Emperor Go-Toba

Go-Toba (1180–1239), a son of Emperor Takakura, was enthroned at three in 1183 after the Taira fled Kyoto with Emperor Antoku and the imperial regalia, the first accession without the sacred treasures. He abdicated in 1198 and ruled as cloistered emperor through the reigns of his sons Tsuchimikado and Juntoku.

A gifted poet, he commissioned and edited the Shin Kokinshū anthology and patronized the swordsmiths who opened Japan's golden age of blades. In 1221 he rose against the Kamakura shogunate in the Jōkyū War, was defeated, and died in exile on the Oki Islands in 1239.