Emperor Keitai
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- "Keitai" is also the Japanese term for mobile/cell phones but is written with different kanji.
Keitai (継体天皇 Keitai-tennō), also known as Keitai okimi, was the 26th Japanese imperial ruler, according to the traditional order of succession.[1] No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign. Keitai is considered to have ruled the country during the early-6th century, but there is a paucity of information about him. Scholars can only lament that, at this time, there is insufficient material available for further verification and study.
It is believed that Imperial rule was somewhat centralized by the time of Keitai's reign.
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[edit] Records on his life
His record is confusing as there are differences of his life according to Kojiki and Nihon Shoki.
Kojiki puts his birth year at 485 and to have died on April 9, 527.[2] It writes that he was called Ōdo no Mikoto (袁本杼命).
On the other hand, Nihon Shoki put his birth year at 450 and to have died on February 7, 531 or 534.[2] It writes that he was called Ōdo no Kimi (男大迹王) and Hikofuto no Mikoto (彦太尊).
Also the version Wo Ofu Ato-no-Hiko Fudo no Mikoto has been present.
He is recorded to have originally been King of Koshi Kingdom, a smaller tribal entity, apparently in northern parts of central Japan, perhaps as far as in coast of Sea of Japan.
As Japan was not in existence yet in those days, and as even the entity known as Yamato state (if existed yet properly) was containing just a part of the country, most probably only areas in today central Japan, the position of emperor is anachronistic to assign to those days. Some modern reference works of history call Keitai just as King Ohoto of Koshi.[3]
[edit] Life and genealogy
He is said to have been not the son of the immediate previous monarch, but the great-great-great-grandson of Ōjin of Yamato (king Hondawake). According to legendary record, he ascended to the throne when Buretsu, monarch of Yamato died childless and had not appointed a successor; some historians doubt this genealogy and suppose a change of dynasties..[citation needed]
His detailed genealogy is recorded in Shaku Nihongi as a quote from Jōgūki (the history of Prince Shōtoku). It says he was a son of Ushi no Kimi, a grandson of Ohi no Kimi, a great-grandson of Ohohoto no Kimi (brother to Emperor Ingyo's consort), a great-great-grandson of Wakanuke Futamata no Kimi, and a great-great-great-grandson of Emperor Ōjin.
According to Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, his father was Hikonushi no Kimi and his mother was Furihime. He was born in Echizen province. When Buretsu died, Kanamura recommended Keitai at his age of 58 as a possible heir to the Yamato throne. Keitai declared his ascension in Kusuba, in the northern part of Kawachi Province (present day Shijonawate, Osaka) and married a younger sister of Buretsu, Princess Tashiraga. It is supposed that his succession was not welcomed by everyone, and it took about 20 years for Keitai to enter Yamato province, near Kawachi and the political center of Japan at the time.
In Keitai's later years, 527 or 528, a rebellion led by Iwai occurred in Tsukushi province, Kyūshū. Keitai assigned Mononobe no Arakahi as Shogun and sent him to Kyūshū to put down the rebellion.
Among his sons, Emperor Ankan, Emperor Senka and Emperor Kimmei ascended to the throne.[3]
He is believed to be entombed amongst the burial mounds in the city of Fujiidera near Osaka. [4]
[edit] Notes and References
- ^ Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, pp. 31-33; Varley, Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki, pp. 119-120.
- ^ a b Japanese dates correspond to the traditional lunisolar calendar used in Japan until 1873.
- ^ a b Aston, William. (1998). Nihongi, Vol. 2, pp. 1-25.
- ^ Gowland, William. "The Burial Mounds and Dolmens of the Early Emperors of Japan," The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 37, Jan.-Jun., 1907, pp. 10-46.
- Aston, William George. (1896. Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner. [reprinted by Tuttle Publishing, Tokyo, 2007. 10-ISBN 0-8048-0984-4; 13-ISBN 978-0-8048-0984-9 (paper)]
- Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979). [ Jien, c. 1220], Gukanshō (The Future and the Past, a translation and study of the Gukanshō, an interpretative history of Japan written in 1219). Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03460-0
- Titsingh, Isaac, ed. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652], Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon, tr. par M. Isaac Titsingh avec l'aide de plusieurs interprètes attachés au comptoir hollandais de Nangasaki; ouvrage re., complété et cor. sur l'original japonais-chinois, accompagné de notes et précédé d'un Aperçu d'histoire mythologique du Japon, par M. J. Klaproth. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland....Click link for digitized, full-text copy of this book (in French)
- Varley, H. Paul , ed. (1980). [ Kitabatake Chikafusa, 1359], Jinnō Shōtōki ("A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa" translated by H. Paul Varley). New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-04940-4
[edit] See also
| Preceded by Emperor Buretsu |
Emperor of Japan: Keitai 507-531 (traditional dates) |
Succeeded by Emperor Ankan |
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