Stories of the Japanese 00444 [Late Heian Period] The 81st Emperor Antoku

From this point on, the Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa would be confined to the Toba-dono palace for half a year.
If one were to wonder if Go-Shirakawa spent his time in confinement lost in sorrow and unable to do anything, that was certainly not the case. He distanced himself from politics and began to immerse himself in his hobby of 'imayo'.
Imayo refers to songs that were popular among the common people, much like pop music today. Go-Shirakawa researched imayo thoroughly, recorded it, and accomplished a cultural project that would remain for posterity: the compilation of an anthology of songs called the 'Ryojin Hisho'. One cannot help but call this quick shift in focus truly genius.
The most famous song in the Ryojin Hisho is perhaps:
　　　Was I born to play?
　　　Was I born to frolic?
　　　Hearing the voices of children at play,
　　　My own body begins to sway.
It is hard not to think that Go-Shirakawa's power struggles were also conducted with the innocent spirit of a child at play.
Now, three months after the coup, Kiyomori had already begun to act freely as the supreme authority.
On February 21, 1180 (Jisho 4), Kiyomori forced Emperor Takakura to abdicate and had the one-year-and-three-month-old Prince Tokihito ascend the throne. This was Emperor Antoku, the tragic boy who would share the fate of the Taira clan just five years later.
On the day of this abdication, the Retired Emperor Takakura announced that his first shrine visit would be to Itsukushima Shrine. Itsukushima Shrine is a shrine of the Taira clan that Taira no Kiyomori had restored.
Traditionally, the first shrine visit after becoming a retired emperor was chosen from among the Iwashimizu Hachimangu, Kamo Shrine, Kasuga Shrine, or Hiyoshi Shrine. The court nobles and even powerful temples and shrines felt resentment at Kiyomori's high-handedness in deciding even the destination of the Retired Emperor Takakura's shrine visit.
On March 20, the Retired Emperor Takakura visited Kiyomori's residence in Fukuhara. Before heading to Itsukushima, he stopped at Fukuhara first. The court nobles were outraged, wondering if the pilgrimage to Itsukushima was merely for that purpose. Inviting an emperor or retired emperor to one's own residence so lightly is an incredibly arrogant idea.
On March 26, the Retired Emperor Takakura boarded a ship from Fukuhara, traveled west through the Seto Inland Sea, and made his pilgrimage to Itsukushima. He returned to the capital on April 9.
This very day, April 9, was the day the first call to overthrow the Taira clan, later known as the 'Prince Mochihito's Imperial Mandate', was raised, but I will detail this in the next chapter. With the height of the Taira clan's prosperity and the accession of Emperor Antoku, I would like to close this section on the 'Late Heian Period'.