77th emperor of Japan, during whose reign political power was transferred from the imperial court to the provincial warrior class.

He ascended the throne in 1155, taking the reign name Go-Shirakawa, after the death of his brother, the emperor Konoe. When his father, the former emperor Toba, died a year later, another brother, the former emperor Sutoku, attempted a coup d'état. Sutoku had succeeded Toba on the throne but had abdicated in 1141 on condition that his own son succeed Konoe. After Toba chose Go-Shirakawa instead as Konoe's successor, Sutoku began to plot his revenge. In the ensuing Hōgen Disturbance (1156), the forces supporting Go-Shirakawa proved victorious.

In 1158 Go-Shirakawa abdicated, hoping to be able to control the government, as retired emperors often did. Real power, however, was exercised by the warrior Taira Kiyomori, leader of the successful forces in the Hōgen Disturbance. Kiyomori made his power absolute in the Heiji Disturbance (1159–60) when the powerful Minamoto clan attempted to challenge his rule.

Constantly involved in plots and schemes to further his own power, Shirakawa was regarded with distrust by the Taira clan; in 1179 Kiyomori confined him to his quarters as a result of Shirakawa's attempts to confiscate the estates of Kiyomori's deceased children. He did not regain full imperial power, despite the warrior Minamoto Yoritomo's revolt against Kiyomori (1180) and the annihilation of the Taira clan that followed (1185).