was the 29th

Emperor of Japan The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial House of Japan, Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his positio ...

, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'')
欽明天皇 (29)
retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional

order of succession An order of succession or right of succession is the line of individuals necessitated to hold a high office when it becomes vacated such as head of state or an honour such as a title of nobility. Titsingh, Isaac. (1834)
pp. 34–36
Brown, Delmer. (1979)
Varley, H. Paul"> ''Gukanshō,'' pp. 261–262; Varley, H. Paul
. (1980). pp. 123–124 Richard Ponsonby-Fane, Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan,'' p. 45. His reign is said to have spanned the years from 539 to 571. Kinmei is the first historical Japanese Emperor based on historical evidence.

Traditional narrative

Kinmei's contemporary title would not have been ''tennō'', as most historians believe this title was not introduced until the reigns of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō. Rather, it was presumably , meaning "the great king who rules all under heaven". Alternatively, Kinmei might have been referred to as or the "Great King of Yamato".

Events of Kinmei's life

Because of several chronological discrepancies in the account of Emperor Kinmei in the '' Nihon Shoki'', some believe that he was actually ruling a rival court to that of Emperors

Ankan (466 — 25 January 536) was the 27th legendary Emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 安閑天皇 (27)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. No firm dates can be assigned to this Emperor's life or reign, ...

and Senka. Nevertheless, according to the traditional account, it was not until the death of Emperor Kinmei's older brother Emperor Senka that he gained the throne. According to this account, Emperor Senka died in 539 at the age of 73; and succession passed to the third son of

Emperor Keitai (died 10 March 531) was the 26th legendary emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 継体天皇 (26)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign, but h ...

. This Imperial Prince was the next youngest brother of Emperor Senka. He would come to be known as Emperor Kinmei. He established his court at in

Yamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a name for the whole of Japan. Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial House of Japan. Japanese his ...

.Brown
p. 262
The Emperor's chief counselors were: * '' Ōomi'' (Great Imperial chieftain): Soga no Iname no Sukune, also known as

Soga no Iname was a leader of the Soga clan and a statesman during the reign of Emperor Kinmei in the Asuka period. He was the first person to hold the position of ''Ōomi'' that can be verified with reasonable accuracy, in 536 A.D. Essentially what this m ...

. * ''

Ōmuraji (from Old Japanese: ''muraⁿzi'' < *''mura-nusi'' "village master") was an ancient

Japan

ese hereditary title denoting rank and ...

'' (Great Deity chieftain): Monotobe Okoshi no Muraji, also known as

Mononobe no Okoshi Mononobe no Okoshi (物部尾輿) was a Japanese minister during the Kofun period, and the chief of the Mononobe clan. According to the '' Nihon Shoki'', during the reign of Emperor Ankan, a necklace belonging to Mononobe was stolen by the daught ...

. * ''

Ōmuraji (from Old Japanese: ''muraⁿzi'' < *''mura-nusi'' "village master") was an ancient

Japan

ese hereditary title denoting rank and ...

'' (Great Deity chieftain): Ōtomo Kanamura Maro, also known as Otomo no Kanamura. Although the imperial court was not moved to the

Asuka Asuka may refer to: People * Asuka (name), a list of people * Asuka (wrestler), professional wrestler * Asuka (wrestler, born 1998), professional wrestler also known as Veny outside of Japan Places In Japan * , an area in Yamato Province (now ...

region of Japan until 592, Emperor Kinmei's rule is considered by some to be the beginning of the

Asuka period The was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710 (or 592 to 645), although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which is named after t ...

Japan, particularly by those who associate the Asuka period primarily with the introduction of

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

to Japan from

Baekje Baekje or Paekche (, ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BC to 660 AD. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla. Baekje was founded by Onjo, the third son of Goguryeo's founder Jum ...

. According to the ''Nihon Shoki'', Emperor Kinmei received a bronze statue of

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...

as a gift from the king of

King Song Myong (聖明王, ''Seimei Ō'') along with a significant envoy of artisans, monks, and other artifacts in 552. (However, according to the

Jōgū Shōtoku Hōō Teisetsu , also read as ''Jōgū Shōtoku Hōō Taisetsu'', is a biography of Shōtoku Taishi. It is one scroll in length and is a National Treasure of Japan. Background The author (or authors) of the text is unknown. It originally belonged to Hōryū- ...

, Buddhism was introduced in 538.) This episode is widely regarded as the official introduction of Buddhism to the country. With the introduction of a new religion to the court, a deep rift developed between the Mononobe clan, whose members supported the worship of Japan's traditional deities, and the Soga clan, whose members supported the adoption of Buddhism. According to the ''Nihon Shoki'', Emperor Kinmei ruled until his death in 571 and was buried in the . An alternate stronger theory holds that he was actually buried in the , located in . The Emperor is traditionally venerated at a

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy sacred space, space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daem ...

(''misasagi'') at Nara. The Imperial Household Agency designates the Nara location as Kinmei's

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...

. It is formally named ''Hinokuma no saki Ai no misasagi''.Ponsonby-Fane, p. 419. However, the actual sites of the

graves A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grave ...

of the early Emperors are unclear, according to some historians and archaeologists.

Genealogy

Emperor Kinmei's father was

and his mother was

Emperor Ninken (449 — 9 September 498) was the 24th legendary Emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 仁賢天皇 (24) retrieved 2013-8-30. according to the traditional order of succession. No firm dates can be assigned to this Emperor's ...

's daughter, . In his lifetime, he was known by the name . Kinmei had six Empresses and 25 Imperial children (16 sons and 9 daughters). According to Nihongi, he had six wives, but the ''Kojiki'' gives only five wives; identifying the third consort to be the same as the sixth one. The first three were his nieces, daughters of his half-brother Emperor Senka; two others were sisters, daughters of the Omi Soga no Iname. *Empress: ,

Emperor Senka (467 — 15 March 539) was the 28th legendary Emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 宣化天皇 (28)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. No firm dates can be assigned to this Emperor's life or reign, but ...

's daughter **First son: **Second son: , later Emperor Bidatsu ** *Consort: ,

's daughter ** *Consort: ,

's daughter **, in the ''Kojiki'' as *Consort: ,

's daughter **Fourth Son: , later Prince Shōtoken, adoptive father of Prince Shōtoku **, Saiō; had to resign her charge after being convicted of intrigue with her half-brother Imperial Prince Mubaragi **, also **, later

Empress Dowager Kitano-Hime An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...

, married to Emperor Bidatsu **, also ** ** **, also **, married to her nephew, Prince Oshisako no Hikohito no Oe, Emperor Bidatsu's son **Sixth Son: , also **, also ** **, also , married to her nephew, Prince Maroko,

Emperor Yōmei was the 31st Emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 用明天皇 (31)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Yōmei's reign spanned the years from 585 until his death in 587. Traditional narrative He was cal ...

's son **

(用明天皇) *Consort: ,

's daughter **, also ** **Third daughter: , married to her half brother,

, later married to her nephew and stepson, Prince Tame (

's son) ** **, later Kimiyori no Kimitsuhi **, speculated as

's son *Consort: , Kasuga no Hifuri no Omi's daughter ** **, also

Ancestry

Notes

References