Fujiwara no Genshi (藤原げん子)
FUJIWARA no Genshi (Motoko) (August 21, 1016 - September 25, 1039) was an empress consort in the middle of the Heian period. She was the eldest daughter of Imperial Prince Atsuyasu, Ippon (the first rank for Imperial Princes) Shikibukyo (the minister of ceremonies), and her mother was the second daughter of Imperial Prince Tomohira. She was Chugu (an empress consort) of Emperor Gosuzaku. She was originally named Princess Genshi.
Brief personal history
Her father, Imperial Prince Atsuyasu, died in 1018. Because her mother was the younger sister of Princess Takahime, the legal wife of Kanpaku (the chief advisor to the emperor) FUJIWARA no Yorimichi, she became the adopted daughter of the Yorimichi couple who had no daughters. In 1036, she became Nyogodai (a deputy Nyogo; a high-ranking lady in the court (a consort of an emperor)) of Emperor Gosuzaku. In February 1037, she entered into court, became Nyogo by Imperial decree and was conferred the court rank of Shoshiinoge (Senior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade). In April of the same year, she became Chugu. She was deeply loved by the Emperor and gave birth to two princesses, namely Imperial Princess Yushi and Imperial Princess Baishi (a princess of Emperor Gosuzaku). She, however, had no princes and died of postnatal complications. Her age at the time of her death was 24. When she died, the rumor spread saying she died due to the anger of deities of Kasuga-taisha Shrine, which was a private deity of the FUJIWARA family, because she became an empress consort as the adopted daughter of the FUJIWARA family though she originally had been a member of the Minamoto clan. As Imperial Princess Teishi, who had become Chugu earlier, was forced to become Kogo (the title of empress consort which is conferred when another woman becomes Chugu) when Genshi became Chugu, it was purported that her relationship with Yorimichi became worse.