Empress Jitō (reigned 686 CE – 697 CE)
Empress Jitō started the same way many of history’s queens do, with marriage to a king. She married her uncle, Emperor Tenmu, with the hope that the marriage would create political bonds between Tenmu and his brother Tenji. Emperor Tenmu, died in 686. Her son, Prince Kusakabe, assumed the throne, and Jitō held rank as the emperor’s mother.
Prince Kusakabe died before his son, Jito’s grandson, was of age. She stepped in and served as Empress until the boy was old enough to rule. As Empress, she finalized the Asuka Kiyomihara Code, detailing the rules of public administration and penal laws in Japan.
