Emperor-Jinmu-from-series-Mirror-of-Famous-Generals-of-Great-Japan

refers to a series of stories in which

Emperor Jimmu was the legendary first emperor of Japan according to the '' Nihon Shoki'' and ''Kojiki''. His ascension is traditionally dated as 660 BC.Kelly, Charles F"Kofun Culture"Nara Basin The Nara Basin (奈良盆地 ''Nara-bonchi''), also known as the Yamato Basin (大和盆地 ''Yamato-bonchi''), is a valley in the north-western part of Nara Prefecture, Japan. It has an area of roughly . It is surrounded on four sides by mounta ...

and its surrounding area, after leaving Hyuga Province.

Overview

According to the chronicles ''

Kojiki The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperia ...

'' and '' Nihon Shoki'', Jimmu's brothers were born in

Takachiho is a town in Nishiusuki District, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. As of October 1, 2019, the town has an estimated population of 11,959 and a density of 50.3 persons per km². The total area is 237.54 km². Geography Takachiho is in the northe ...

, the southern part of

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...

in modern-day

Miyazaki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Miyazaki Prefecture has a population of 1,073,054 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 7,735 km2 (2,986 sq mi). Miyazaki Prefecture borders Ōita Prefecture to the north, Ku ...

. They moved eastward to find a location more appropriate for administering the entire country. Jimmu's older brother, Itsuse no Mikoto, originally led the migration, and led the clan eastward through the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to ...

with the assistance of local chieftain Sao Netsuhiko (根津日子). As they reached Naniwa (modern-day

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

), they encountered another local chieftain, Nagasunehiko (長髄彦, "the long-legged man"), and Itsuse was killed in the ensuing battle. Jimmu realized that they had been defeated because they battled eastward against the sun, so he decided to land on the east side of

Kii Peninsula The is the largest peninsula on the island of Honshū in Japan. It is named after the ancient Kii Province. Overview The area south of the “ Central Tectonic Line” is called , and is home to reef-like coral communities which are among ...

and to battle westward. They reached Kumano and, with the guidance of the

three-legged crow The three-legged (or tripedalism, tripedal) crow is a Legendary creature, mythological creature in various mythology, mythologies and arts of East Asia. It is believed to inhabit and represent the Sun. Evidence of the earliest bird-Sun motif or to ...

Yatagarasu Yatagarasu (Yatagarasu, Yata no Karasu) is a mythical crowThe Book of Ancient Matters, The Book of Ancient Matters, Gakken, pp. 130, 138, 139. and a guiding Kami, god in Shinto mythology. During Emperor Jimmu#Migration, Emperor Jimmu's Eastern E ...

'' ("eight-span crow"), they moved to Yamato. There, they once again battled Nagasunehiko and were victorious. The record in the '' Nihon Shoki'' of Emperor Jimmu states that his armed forces defeated a group of before his enthronement. The historically known

Emishi The (also called Ebisu and Ezo), written with Chinese characters that literally mean " shrimp barbarians," constituted an ancient ethnic group of people who lived in parts of Honshū, especially in the Tōhoku region, referred to as in contem ...

were an

ethnic group An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

who lived in

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island s ...

, particularly the Tōhoku region. In Yamato, (邇芸速日), who also claimed descent from the Takamagahara gods, was protected by Nagasunehiko. However, when Nigihayahi met Jimmu, he accepted Jimmu's legitimacy. At that point, Jimmu is said to have ascended the throne of Japan. Upon scaling a Nara mountain to survey the Seto Inland Sea he then controlled, Jimmu remarked that it was shaped like the "heart" rings made by mating

dragonflies A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threa ...

, archaically called ''akitsu'' 秋津. A mosquito then tried to steal Jimmu's royal blood but since Jimmu was a god incarnate Emperor, , a dragonfly killed the mosquito. Japan thus received its classical name the Dragonfly Islands, or . Tomb of Emperor Jimmu, haisho

According to the ''Kojiki'', Jimmu died when he was 126 years old. The Emperor's

posthumous name A posthumous name is an honorary name given mostly to the notable dead in East Asian culture. It is predominantly practiced in East Asian countries such as China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, and Thailand. Reflecting on the person's accomplishm ...

literally means "divine might" or "god-warrior". It is generally thought that Jimmu's name and character evolved into their present shape just before the time in which legends about the origins of the

Yamato dynasty The , also referred to as the Imperial Family or the House of Yamato, comprises those members of the extended family of the reigning Emperor of Japan who undertake official and public duties. Under the present Constitution of Japan, the Emperor i ...

were chronicled in the ''

''. Aston, William. (1896). ''Nihongi'', pp. 109–137. There are accounts written earlier than either ''Kojiki'' or ''Nihon Shoki'' that present an alternate version of the story. According to those accounts, Jimmu's dynasty was supplanted by that of Ōjin, whose dynasty was supplanted by that of Keitai. The ''Kojiki'' and the ''Nihon Shoki'' then combined those three legendary dynasties into one long and continuous genealogy. The traditional site of Jimmu's

grave 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 grav ...

is near

Mount Unebi is a mountain in the city of Kashihara, in the central-western part Nara Prefecture, Japan. Together with Mount Amanokagu and Mount Miminashi, it belongs to the so-called " Yamato Sanzan", in which it is the highest. At the foot of the mounta ...

in Kashihara,

Nara Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the northwest, Wakaya ...

Imperial Household Agency The (IHA) is an agency of the government of Japan in charge of state matters concerning the Imperial Family, and also the keeping of the Privy Seal and State Seal of Japan. From around the 8th century AD, up until the Second World War, it ...

