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Case file s994 · Japan and Southeast Asia · 1185
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1185
Antoku Tenno-e (Akama Jingu Shimonoseki): Antoku Tenno-e, Akama Jingu, Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, Japan
Antoku Tenno-e (Akama Jingu Shimonoseki). Muromachi-period artist. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
24th day of the 3rd month, 1185 (Emperor Antoku)
Place
Dan-no-ura, Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, Japan
Field
imperial throne; sacred regalia · Royalty and nobility on the timeline
Legal tradition
Imperial regalia custom (possession of the regalia proves the throne)
Historical event
Battle of Dan-no-ura, end of the Genpei War
Japan and Southeast AsiaCrowns and successionMedievalEast AsiaJapan

A six-year-old emperor drowned at Dan-no-ura in 1185 in his grandmother's arms, and the sacred sword went down with him

Antoku was born in 1178, the son of Emperor Takakura and Taira no Tokuko, daughter of the warlord Taira no Kiyomori. He took the throne in 1180. In 1183 the Taira fled the capital west and took the boy emperor and the three regalia with them. The retired emperor Go-Shirakawa then had his four-year-old grandson enthroned as Go-Toba without the regalia. Japan had two emperors. On the 24th day of the 3rd month of 1185, about 500 Taira ships met more than 840 Minamoto ships under Minamoto no Yoshitsune at Dan-no-ura. The tide turned in the afternoon and the Taira lost. Kiyomori's widow, the nun Nii-no-ama, took Antoku in her arms and went into the sea with the sacred sword. His mother jumped too and was pulled out alive. The mirror was saved and the jewel was recovered from the water. The sword was never found. Minamoto no Yoritomo ordered Yoshitsune to bring the regalia and prisoners to the capital. Antoku's tomb is the Amidaji mausoleum in Shimonoseki. Legends that the boy survived grew from inconsistent descriptions of him in the Tale of the Heike. Atsuta Shrine holds the sword that the court treats as the original.

What the law took from it

Whoever holds the title deeds holds the claim; Go-Toba reigned without them and Antoku died holding them.

Sources
  1. kotobank.jpPress
  2. kotobank.jpPress
  3. kotobank.jpPress
  4. kotobank.jpPress
  5. kotobank.jpPress

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “A six-year-old emperor drowned at Dan-no-ura in 1185 in his grandmother's arms, and the sacred sword went down with him,” story s994, https://www.celebrity.estate/a-six-year-old-emperor-drowned-at-dan-no-ura-1185, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Japan and Southeast AsiaCrowns and successionMedievalEast AsiaJapan