Ō No Yasumaro
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was a Japanese
nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...
, bureaucrat, and chronicler. He may have been the son of Ō no Honji, a participant in the Jinshin War of 672.Philippi (1968:546) He is most famous for compiling and editing, with the assistance of
Hieda no Are is primarily known for being instrumental to the compilation of the Japanese text '' Kojiki'' in 712. While birth and death are unknown, Are was active during the late 7th and early 8th century. Background Very little is known about Are's backg ...
, the ''
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 ...
'', the oldest extant Japanese history.
Empress Genmei , also known as Empress Genmyō, was the 43rd monarch of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 元明天皇 (43) retrieved August 22, 2013. according to the traditional order of succession. Genmei's reign spanned the years 707 through ...
(r. 707-721) charged Yasumaro with the duty of writing the ''Kojiki'' in 711 using the differing clan chronicles and native myths. It was finished the following year and presented to Empress Genmei in 3 volumes in 712.''Obunsha Japanese Encyclopedia 3rd Edition''


Career details

In 704, Yasumaro was promoted from Shorokuinoge (Senior Sixth Rank, Lower Grade) to the rank of Jugoinoge (Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade). In 711, Yasumaro was promoted to Shogoinojo (Senior Fifth Rank, Upper Grade). In September of the same year, Emperor Genmei presumably ordered him to combine two pre-existing documents, the "Imperial Sun-lineage" and "Ancient Dicta of Former Ages", which was learned and recited by
Hieda no Are is primarily known for being instrumental to the compilation of the Japanese text '' Kojiki'' in 712. While birth and death are unknown, Are was active during the late 7th and early 8th century. Background Very little is known about Are's backg ...
, in order to create a historical compilation by following genealogical documents of the imperial line. This historical compilation was called the Kojiki, and it was completed in the following year in 712. At the end of the Yuan-ing Dynasty, in 715, Yasumaro was promoted to Jushiinoge (Junior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade). In 716, Yasumaro became the head of the Ō clan (多氏) clan . During this period, Yasumaro most likely also played an active role in compiling the ''
Nihon Shoki The or , sometimes translated as ''The Chronicles of Japan'', is the second-oldest book of classical Japanese history. It is more elaborate and detailed than the , the oldest, and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeol ...
'', which was finished in 720. He died on July 6, 723 at the end of the Genjo Dynasty. His final official rank was Minbukyo Jushiinoge (Junior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade). In 1911, he was posthumously promoted to Jusanmi (Junior Third Rank).


Tomb of Ō no Yasumaro

The tomb of Otomo no Yasumaro is located in the Konose-cho neighborhood of the city of Nara. It is located on the southern slope of a hill that stretches from east-to-west, near the northwestern end of the Yamato Plateau, which runs east of the Nara Basin. In 1979, a copper plate gravestone was discovered in a tea plantation. The tomb was excavated, and in 1980, it was designated a National Historic Site. The tomb was built on the top of a small ridge on a steep slope of about 30 degrees. The soil was all removed during land reclamation, but part of an arc-shaped ditch that surrounded the mound at the boundary between the tomb and the ridge remains, and if the mound is restored from this, the inner diameter of 4.5 meters. The grave pit is located almost in the center of the mound, and is slightly deformed, measuring 1.9 meters east-to-west and 1.8 meters north-to-south, and is dug almost vertically. A wooden coffin covered in charcoal was buried with its long axis running north-south in the north-north center of the burial pit, and judging from the hollow area remaining in the charcoal layer, the size of the coffin is estimated to be approximately 66-cm long, 3-cm wide, and 38-cm high. The grave-marker was placed under the wooden coffin, face down, with the top of the inscription facing north; it is made of a copper plate measuring 29.1-cm long, 6.1-cm wide, and 0.1-cm thick, and has writing on only one side. The inscription is written in two lines, with boundaries around it and in the center, and contains 41 ''
kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...
'' characters. Its engraving reads:"Grave of Ancient Scholar Discovered"
''Japan Report'', April 1, 1979, p. 8
Grave goods Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are items buried along with a body. They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into an afterlife, or offerings to gods. Grave goods may be classed by researche ...
found in the coffin included four pearls, two pieces of iron, and two pieces of plaster, along with cremated human bones and ashes.


In fiction

Yasumaro appears in the video game '' Toukiden: The Age of Demons'' as a mitama (a soul of a hero from Japanese history). Yasumaro appears in the video game ''
Sid Meier's Civilization VI ''Sid Meier's Civilization VI'' is a 2016 4X turn-based strategy video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K. The mobile and Nintendo Switch ports were published by Aspyr Media. It is the sequel to '' Civilization V'' (2010), a ...
'' as a Great Prophet.


Notes


References

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:O No Yasumaro People of the Asuka period People of the Nara period 723 deaths Year of birth unknown Deified Japanese men Ō clan Historic Sites of Japan