Editing Cloistered rule (section)

==Background==
The [[ritsuryō]] allowed retired emperors to exert some limited powers, and there are early examples such as [[Empress Jitō]], [[Emperor Shōmu]] and [[Emperor Uda]] in the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries respectively.

By the end of the 10th century, the [[Hokke (Fujiwara)|Hokke]] family of the [[Fujiwara clan]] held political power in Japan through the office of the [[Sessho and Kampaku|Imperial Regent]], and the emperor increasingly became little more than a figurehead. In 1068, [[Emperor Go-Sanjō]] became the first emperor in almost 200 years who was not related either by marriage or blood, or both, to the Hokke family. He exerted personal power while the Hokke family was dealing with internal conflicts between [[Fujiwara no Yorimichi]] and his brother [[Fujiwara no Norimichi]], and was in a position to issue several laws and regulations, most notably the Enkyū [[Shōen]] Regulation Decree, thus weakening the regency. In 1072, however, he fell ill and abdicated in favor of [[Emperor Shirakawa]]. He died the following year. Although he did not have time to exert power after his abdication, Sanjō had weakened the regency and paved the way for the practice of cloistered rule.

In 1086, [[Emperor Shirakawa]] in his turn abdicated in favor of his son, [[Emperor Horikawa]], who was four years old at the time. Shirakawa's objective appeared to be the protection of his son from his younger brother (Horikawa's uncle), who presented a serious threat of becoming a pretender to the throne, but after his retirement Shirakawa exerted his personal power to set the cloistered rule system in motion.