, also known as was the sixth legendary

emperor of Japan The emperor of Japan is the hereditary monarch and head of state of Japan. The emperor is defined by the Constitution of Japan as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, his position deriving from "the will of ...

, according to the traditional

order of succession An order, line 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. Very little is known about this Emperor due to a lack of material available for further verification and study. Kōan is known as a "legendary emperor" among historians as his actual existence is disputed. Nothing exists in 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 ...

'' other than his name and genealogy. Kōan's reign allegedly began in 393 BC, he had one wife and two sons and reigned for more than 100 years until his death in 291 BC at the age of 137. One of his sons then supposedly became the next emperor. Emperor Kōan is traditionally accepted as the final emperor of the

Jōmon period In Japanese history, the is the time between , during which Japan was inhabited by the Jōmon people, a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united by a common culture, which reached a considerable degree of sedentism an ...

, which ended in 300 BC.

Legendary narrative

In the ''

'' and ''

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 ...

'', only his name and genealogy were recorded. The Japanese have traditionally accepted this sovereign's historical existence, and an Imperial ''misasagi'' or tomb for Kōan is currently maintained; however, no extant contemporary records have been discovered that confirm a view that this historical figure actually reigned. He is believed to be son of Emperor Kōshō; and his mother is believed to have been Yosotarashi-no-hime, who was the daughter of Okitsuyoso, and ancestress of the Owari. The ''Kojiki'' records Kōan was the second son of Emperor Kōshō, and that he ruled from the palace of at Muro in what would come to be known as

Yamato Province was a province of Japan, located in Kinai, corresponding to present-day Nara Prefecture in Honshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2005). "Yamato" in . It was also called . Yamato consists of two characters, 大 "great", and 和 " Wa". At first, th ...

. Kōan was allegedly an emperor who reigned for more than a hundred years, and lived to the age of 137 (according to the Kojiki). He allegedly had a wife named Yosotarashi-hime, and fathered two children with her. Kōan's reign lasted from 392 BC until his death in 291 BC, one of his sons then took the throne and would later be referred to as Emperor Kōrei.

Known information

The existence of at least the first nine Emperors is disputed due to insufficient material available for further verification and study. Kōan is thus regarded by historians as a "legendary Emperor", and is considered to have been the fifth of eight Emperors without specific legends associated with them. The name Kōan''-tennō'' was assigned to him

posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award, an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication, publishing of creative work after the author's death * Posthumous (album), ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1 ...

by later generations. His name might have been regularized centuries after the lifetime ascribed to Kōan, possibly during the time in which legends about the origins of the

imperial dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...

were compiled as the chronicles known today as the ''

''. The name "Kōan" is first credited to Japanese scholar and writer Ōmi no Mifune, who allegedly came up with the name sometime in the latter half of the 8th century. Emperor Kōan's longevity is disputed as the oldest verified humans usually go into the mid to late 110s. While historian John S. Brownlee calls Kōan's alleged age of 137 at the time of his death " too long", he also says that this is not unusual for mythical figures. He ends his narrative by saying that nobody in Japan was bothered by the longevity of the former emperors until the modern era. Regardless of his age, the actual site of Kōan's

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

is not known. Kōan 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 such as home ...

Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

shrine A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''escri ...

(''misasagi'') in Tamade, Gose. The

Imperial Household Agency The (IHA) is an agency of the government of Japan in charge of state matters concerning the Imperial House of Japan, Imperial Family, and the keeping of the Privy Seal of Japan, Privy Seal and State Seal of Japan. From around the 8th century ...

designates this location as Kōan's

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

, and its formal name is ''Tamate no oka no e no misasagi''. The first emperor that historians state might have actually existed is Emperor Sujin, the 10th emperor of Japan. Outside of the Kojiki, the reign of

Emperor Kinmei was the 29th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 欽明天皇 (29) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Titsingh, Isaac. (1834)pp. 34–36 Brown, Delmer. (1979) ''Gukanshō,'' pp. 261–2 ...

( – 571 AD) is the first for which contemporary historiography is able to assign verifiable dates. The conventionally accepted names and dates of the early Emperors were not confirmed as "traditional" though, until the reign of Emperor Kanmu between 737 and 806 AD.

Consorts and children

*Empress: , daughter ( Emperor Kōshō's son) ** ** , later Emperor Kōrei

Family tree

Notes

References