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Taishô was the son of Emperor Meiji and [[Yanagihara Naruko]], an imperial concubine. Yoshihito's wedding to Kujô Sadako (later known as [[Empress Teimei]]), held on May 10, [[1900]], while Yoshihito was still Crown Prince, was the first Imperial marriage ceremony of a modern sort, featuring wedding rites and performed before the gods and Imperial ancestors. Prior to that time, there were rituals for introducing an imperial consort into the Court, but not for Imperial marriages. Roughly two weeks after the wedding, on May 23, the Crown Prince and Princess departed [[Tokyo]] to visit [[Ise Shrine]] and the tombs of [[Emperor Jimmu]] and [[Emperor Komei|Emperor Kômei]], in order to announce their marriage to the Imperial ancestors. All of these were practices newly invented in the [[Meiji period]], as part of the construction of discourses of legitimacy and of an Emperor-centered nationalism emphasizing connection to an unbroken lineage of Imperial ancestors (and traditional authority) stretching back to mythological times.<ref>Takashi Fujitani, ''Splendid Monarchy'', University of California Press (1996), 118-121.</ref> Taishô was also to be the first emperor to observe modern/Western standards of monogamous marriage for a monarch.<ref>Fujitani, 189.</ref>

Taishô was the son of Emperor Meiji and [[Yanagihara Naruko]], an imperial concubine. Yoshihito's wedding to Kujô Sadako (later known as [[Empress Teimei]]), held on May 10, [[1900]], while Yoshihito was still Crown Prince, was the first Imperial marriage ceremony of a modern sort, featuring wedding rites and performed before the gods and Imperial ancestors. Prior to that time, there were rituals for introducing an imperial consort into the Court, but not for Imperial marriages. Roughly two weeks after the wedding, on May 23, the Crown Prince and Princess departed [[Tokyo]] to visit [[Ise Shrine]] and the tombs of [[Emperor Jimmu]] and [[Emperor Komei|Emperor Kômei]], in order to announce their marriage to the Imperial ancestors. All of these were practices newly invented in the [[Meiji period]], as part of the construction of discourses of legitimacy and of an Emperor-centered nationalism emphasizing connection to an unbroken lineage of Imperial ancestors (and traditional authority) stretching back to mythological times.<ref>Takashi Fujitani, ''Splendid Monarchy'', University of California Press (1996), 118-121.</ref> Taishô was also to be the first emperor to observe modern/Western standards of monogamous marriage for a monarch.<ref>Fujitani, 189.</ref>

Taishô succeeded his father in [[1912]], and reigned until his own death in 1926, at which time he was succeeded in turn by his son, the Shôwa Emperor, also known as Emperor Hirohito.

Taishô succeeded his father in [[1912]], with Imperial accession rites culminating in sacred ceremonies conducted within the [[Kyoto Imperial Palace]]. He reigned for nearly fifteen years, until his own death in 1926, at which time he was succeeded in turn by his son, the Shôwa Emperor, also known as Emperor Hirohito. Taishô was the first emperor to have his funeral held entirely in Tokyo, and to be buried in (the outskirts of) Tokyo; his father, the Meiji Emperor, thus became the last to be buried in Kyoto.<ref>Fujitani, 235.</ref>

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