Emperor Antoku

Emperor Antoku (安徳天皇, 1178–1185) was the eighty-first emperor of Japan and the last emperor of the Taira clan's era. Ascending the throne at age two during the Genpei War, he drowned at the age of six at the Battle of Dan-no-ura (1185) when his grandmother Nii no Ama leapt into the sea holding him, taking with her the sacred Imperial sword (Kusanagi).

His death marked the definitive end of Taira power and the establishment of Minamoto supremacy. As a child emperor who died tragically, Antoku became the subject of deep popular sympathy and was enshrined as a tragic spirit (goryoshin). The Akamagaseki area (modern Shimonoseki) near the battle site became a major center of his cult.

His shrine, Akama Jingu in Shimonoseki, was originally called Amidaji and served as both a temple and shrine under shinbutsu-shugo practice. The shrine is famous for the ritual of Sentou-sai, a purification ceremony that evolved from local attempts to appease Antoku's spirit and the spirits of the Taira clan.