Empress of Japan

The Empress of Japan is the title given to the wife of the Emperor of Japan or a female ruler in her own right. In Japanese, the empress consort is called . The current empress consort is Empress Masako, who ascended the throne with her husband on 1 May 2019. Much like their male counterparts, female rulers who ascend the throne by their birthright are referred to as 天皇 (tennō), but can also be referred to as or . Josei tennō refers only to an empress regnant of Japan, and jotei refers to an empress regnant of any countries.