was a high-ranking

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 ...

ese official during the Nara period. He was born in

Bizen Province was a province of Japan on the Inland Sea side of Honshū, in what is today the southeastern part of Okayama Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Bitchū and Bingo Provinces. Bizen borders Mimasaka, Harima, and Bitchū Provinces. Biz ...

(now

Wake, Okayama is a town located in Wake District, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. As of October 2016, the town has an estimated population of 14,191. The total area is 144.21 km². The town is famous in the region for the 'Wamojiyaki' festival that takes pl ...

) to a family of politically important, devoted

Buddhists 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 gr ...

who hoped to keep

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 ...

and politics separate through religious reform. He became a trusted advisor to

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 ...

, a position which he used to encourage the development of

in a direction which would prevent it from posing a threat to the government. 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 Mami ...

'', he was sent to the

Usa Shrine The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

to receive a divine message; stating that only those of descent from

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 '' Koji ...

could become emperor, it refuted the previous divine message claiming

Dōkyō was a Japanese monk of the Hossō sect of Buddhism and a prominent political figure in the Nara period. Early life Dōkyō was born in Kawachi Province. His family, the Yuge no Muraji, were part of the provincial gentry. He was taught both b ...

was to be the next emperor after

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. ...

(later Empress Shōtoku). This report angered Dōkyō, who used his influence with the Empress to have an edict issued sending Kiyomaro into exile; he also had the

sinew A tendon or sinew is a tough, high-tensile-strength band of dense fibrous connective tissue that connects muscle to bone. It is able to transmit the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system without sacrificing its ability ...

s of Kiyomaro's legs cut, and only the protection of the

Fujiwara clan was a powerful family of imperial regents in Japan, descending from the Nakatomi clan and, as legend held, through them their ancestral god Ame-no-Koyane. The Fujiwara prospered since the ancient times and dominated the imperial court until th ...

saved him from being killed outright. The following year, however, Empress Shōtoku died. She was succeeded by

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 ...

, who in turn exiled Dōkyō to

Shimotsuke Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today Tochigi Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''SHimotsuke''" in . Shimotsuke was bordered by Kōzuke, Hitachi, Mutsu and Shimōsa Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was ...

and not only recalled Wake no Kiyomaro from exile, but also appointed him as both ''

kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...

'' (governor) of

and ''

Udaijin was a government position in Japan in the late Nara and Heian periods. The position was consolidated in the Taihō Code of 702. The Asuka Kiyomihara Code of 689 marks the initial appearance of the ''udaijin'' in the context of a central administr ...

'' (junior minister of state). The following year, he petitioned the governor of Dazaifu to send officials to Usa to investigate allegations of "fraudulent oracles"; in his later report, Wake no Kiyomaro stated that out of five oracles checked, two were found to be fabricated. This resulted in the government relieving Usa no Ikemori of his position as head priest and replacing him with the previously-disgraced Ōga no Tamaro. Following this, Wake no Kiyomaro returned to Yamato. He remained a trusted advisor to Emperor Kammu; in the spring of 793, he convinced the emperor to abandon the delay-plagued construction of a capital at Nagaoka and instead seek another location to the northeast, at

Heian-kyō Heian-kyō was one of several former names for the city now known as Kyoto. It was the official capital of Japan for over one thousand years, from 794 to 1868 with an interruption in 1180. Emperor Kanmu established it as the capital in 794, mo ...

(modern-day

Kyōto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the city ...

. His face appeared on 10-yen notes issued from 1888.

Notes

References

* Eliot, Charles, Harold G Parlett,

George Bailey Sansom Sir George Bailey Sansom (28 November 1883 – 8 March 1965) was a British diplomat and historian of pre-modern Japan, particularly noted for his historical surveys and his attention to Japanese society and culture. Early life Sansom was bor ...

. (1935). ''Japanese Buddhism.'' London: Routledge
OCLC 236338
* Groner, Paul (2000). ''Saicho: The Establishment of the Japanese Tendai School.'' Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. . * Hall, John Whitney. (1988). ''The Cambridge History of Japan.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . * Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1962). ''Sovereiegn and Subject.'' Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. * Teeuwen, Mark and

Fabio Rambelli Fabio Rambelli (born June 15, 1963) is an Italian academic, author and editor. He is a professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) faculty ...

(2003). ''Buddhas and Kami in Japan: Honji Suijaku As a Combinatory Paradigm.'' London: Routledge.
OCLC 610544145
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wake, No Kiyomaro Japanese Buddhists Buddhism in the Nara period 733 births 799 deaths People of Nara-period Japan Deified Japanese people