his emperor-father. The succession (the senso) was considered to have been received by the new monarch; and shortly thereafter, Emperor Go-Mizunoo is said to have acceded (the sokui). A distinct act of senso is unrecognized prior to Emperor Tenji; and all sovereigns except Jità Â, Yà Âzei, Go-Toba, and Fushimi have senso and sokui in the same year until the reign of Emperor Go-Murakami. The events during Go-Mizunoo's lifetime shed some light on his reign. The years correspond with a period in which Tokugawa Hidetada and Tokugawa Iemitsu were leaders at the pinnacle of the Tokugawa shogunate.
On 29 June 1596, Masahito, who would be known posthumously as Go-Mizunoo, was born. Toyotomi Hideyori came to Miyako to visit the former Shà Âgun Tokugawa Ieyasu on 20 May 1610 (Keichà  15, 27th day of the 3rd month); the same day, Go-Yà Âzei announced his intention to renounce the throne. Following the abdication during the on 9 May 1611 (Keichà  16), 16-year-old Go-Mizunoo became Emperor. The Siege of Osaka, during which Shà Âgun Tokugawa Hidetada vanquished Toyotomi Hideyori and set fire to Osaka Castle, occurred in 1614 (Keichà  19). He returned to Edo for the winter.
A strong earthquake struck on 26 November 1614 (Keichà  19, 25th day of the 10th month). A great bell for Daibutsu Temple in Kyoto was cast, also in that year. The Osaka Summer Battle began in 1615 (Keichà  20). Tokugawa Ieyasu and his son, Shà Âgun Hidetada, marched again to Osaka Castle (Genna 1), which was captured and burned. Hideyori was thought to have died by suicide but his body was never found. It was rumored he had fled to Satsuma, where a refuge had been prepared for him in advance. Ieyasu died at Suruga the following year (Genna 2, 17th day of the 4th month) and Former-Emperor Go-Yà Âzei died in 1617 (Genna 3, 26th day of the 8th month). Go-Yà Âzei was buried at the . Tokugawa Masako, daughter of Shà Âgun Hidetada, entered the palace as a consort of the emperor and the two married (Genna 6). A number of severe fires broke out in Kyoto during April 1620 (Genna 6).
In 1623, the Emperor made Tokugawa Iemitsu, son of Hidetada, shà Âgun (Genna 9) and later visited Nijà  Castle (Kan'ei 3, 6th day of the 9th month). The occurred in 1627 (Kan'ei 6) when the Emperor was accused of having bestowed honorific purple garments to more than ten priests despite the shà Âgun's edict which banned them for two years, a practice probably set in place to break the bond between the Emperor and religious circles. The shogunate intervened and made the bestowing of the garments invalid. The priests who had been honored by the emperor were sent into exile by the bakufu. Go-Mizunoo abdicated on 22 December 1629 (Kan'ei 6, 8th day of the 11th month), renouncing the throne to his daughter, Okiko, on the same day that the priests of the "Purple Robe Incident" went into exile. Okiko became the Empress Meishà Â. For the rest of his long life, Go-Mizuno-in concentrated on various aesthetic projects and interests, of which perhaps the best-known are the magnificent Japanese gardens of the Shugakuin Imperial Villa.
Former Emperor Go-Mizunoo died on 11 September 1680 (Enpà  8, 19th day of the 8th month). Go-Mizunoo's memory is honored at Sennyà «-ji in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto where a designated Imperial mausoleum (misasagi) is located. It is named Tsuki no wa no misasagi. Also enshrined are this emperor's immediate Imperial successors â Meishà Â, Go-Kà Âmyà Â, Go-Sai, Reigen, Higashiyama, Nakamikado, Sakuramachi, Momozono, Go-Sakuramachi and Go-Momozono.
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 Daijà Â-kan included: Kampaku Kujà  Yukiie (1608âÂÂ1612), Kampaku Takatsukasa Nobuhisa (1612âÂÂ1615), Kampaku Nijà  Akizane (1615âÂÂ1619), Kampaku Kujà  Yukiie (1619âÂÂ1623), Kampaku Konoe Nobuhiro (1623âÂÂ1629), and Kampaku Ichijà  Akiyoshi (1629).
The years of Go-Mizunoo's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengà Â: Keichà  (1596âÂÂ1615), Genna (1615âÂÂ1624), and Kan'ei (1624âÂÂ1644).