Prince Kusakabe

• Period: Asuka Period
• Occupation: Prince
• Family: Empress Jito (Mother), Emperor Tenmu (father) Emperor Monmu (son) Princess Abe (wife)
• Born: 661AD
• Died: 689AD

Prince Kusakabe

Prince Kusakabe (草壁皇子) was the son of Empress Jitō and Emperor Tenmu, and father to the later Emperor Monmu. His wife was Princess Abe.

He was made Crown Prince in 681 and in 687 his father Tenmu decreed:

all matters of the Empire, without distinction of great and small, should be referred to the Empress-Consort (Jitō) and the Prince Imperial (Prince Kusakabe).

He died 689 aged 28. His mother had wished him to be the next Emperor after Tenmu, Jitō removing Prince Ōtsu from the equation seeing him as an obstacle for her son’s ascension.¹

Footnotes

1. Tsurumi, P. (1981) “Early Female Emperors” Historical Reflections Vol.8 No.1 pp.41-49.

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