Emperor Shōmu

Shōmu
Emperor of Japan
Reign March 3, 724 – August 19, 749
Born 701
Died June 4 756
Place of death Nara, Japan
Buried Sahoyama no minami no misasagi (Nara)
Predecessor Genshō
Successor Kōken
Consort Fujiwara no Asukabe-hime(Kōmyō) (701–760)
Offspring Prince Motoi, Kōken, Prince Asaka, Princess Inoe, Princess Fuwa
Father Mommu
Mother Fujiwara no Miyako (?–754), daughter of Fujiwara no Fuhito

Emperor Shōmu (聖武天皇 (Shōmu-tennō 701 – June 4, 756?) was the 45th emperor of Japan,[1] according to the traditional order of succession.[2]

Shōmu's reign spanned the years 724 through 723.[3]

Contents

Traditional narrative

Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (imina)[4] is not clearly known, but he was known as Oshi-hiraki Toyosakura-hiko-no-mikoto.[5]

Shōmu was the son of Emperor Mommu and Fujiwara no Miyako, a daughter of Fujiwara no Fuhito.[6]

Shōmu had four Empresses and six Imperial sons and daughters.[7]

Events of Shōmu's reign

Shōmu was still a child at the time of his father's death; thus, Empresses Gemmei and Gensho occupied the throne before he acceded.[6]

Shōmu continued to reside in the Hezei Palace.[6]

Shōmu is known as the first emperor whose consort was not born into the imperial household. His consort Kōmyō was a non-royal Fujiwara commoner. A ritsuryo office was created for the queen-consort, the Kogogushiki; and this bureaucratic innovation continued into the Heian period.[10]

Timeline

Legacy

Shōmu, a devout Buddhist, is best remembered for commissioning, in 743, the sixteen-meter high statue of the Vairocana Buddha (the Daibutsu) in Tōdai-ji of Nara. At the time, this was such a massive undertaking that later chroniclers accuse him of having completely exhausted the country's reserves of bronze and precious metals.[6] In 752, the Shōmu held the Eye-opening Ceremony of the Great Buddha.

Earlier in 741, he established the system of provincial temples, making this the closest anyone ever came to declaring Japan a Buddhist nation. In addition he commissioned the observance of the ohigan holiday for both spring and autumnal equinox.[17]

Emperor Shōmu died at age 56.[15]

The actual site of Shōmu's grave is known.[1] This emperor is traditionally venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine (misasagi) at Nara.

The Imperial Household Agency designates this location as Shōmu's mausoleum. It is formally named Sahoyama no minami no misasagi.[18] The tomb site can be visited today in Horenji-cho, Tenri City near Nara City.[19] The Imperial tomb of Shōmu's consort, Empress Kōmyō, is located nearby.[20]

Kugyō

Kugyō (公卿?) is a collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in pre-Meiji eras.

In general, this elite group included only three to four men at a time. These were hereditary courtiers whose experience and background would have brought them to the pinnacle of a life's career. During Shōmu's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:

Eras of Shōmu's life

The years of Shōmu's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō.[22]

Consorts and Children

Empress: Fujiwara no Asukabe-hime (藤原安宿媛) (Empress Kōmyō, 光明皇后) (701–760), daughter of Fujiwara no Fuhito

Bunin: Agatainukai no Hirotoji (県犬養広刀自) (?–762), daughter of Agatainukai no Morokoshi

Bunin: A daughter of Fujiwara no Muchimaro (?–748)

Bunin: A daughter of Fujiwara no Fusasaki (?–760)

Bunin: Tachibana-no-Hirooka no Konakachi (橘広岡古那可智) (?–759), daughter of Tachibana no Sai

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Imperial Household Agency (Kunaichō): 聖武天皇 (45)
  2. ^ Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan, p. 57.
  3. ^ Brown, Delmer et al. (1979). Gukanshō, pp. 272-273; Varley, H. Paul. Jinnō Shōtōki, pp. 141-143; Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon, pp. 67-73. at Google Books
  4. ^ Brown, pp. 264; prior to Emperor Jomei, the personal names of the emperors (their imina) were very long and people did not generally use them. The number of characters in each name diminished after Jomei's reign.
  5. ^ Brown, p. 272; Varley, p. 141.
  6. ^ a b c d e Varley, p. 141.
  7. ^ a b c Brown, p. 272.
  8. ^ Titsingh, p. 67 at Google Books; Varley, p. 44; a distinct act of senso is unrecognized prior to Emperor Tenji; and all sovereigns except Jitō, Yōzei, Go-Toba, and Fushimi have senso and sokui in the same year until the reign of Emperor Go-Murakami.
  9. ^ Titsingh, p. 67 at Google Books.
  10. ^ Piggott, Joan R. (1997). The Emergence of Japanese Kingship, p. 308.
  11. ^ a b c d e f Titsingh, p. 71 at Google Books.
  12. ^ Varley, pp. 141-142.
  13. ^ Varley, p. 141; Brown, p. 273.
  14. ^ Titsingh, p. 73 at Google Books.
  15. ^ a b c d Varley, p. 143.
  16. ^ Titsingh, p. 74 at Google Books; Varley, p. 143.
  17. ^ "Middle Way & Higan Service, Nichiren Shu Beikoku Betsuin". http://la.nichirenshu.org/teachings/talks/3min/middle_way_higan.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-10. 
  18. ^ Ponsonby-Fane, p. 420.
  19. ^ Shōmu's misasagi -- map
  20. ^ Komyo's misasagi -- map
  21. ^ a b c d e Brown, p. 273.
  22. ^ Titsingh, p. 67; Brown, p. 273.

References

External links

Regnal titles
Preceded by
Empress Genshō
Emperor of Japan:
Shōmu

724–749
Succeeded by
Empress Kōken