Emperor Kimmei

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Emperor Kimmei (欽明天皇 Kinmei Tennō) (509-571) was the 29th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession, and the first to whom contemporary historiography assigns clear dates. His father was Emperor Keitai and his mother was Emperor Ninken's daughter, Princess Tashiraka (手白香皇女). In his lifetime, he was known by the name Amehara Oshiharaki Hironiwa (天国排開広庭尊) or Amekuni Oshiharaki Hironiwa. His title at his own time was certainly not tenno, but presumably sumeramikoto (治天下大王 - amenoshita shiroshimesu ōkimi, or sumera no mikoto, Great King who rules all under heaven), and/or ヤマト大王/大君 - yamato ōkimi, Great King of Yamato.

According to the traditional account, only upon the death of his older brother Emperor Senka in 539, Emperor Kimmei acceded to the throne. Scholars have opined that quite possibly he however was a rival ruler during reigns of his two elder half-brothers (misfits and gaps in chronology in the legends themselves support that theory), and remained supreme when both of them had deceased. He established or moved his court to Shikishima no Kanazashi Palace (磯城嶋金刺宮) in Yamato. Mononobe no Okoshi and Nakatomi no Kanamura were both appointed Ōmuraji, and Soga no Iname was appointed Ōomi. Although the imperial court did not move to the Asuka region of Japan until 592, Emperor Kimmei's rule is considered by some to be the beginning of the Asuka period of Yamato Japan, particularly those who associate the Asuka period primarily with the introduction of Buddhism to Japan.

According to the Nihon Shoki, Emperor Kimmei received a bronze statue of Buddha as a gift from the king of Paekche Song Myong Wang (聖明王, Seimei Ō) in 552. (However, according to the Jōgū Shōtoku Hōō Teisetsu, Buddhism was introduced in 538.) Although Buddhism was already practiced in Japan by many Korean immigrants by this time, this episode is widely regarded as the official introduction of Buddhism to the country.

With the introduction of a new religion to the court, a deep rift developed between the Mononobe clan, who supported the worship of Japan's traditional deities, and the Soga clan, who supported the adoption of Buddhism. According to one famous episode, shortly after the Soga's began worshipping the new Buddha statue, a plague broke out, which the Mononobe's promptly attributed to a curse by Japan's traditional deities as punishment for worshipping the foreign god. Mononobe no Okoshi and his men promptly threw the statue into a river in Naniwa and burned the temple that the Soga's had built to hold it.

Because of several temporal discrepancies in the account of Emperor Kimmei in the Nihon Shoki, some believe that his was actually a rival court to that of Emperors Ankan and Senka. According to the Nihon Shoki, Emperor Kimmei ruled until his death in 571 and was buried in the Hinokuma no Sakai Burial Mound (桧隈坂合陵) but a stronger theory holds that he was actually buried in the Misemaruyama Tumulus (見瀬丸山古墳) located in Kashihara City (橿原市).

Preceded by Emperor Senka

Emperor of Japan 539-571

Succeeded by Emperor Bidatsu