(''Kunaichō'')
神武天皇 (1)
retrieved August 22, 2013.

Various theories

Northern Kyushu theory

The original starting point of the Jimmu expedition was the northern nine provinces. The rationale is as follows. * The place of departure is listed as "Hyuga", not "Hyuga Province". In the '' Nihon Shoki'', the name "Hyuga Province" is attributed to

Emperor Keiko 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 (empr ...

, so we can assume that the later name of Hyuga Province was not "Hyuga" at the time of the Jimmu expedition. In the '' Nakaueki'', Hyuga is referred to as "the empty land of meat" and "the fruitless land of deer antlers", indicating that Hyuga was a barren land. The construction of

kofun are megalithic tombs or tumuli in Northeast Asia. ''Kofun'' were mainly constructed in the Japanese archipelago between the middle of the 3rd century to the early 7th century CE.岡田裕之「前方後円墳」『日本古代史大辞典』� ...

(mound tombs) began in the late

4th century The 4th century (per the Julian calendar and Anno Domini/Common era) was the time period which lasted from 301 (Roman numerals, CCCI) through 400 (Roman numerals, CD). In the West, the early part of the century was shaped by Constantine the Grea ...

5th century The 5th century is the time period from 401 ( CDI) through 500 ( D) ''Anno Domini'' (AD) or Common Era (CE) in the Julian calendar. The 5th century is noted for being a period of migration and political instability throughout Eurasia. It saw the ...

indicate that the land was not "barren" and thus it seems unlikely to be the place where the Jimmu expedition departed. * "Hyuga in Tsukushi" could be interpreted as "Hyuga in Tsukushi Province" (there is a place name of "Hyuga" in

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders S ...

), not "Hyuga Province in Kyushu". For example, even in the area of the stage of the Kyushu theory of the Evil Horse Kingdom, there is Hinata Toge between Itoshima City in Fukuoka Prefecture, where Itokuni was located, and

Fukuoka City is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

, where

Nakoku was a stateIn Japanese, the character 国/國, read as ''koku'' (in on'yomi) or ''kuni'' (in kun'yomi), can be translated as "country" or "province" which was located in and around modern-day Fukuoka City, on the Japanese island of Kyūshū, f ...

was located, and the Hinata River, a second class river, flows there. In Asakura City, Fukuoka Prefecture, there is the Hinata River. In Asakura City, Fukuoka Prefecture, there is a place name called Hinataishi, and in the Yabe River basin of Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture, there is a place name called Hinatajin. There is also a myth of the three generations of Hyuga in the Itoshima area, which differs from the Chronicles, and a large mirror with an inner scrolling flower design, compared to the

Yata no Kagami is a sacred bronze mirror that is part of the Imperial Regalia of Japan. Name and significance The represents "wisdom" or "honesty," depending on the source. Its name literally means "The Eight wikt:咫#Japanese, Mirror," a reference to its ...

by Harada Dairoku, was excavated from the Hirabara site.。

Timing of the Eastern Expedition

* According to Mitsunori Yasumoto, based on an average reign of about 10 years per generation in ancient times, the active period of

Amaterasu Amaterasu, also known as Amaterasu Ōmikami () or Ōhirume no Muchi no Kami (), is the goddess of the sun in Japanese mythology. One of the major deities (''kami'') of Shinto, she is also portrayed in Japan's earliest literary texts, the ''Kojik ...

would have been around 230–250, and the active period of

Jimmu was the legendary first emperor of Japan according to the '' Nihon Shoki'' and ''Kojiki''. His ascension is traditionally dated as 660 BC.Kelly, Charles F"Kofun Culture"post stone tombs) did not spread to Kinki. In reality, however, this theory has little basis in fact, as iron arrowheads are said to have existed in the Yamataikoku of the Weijing biography, and many have actually been excavated in Kitakyushu, but few iron arrowheads of the 3rd century have been excavated in the Kinai region.。 * Studies on the movement of Shonai-style pottery during the

Yamatai Yamatai or Yamatai-koku is the Sino-Japanese name of an ancient country in Wa (Japan) during the late Yayoi period The Chinese text ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'' first recorded the name as () or (; using reconstructed Middle Chinese p ...

period confirm the movement of people from Kinki and Kibi to Kyushu, but conversely, there are no examples of pottery from Kyushu moving to Kinki and Kibi during this period (3rd century), making mass migration from Kyushu to Kinki during the Umataikoku period unlikely.。 * Reiji Harashima states that the Yamato dynasty's rule over southern Kyushu is assumed to have begun in earnest during the period between the Suiko dynasty and the completion of the Chronicles, and that the story was formed in response to the invasion of Ryukyu by the

Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and layi ...

in 608, in order for the Yamato dynasty to claim territorial rights over Ryukyu and adjacent southern Kyushu.。

Securing mercury

Ken'ichi Kamigaki, referring to

mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

veins from Kinki to Shikoku in his book ''A Study of Niu: Mercury in Japan from the Perspective of Historical Geography'' ( Waseda University Press), argues that the Jimmu expedition to the east was the result of a clan that had run out of resources such as mercury vermilion. In search of an economic base, the clan seized the mercury mines along the Kino River, invaded the Yamato mines in Uda (now shut down), and established the Yamato kingship in the late 3rd century.歴史読本編集部編『ここまでわかった「古代」謎の4世紀』（新人物往来社、 2014年） ISBN 978-4-04-600400-0 pp.14 - 17.。

Annotations

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References

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