Editing Empress Kōken (section)

==Legacy==
Koken's reign was turbulent, and she survived coup attempts by both [[Tachibana no Naramaro]] and [[Fujiwara no Nakamaro]].<ref>Bender, Ross. (2009). [https://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/41038700?uid=3739256&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21101187570013 "The Suppression of the Tachibana Naramaro Conspiracy"], ''Japanese Journal of Religious Studies'' 37/2:223–245; compare [http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/publications/jjrs/pdf/846.pdf  mirrored full-text] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212223250/http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/publications/jjrs/pdf/846.pdf |date=February 12, 2012 }}; retrieved 2012-10-22.</ref>  Today, she is remembered chiefly for her alleged affair with a [[Buddhist monk]] named [[Dōkyō]] (道鏡), a man she honored with titles and power. An oracle from [[Usa jingū|Usa Shrine]], the shrine of the kami {{nihongo|[[Hachiman]]|八幡}} in [[Usa, Ōita|Usa]], is said to have proclaimed that the monk should be made emperor; but when the empress sent {{nihongo|[[Wake no Kiyomaro]]|和気清麻呂}} to verify the pronouncement, Hachiman decreed that only one of imperial blood should ascend to the throne.<ref>Titsingh, pp. 78–81.</ref>

As with the seven other reigning empresses whose successors were most often selected from amongst the males of the paternal imperial bloodline, she was followed on the throne by a male cousin, which is why some conservative scholars argue that the women's reigns were temporary and that male-only succession tradition must be maintained in the 21st century.<ref name="jt2007">[http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070327i1.html "Life in the Cloudy Imperial Fishbowl"], ''Japan Times.'' March 27, 2007.</ref>  [[Empress Genmei]], who was followed on the  throne by her daughter, [[Empress Genshō]], remains the sole exception to this conventional argument.

She is also known for sponsoring the [[Hyakumantō Darani]], one of the largest productions of printed works in early Japan.

[[Otagi Nenbutsu-ji]], a Buddhist temple in the [[Arashiyama]] neighborhood of [[Kyoto]], was founded by Shōtoku in the middle of the eighth century.