Imperial Princess Shoshi (章子内親王)
Imperial Princess Shoshi (September 28, 1286 - November 23, 1348) was a member of the Imperial Family from the latter Kamakura period to the beginning of the Muromachi period (the period of the Northern and Southern Courts - Japan). She was a Sonsho Kogo (Empress who is not a wife of the Emperor). Her title as a Nyoin (close female relative of the Emperor whose title was given) was Tacchimonin.
Lineage
She was the first Princess of Emperor Gouda. Her real mother was the daughter of Sangi (councillor) Tadatsugu ITSUTSUJI, Naishi no suke (a court lady of the first rank) Tadako ITSUTSUJI (Dantenmonin). She had Emperor Gonijo as her older paternal half-brother, and had Emperor Godaigo as her younger brother.
Brief personal history
In 1302, she was conferred by the Emperor as an Imperial Princess, and in 1306, she was selected by divination as a Saigu (vestal virgin princess serving at Ise-jingu Shrine), but since her older paternal half-brother Emperor Gonijo died in 1308, she resigned before going to Ise.
After that, when her younger brother Emperor Godaigo was enthroned in 1318, she was given Sakuryu (Imperial investiture) as the Kogo, or the Empress (actually, a Sonsho Kogo, an Empress not being a wife of an Emperor) in March 1319. In December of the same year, she was given an Ingo (a title of respect given to close female relatives of the Emperor or a woman of comparable standing), but since her mother Dantenmonin died in the same period, she became as a priest and decided her hogo (a Buddhist name) as Shinrikaku.
In 1323, she donated 1 cho (unit for area) of rice field in Wasa no sho of Kii Province to a shrine in the area.
She died at the age of 63 in 1348.