Princess Iitoyo
Japanese empress regent (440-484)
Iitoyo (飯豊青皇女, 440–485) was a Japanese imperial princess and allegedly empress regnant for a short period between Emperor Seinei and Emperor Kenzō.
Given names
Princess Iitoyo (飯豊青皇女) is also referred to as Queen Iitoyo (飯豊青尊), Oshinumi (青海郎女 or 忍海郎女), and Princess Aomi (飯豊郎女). Her primary name Iitoyo is an old Japanese word for an owl ("いひとよ"), "Oshinumi" is the name of a place in Katsuragi, while the origin of Aomi remains unknown. It's also noted that Iitoyo has also been given the posthumous names: Seitei–tenno and 'Tsunuzashi-tenno. This latter title was more than likely assigned to her by later generations as there is no evidence to suggest that the title tennō (meaning "emperor") was used during the 5th century for Japanese monarchs.
Traditional narrative
The Japanese have traditionally accepted this royal's historical existence, and a mausoleum (misasagi) for Iitoyo is currently maintained. The following information available is taken from the pseudo-historical Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, which are collectively known as Kiki (記紀) or Japanese chronicles. These chronicles include legends and myths, as well as potential historical facts that have since been exaggerated and/or distorted over time. Princess Iitoyo was born sometime in 440 AD and is also referred to as "Aomi no Himemiko" (青海皇女). While both chronicles agree that Iitoyo descended from Emperor Richū, the exact degree of this relationship is told differently.
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This entry incorporates text from “Princess Iitoyo” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.