Empress Genshō (元正天皇 Genshō Tennō) (680 – April 21, 748) was the 44th imperial ruler of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Her given name was Princess Hidaka (氷高皇女). She was an elder sister of Emperor Mommu and daughter of Prince Kusakabe and his wife and later Empress Empress Gemmei, therefore a granddaughter of Emperor Temmu and Empress Jitō by her father and a granddaughter of Emperor Tenji through her mother. She reigned from 715 to 724. Events October 10 - Battle of Kerbela November 12 - The Sixth Ecumenical Council opens in Constantinople The Bulgars subjugate the country of current-day Bulgaria Pippin of Herstal becomes Mayor of the Palace Umayyad caliph Muawiyah I succeeded by Yazid I ibn Muawiyah Erwig deposes Wamba to become king of the... April 21 is the 111th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (112th in leap years). ... Events January - An earthquake strikes the Middle East from northern Egypt to northwestern Mesopotamia, destroying many remnants of Byzantine culture. ... Emperor Mommu (文武天皇 Mommu Tennō) (683-707) was the 42nd imperial ruler of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. ... Prince Kusakabe (草壁皇子, Kusakabe no miko: 662-689) was a Japanese imperial crown prince from 681 until his death. ... Empress Gemmei (also Empress Genmyō; 元明天皇 Genmei Tennō) (661 – December 7, 721) was the 43rd imperial ruler of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession, and the fourth woman to hold such a position. ... Emperor Temmu (天武天皇 Tenmu Tennō) (c. ... Jito Tenno (From Ogura Hyakunin Isshu) Tomb of Emperor Temmu and Empress Jitō Empress Jitō (持統天皇 Jitō Tennō) (645 – December 22, 7021) was the 41st imperial ruler of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. ... Emperor Tenji (From Ogura Hyakunin Isshu) Tomb of Emperor Tenji, Kyoto Emperor Tenji (天智天皇 Tenji Tennō) (626-672), also known as Prince Naka no ÅŒe (中大兄皇子, Naka no ÅŒe no ÅŒji) and Emperor Tenchi, was the 38th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. ... Events August 11 - Germanus is translated from the bishopric of Cyzicus to the Patriarch of Constantinople Umayyad caliph al-Walid I ibn Abd al-Malik succeeded by Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik End of the reign of Empress Gemmei of Japan, she is succeeded by Empress Gensho. ... Events End of the reign of Empress Gensho of Japan Emperor Shomu succeeds to the throne of Japan. ...

Her succession was mainly for the purpose to hold the throne until Prince Obito, the son of her deceased younger brother Mommu, later Emperor Emperor Shōmu, would be mature enough ascend to the throne. Obito was appointed to the crown prince in 714 by Empress Gemmei. In the next year, 715, Empress Gemmei, then in her fifties, abdicated in favor of her daughter Gensho because of her age and the youth of Obito who was then 14 years old. Obito remained as the crown prince of the new empress. Fujiwara no Fuhito, the most powerful courtier in Gemmei's court, remained so at her court until his death in 720. After his death, Prince Nagaya, a grandson of Emperor Temmu and her cousin, seized power. This power shift was a background of later conflicts between Prince Nagaya and Fuhito's four sons in the reign of Shōmu. Emperor Shōmu (聖武天皇 Shōmu Tennō) (701 - May 2, 756[citation needed]) was the 45th imperial ruler of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. ... // Events February 28 - An earthquake strikes Syria. ... Fujiwara no Fuhito (藤原不比等: 659–720) was a powerful member of the imperial court of Japan during the Asuka and Nara periods. ... Events Umayyad caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz succeeded by Yazid II ibn Abd al-Malik The Nihonshoki (日本書紀), one of the oldest history books in Japan, is completed Births Bertrada, wife of Pippin III (d. ... Nagaya (長屋王 Nagaya-no-ōkimi; 684 - 20 March 729) was a politician of the Nara period and an imperial prince of Japan, grandson of Temmu Emperor. ...

Under her reign, the edition of Nihonshoki, the first Japanese history book was finished in 720. Organisation of law system (the ritsuryo) was being continued under the initiatives of Fuhito until his death. Those laws and codes were edited and enacted by Fujiwara no Nakamaro, a grandson of Fuhito, and published as Yoro ritsuryo under the name of Fuhito. Taxation system which had been introduced by Empress Jitō in the late of the 7th century, began to malfunction in those days. For compensation of decrease of tax revenue, under the initiative of Prince Nagaya, "Act of possession in three generations" was edicted in 723. Under this act, people were allowed to possess the field they cultivated newly in three generations in maximum. In the fourth generation, the right of possession would disappear and the field belong to the national government. This act was under the purpose to motivate new cultivation, but its effect continued about 20 years. Nihonshoki (Japanese: 日本書紀), sometimes translated as Chronicles of Japan, is the second oldest book of classical Japanese history. ... Events Umayyad caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz succeeded by Yazid II ibn Abd al-Malik The Nihonshoki (日本書紀), one of the oldest history books in Japan, is completed Births Bertrada, wife of Pippin III (d. ... Ritsuryo (律令) is the historical law system based on the philosophies of Confucianism and Chinese Legalism in Japan. ... Fujiwara no Nakamaro (藤原仲麻呂; 706 - October 21, 64), later renamed Emi no Oshikatsu, was an aristocrat (kuge) and poet of Heian period in Japan. ... The Yōrō Code (養老律令, Yōrō-ritsuryō), in one of the ritsuryo, a collection of governing rules compiled in early Nara period in Classical Japan. ... Jito Tenno (From Ogura Hyakunin Isshu) Tomb of Emperor Temmu and Empress Jitō Empress Jitō (持統天皇 Jitō Tennō) (645 – December 22, 7021) was the 41st imperial ruler of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. ... Events Saint Boniface fells Thors Oak near Fritzlar, marking the decisive event in the Christianization of the northern Germanic tribes The worlds first mechanical clock is allegedly built in China. ...

In 724 she abdicated in favor of Shōmu.

She did not marry during her life and left no child.