Analysis Of Shotoku Tenno Of Japan And Emperor Wu Zetian Of China

Shotoku Tenno of Japan and Emperor Wu Zetian of China were the last fully recognized female rulers in their respective countries; following their multiple reigns the only women in power were those who temporarily ruled in the stead of their young sons. Their reigns were regarded very harshly and both women were held to much higher standards than their male counterparts, primarily due to their refusal to confine themselves to a traditional Confucian woman’s role. Some female historians have argued that this is because of the misogyny in the present-day field, while others have argued that it was caused by a general distaste for change in Confucian culture. The lack of female rule in Japan and China following Shotoku and Wu Zetian can be attributed to the male-written historical rhetoric which depicts women in power as destructive forces.

This ultimately led to female sovereignty, mostly contained within the Nara period, while at the same time attaching more importance to the Sinic ideals of male rulership which delegitimized female monarchs. It is of importance to note that the Sinic view that only males should rule and the Chinese patriarchal family paradigm contradicted local practices of recognizing bilineal descent, gender complementarity, and shared social leadership by both men and women. Regardless, by the eighth century in Japan female monarchical reign was coming to be seen as inappropriate and as such was falling out of favor for the imperial family, in addition to discouraging the support of princesses into positions of