Jitō’s Formal Accession after the Death of Prince Kusakabe

Uno no Sarara, the widow of Emperor Tenmu, formally took the throne as Empress Jitō in 690. She had already governed after Tenmu’s death in 686, exercising royal authority without immediately undergoing enthronement.

Their son Prince Kusakabe had been crown prince. He died in 689 before succeeding his father, while his son Prince Karu was still a child. The death changed the available succession: Jitō now became the reigning sovereign herself, maintaining rule within Tenmu’s family while her grandson remained too young to take the throne.

The formal accession recognized authority she had been exercising and gave the court a reigning sovereign after years of mourning and an unsettled succession. During this period, the court distributed the Asuka Kiyomihara administrative code in 689 and organized a new household register in 690. Government continued through those decisions alongside the rites of kingship.

Jitō later moved the court to Fujiwara-kyō in 694. In 697 she abdicated to Karu, who became Emperor Monmu, and continued to assist his government as a retired sovereign. These later acts extended the succession beyond the immediate solution reached in 690.