24 Facts About Empress Michiko

Empress Michiko was the first commoner to marry into the Japanese Imperial Family.

Empress Michiko Shoda was born on 20 October 1934 at the University of Tokyo Hospital in Bunkyo, Tokyo, the second of four children born to Hidesaburo Shoda, president and later honorary chairman of Nisshin Flour Milling Company, and his wife, Fumiko Soejima.

Empress Michiko has an older brother Iwao, a younger brother Osamu, and a younger sister Emiko.

Empress Michiko is the niece of several academics, including Kenjiro Shoda, a mathematician who was the president of the University of Osaka from 1954 until 1960.

Empress Michiko was then successively educated in the prefectures of Kanagawa, Gunma, and Nagano.

Empress Michiko returned to Tokyo in 1946 and completed her elementary education in Futaba and then attended the Sacred Heart School for Junior High School and High School in Minato, Tokyo.

Contrary to the tradition that the children of the imperial family should be separated from their parents and placed with private tutors, Crown Prince Akihito and his wife Crown Princess Empress Michiko again broke precedent from the start by preferring to raise their children instead of entrusting them to the care of court chamberlains; the Crown Princess even breastfed.

The new Emperor and Empress Michiko were enthroned at the Tokyo Imperial Palace on 12 November 1990.

For example, in 2007, Empress Michiko performed duties in her official capacity on more than 300 occasions.

For many years Akihito and Empress Michiko visited facilities for children on Children's Day and facilities for the elderly on Respect for the Aged Day.

Empress Michiko participated in the annual ceremony of harvesting silk, personally feeds silkworms with mulberry leaves and is responsible to take care of them, the frames, and the harvesting.

From 1994 to 2019, the Empress Michiko offered a part of the harvested silk of the koishimaru variety to the Shosoin Treasure-house in the Buddhist temple Todai-ji in Nara to be used for the restoration of its treasures.

The Empress Michiko is expected to be the embodiment of traditional values such as modesty and purity.

Empress Michiko has demonstrated a strong sense of duty throughout her life, which makes her quite popular amongst the Japanese.

Empress Michiko takes part in religious ceremonies with her husband, such as visits to Ise Grand Shrine, other Shinto shrines and Imperial mausoleums to pray to the Imperial Family's ancestral spirits.

The Empress Michiko was elevated into the Hall of Fame of International Best Dressed List in 1990.

Empress Michiko is known to be particularly keen on gagaku, a kind of traditional Japanese court music.

Empress Michiko is a fan of poetry, including the works of Michio Mado that she has selected, compiled and translated several of his poems in a series of collection under the titles Dobutsu-tachi in 1992 and Fushigina Poketto in 1998.

Finally, a collection of 367 waka by the Empress Michiko was published in 1997 under the title Seoto, and 53 of them have been translated into French and published in France by Signatura under the title Se-oto, song of the ford.

Empress Michiko is a hibernophile with an interest in Children of Lir, recites I See His Blood Upon The Rose by Joseph Plunkett as a party piece, and even speaks passable Gaeilge.

Empress Michiko briefly collapsed on her birthday in 1993 and did not speak for two months, a condition caused by "deep sadness" and attributed by her doctors to negative media coverage.

Empress Michiko had to cancel many of her official duties in the spring of 2007, while suffering from mouth ulcers, nosebleeds and intestinal bleeding due to psychological stress, according to her doctors.

In June 2019, it was announced that Empress Michiko had heart valve abnormalities and an irregular pulse, though she was reported to be well enough to undergo cataract operations.

The Emperor Emeritus Akihito and the Empress Michiko Emerita have three children, two sons and a daughter.