Jitō Abdicates to Her Grandson Monmu
Empress Jitō transferred the throne to her grandson Prince Karu in 697. Karu became Emperor Monmu, succeeding within the family of Emperor Tenmu rather than beginning a new dynasty.
The succession had been reshaped by deaths. Karu’s father Prince Kusakabe, the crown prince and son of Tenmu and Jitō, died in 689. Jitō formally acceded the following year. Prince Takechi, another son of Tenmu and a senior royal official, died in 696. Karu was designated crown prince in 697 before receiving the throne from his grandmother.
Abdication arranged the transfer during Jitō’s lifetime. She continued to assist Monmu’s government as a retired sovereign, while he held the reigning title. This cooperation joined the young ruler’s accession to the experience and standing of the court’s previous head.
Fujiwara-kyō remained the capital, and the Taihō code was completed in 701 under Monmu. Jitō died in 702. The continued court and work on the code show institutional continuity across the transfer, without reducing Monmu’s government to his grandmother’s actions.
