hansho's

Updated: May 5, 2025

The Emperor Hansho's short reign of five years is not remarkable for anything except an indirect evidence that Chinese customs were beginning to be adopted at the Japanese Court. In the earliest eras, the ladies who enjoyed the sovereign's favour were classed simply as "Empress" or "consort." But from the days of Hansho we find three ranks of concubines.

F. (Frank) Brinkley - A History of the Japanese People : From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era