was a

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

Emperor Kōnin was the 49th emperor of Japan, Emperor Kōnin, Tahara no Higashi Imperial Mausoleum, Imperial Household Agency according to the traditional order of succession. Kōnin's reign lasted from 770 to 781. Traditional narrative The personal name of ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and the mother of

Emperor Kanmu , or Kammu, was the 50th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 桓武天皇 (50) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Kanmu reigned from 781 to 806, and it was during his reign that the sco ...

. Her

full name A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of names by which an individual person is known, ...

was Takano no Asomi Niigasa.

Life

Niigasa was a daughter of Yamato no Ototsugu (和乙継). She became a concubine of Prince Shirakabe (白壁王), grandson of

Emperor Tenji , also known as Emperor Tenchi, was the 38th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'')天智天皇 (38)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession.Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', p. 5 ...

, and bore Prince Yamabe (''山部王'') in 737 and Prince Sawara (''早良王'') in 750. Prince Shirakabe was married to

Princess Inoe Princess Inoe or ''Inoue'' (717–775) was the Empress consort of Emperor Kōnin of Japan. She was deposed in 772, accused of witchcraft. Life Inoue was the daughter of Emperor Shōmu, who reigned from March 3, 724 until August 19, 749.Imperi ...

(''井上内親王''), a daughter of

Emperor Shōmu was the 45th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 聖武天皇 (45)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Shōmu's reign spanned the years 724 through 749, during the Nara period. Traditional narrative Be ...

(聖武天皇) in 744. When

Empress Kōken , also known as , was the 46th (with the name Empress Kōken) and the 48th monarch of Japan (with the name Empress Shōtoku), Emperor Kōnin, Takano Imperial Mausoleum, Imperial Household Agency according to the traditional order of succession. ...

died in 770, Shirakabe was appointed her successor and acceded to the throne as

. Princess Inoe and her son, Prince Osabe, were nominated as the Empress and the

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wif ...

respectively, because of her noble birth. The sons of Niigasa had not been considered to be successors until 772, when the Empress (Inoe) was suddenly stripped of her rank following accusations that she had cursed the Emperor. The crown prince, her son, was also disinherited. They were dead two years later. Subsequently, Niigasa's son Prince YamabeBrown, p. 277
was appointed as the crown prince and acceded to the throne as

Legacy

In 2001, Emperor

Akihito is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who reigned as the 125th emperor of Japan from 7 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. He presided over the Heisei era, ''Heisei'' being an expression of achieving peace worldwide. Bo ...

told reporters "I, on my part, feel a certain kinship with Korea, given the fact that it is recorded in the ''Chronicles of Japan'' that the mother of Emperor Kammu iigasawas one of the descendant of King Muryong of

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 ...

." It was the first time that a Japanese emperor publicly referred to Korean blood in the imperial line.Guardian.co.uk
/ref> According to the ''

Shoku Nihongi The is an imperially-commissioned Japanese history text. Completed in 797, it is the second of the ''Six National Histories'', coming directly after the '' Nihon Shoki'' and followed by ''Nihon Kōki''. Fujiwara no Tsugutada and Sugano no Mamichi ...

'', Niigasa (720 - 790) is a descendant of

Prince Junda was the second son of King Muryeong of Baekje who settled in Japan. His father was born on the island of Kyushu in Japan and because of this was called Semakishi (嶋君) and King Shima (斯麻王). Prince Junda was most likely also born in J ...

, son of Muryeong, who died in Japan in 513 ('' Nihon Shoki'' Chapter 17).

Notes

External links

*
Yamato (和) and Takano (高野) clans : the descendant of prince Junda, son of Muryeong of Paekche
Japanese nobility 790 deaths Japanese concubines Year of birth unknown Japanese people of Korean descent Emperor Kanmu Japanese posthumous empresses {{Japan-bio-stub