Emperor Kōtoku
Emperor Kōtoku | |||||
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Great King of Yamato | |||||
Emperor of Japan | |||||
Reign | 645–654 (AD) | ||||
Predecessor | Kōgyoku | ||||
Successor | Saimei | ||||
Born | Karu ( 596 (AD) | ||||
Died | 654 (aged 57–58) Toyosaki no Miya (Ōsaka) | ||||
Burial | Ōsaka-no-shinaga no misasagi ( | ||||
Spouse | Hashihito | ||||
Issue | Prince Arima | ||||
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House | Imperial House of Japan | ||||
Father | Prince Chinu | ||||
Mother | Princess Kibitsu-hime |
Emperor Kōtoku (
The years of his reign lasted from 645 through 654.[3]
Traditional narrative
[edit]Before Kōtoku's ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (imina)[4] was Karu (
He was a descendant of Emperor Bidatsu. He was a son of Chinu no ōkimi (Prince Chinu,
Kōtoku ruled from July 12, 645 (AD),[7] until his death in 654. In 645, he ascended to the throne two days after Prince Naka no Ōe (Emperor Tenji) assassinated Soga no Iruka in the court of Kōgyoku. Kōgyoku abdicated in favor of her son and crown prince, Naka no Ōe, but Naka no Ōe insisted Kōtoku should ascend to the throne instead. Kōtoku's contemporary title would not have been tennō, as most historians [according to whom?] believe this title was not introduced until the reigns of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō. Rather, it was presumably Sumeramikoto or Amenoshita Shiroshimesu Ōkimi (
In 645, he created a new city in the area called Naniwa, and moved the capital from Yamato Province to this new city (see Nara). The new capital had a seaport and was good for foreign trade and diplomatic activities. In 653, Kōtoku sent an envoy to the court of the Tang dynasty in China, but some of the ships were lost en route.
Naka no Ōe held the rank of crown prince and was the de facto leader of the government. In 653 Naka no Ōe proposed to move the capital again to Yamato province. Kōtoku denied. Naka no Ōe ignored the emperor's policy and moved to the former province. Many courtiers of the court, including Empress Hashihito, followed him. Kōtoku was left in the palace. In the next year he died of an illness. After his death, Naka would not ascend to the throne. Instead, his mother and the sister of Kōtoku, the former Empress Kogyoku, ascended to the throne under another name, Empress Saimei.
He enacted the Taika Reform edicts. The system of hasshō kyakkan (eight ministries and a hundred offices) was first established during the reign of Emperor Kōtoku.[8]
The actual site of Kōtoku's grave is known.[1] This emperor is traditionally venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine (misasagi) at Osaka. The Imperial Household Agency designates this location as Kōtoku's mausoleum. It is formally named Ōsaka-no-shinaga no misasagi.[9]
Traditionally the monk Hōdō, was born in today India, and traveled to Japan via Tang China and the Baekje kingdom in Korea. Hōdō cured an illness of the Emperor Kōtoku (596 – 654 AD), who then sent the monk to establish numerous Buddhist temples. According to legend Hōdō founded Tenjō-ji in 646 (AD).[10] The monk is worshipped in the Gion faith.
Kugyō
[edit]Kugyō (
In general, this elite group included only three to four men at a time. These were hereditary courtiers whose experience and background would have brought them to the pinnacle of a life's career. During Kōtoko's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:
- Sadaijin, Abe no Kurahashi-maro (
阿部倉 梯 麻呂 ) (d. 649), 645–649.[11] - Sadaijin, Kose no Tokoda (
巨勢 徳 太 ) (593–658), 649–658.[11] - Udaijin, Soga no Kura-no-Yamada no Ishikawa-no-maro (
蘇我倉山田石川麻呂 ) (d. 649), 645–649.[11] - Udaijin, Ōtomo no Nagatoko (
大伴 長 徳 ) (d. 651), 649–651.[11] - Naidaijin(
内 臣 ), Nakatomi Kamako (中 臣 鎌 子 ) (Fujiwara no Kamatari,藤原鎌足 ) (614–669), 645–669.[11]
Eras of Kōtoku's reign
[edit]The years of Kōtoku's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō.[12]
Consorts and children
[edit]Empress: Princess Hashihito (
Hi: Abe no Otarashi-hime (
- Prince Arima (
有間皇子 , 640–658)
Hi: Saga no Chi-no-iratsume (
Ancestry
[edit]Ancestors of Emperor Kōtoku[13] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ a b Imperial Household Agency (Kunaichō):
孝徳天皇 (33) - ^ Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan, p. 50.
- ^ Brown, Delmer et al. (1979). Gukanshō, pp. 266–267; Varley, H. Paul. Jinnō Shōtōki. p. 132–133; Titsinh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon, pp. 47–30., p. 47, at Google Books
- ^ Brown, pp. 264; prior to Emperor Jomei, the personal names of the emperors (their imina) were very long and people did not generally use them; however, the number of characters in each name diminished after Jomei's reign.
- ^ Ponsonby-Fane, p. 8.
- ^ Titsingh, pp. 47–48; Brown, p. 266; Varley, p. 44; a distinct act of senso is unrecognized prior to Emperor Tenji; and all sovereigns except Jitō, Yōzei, Go-Toba, and Fushimi have senso and sokui in the same year until the reign of Emperor Go-Murakami.
- ^ July 12 645 corresponds to the Fourteenth Day of the Sixth Month of 645 (isshi).
- ^ Varley, p. 133.
- ^ Ponsonby-Fane, p. 420.
- ^ "
法 道 " [Hōdō]. Nihon Jinmei Daijiten (日本人 名 大 辞典 ) (in Japanese). Tokyo: Shogakukan. 2012. Archived from the original on August 25, 2007. Retrieved October 3, 2012. - ^ a b c d e Brown, p. 266.
- ^ Titsingh, p. 47.
- ^ "Genealogy". Reichsarchiv (in Japanese). April 30, 2010. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
References
[edit]- Aston, William George. (1896). Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner. OCLC 448337491
- Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979). Gukanshō: The Future and the Past. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03460-0; OCLC 251325323
- Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 194887
- Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Ōdai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691
- Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki: A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-04940-5; OCLC 59145842