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Her Imperial Highness Empress Dowager Shōken of Japan (jp: shōken kōtaigo) was the kōgō (empress-consort) of the Meiji Emperor.
Her original name was Masako and she adopted the name Haruko after her marriage to Emperor Meiji. On 2 September 1867, the Emperor Meiji married Lady Haruko (28 May 1849–19 April 1914), the third daughter of Lord Ichijō Tadaka, sometime Minister of the Left (Sadaijin). Known posthumously as Empress Shōken, she was the first imperial consort to receive the title of kōgō (literally, the emperor's wife, translated as Empress consort), in several hundred years. Although she was the first Japanese empress to play a public role, she bore no children. Emperor Meiji had fifteen children by five official ladies-in-waiting.
She assumed the role of helping the poor and promoted national welfare and women’s education. She was therefore also called the “Mother of the Nation”. During the first Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), she also worked for the establishment of the Japan Red Cross Society. Especially concerned about Red Cross activities in peace time, she created a fund for the International Red Cross, which was named “The Empress Shoken Fund”. It is presently used for international welfare activities.
She passed away in 1914, and was buried in the East Mount of the Fushimi Momoyama Ryo in Kyoto, her soul being enshrined in Meiji Jingu (Meiji Shrine) in Tokyo.
She is known as Empress Shōken, or also as Empress Dowager Shōken, since her husband died before she did. The railway-carriage of the empress, as well of the Meiji Emperor, can be seen today in the Meiji Mura Museum, close to Nagoya, Chubu Region.