Emperor Takakura

Takakura (1161–1181), son of retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, took the throne in 1168 after Emperor Rokujō was deposed. Real power rested with his father through cloistered rule and, after 1172, with his father-in-law Taira no Kiyomori, whose daughter Tokuko became empress.

Their son Tokuhito was born in 1178 and named heir within weeks. Pressed by the Taira, he abdicated in March 1180 for the year-old Tokuhito, the future Emperor Antoku. He briefly joined the court at Fukuhara and died in January 1181, aged nineteen.