Princess Ōku

Princess Ōku
Born February 12, 661(661-02-12)
Ōku, Japan
Died January 29, 702(702-01-29) (aged 40)
Title Saiō of Ise (673 - 686)
Spouse none
Children none

Princess Ōku (大来皇女 or 大伯皇女) (February 12, 661 (the 8th Day of the 1st Month of the Saimei's era 7) - January 29, 702 (the 27th Day of the 12th Month of Taihō 1)) was a Japanese princess during the Asuka period of Japanese history. She was the daughter of Emperor Temmu and sister of Prince Ōtsu. As a young girl, she would have witnessed the Jinshin War. According to the Man'yōshū (The Anthology of Ten Thousand Leaves), she became the first Saiō to serve at Ise Shrine. After the death of her brother in 686, she returned from Ise to Yamato to enshrine his remains on Mt. Futakami, before a quiet end was put to her life at age 40.

Contents

Genealogy

She was born on 8th Day of the 1st Month of the Saimei's era 7 (661), in the cabin of the Imperial ship which dropped anchor at the sea of Ōku on the Empress Saimei's way to Kyūshū. Her name derived from her birthplace.

She had a younger brother named Prince Ōtsu, who was born three years later in Na no Ōtsu of Kyūshū.

Her mother, Princess Ōta, died when she was seven years old.

In the 9th Day of the 10th Month of the Temmu's era 3 (674), when she was twelve, she was appointed the Saiō by her father, Emperor Temmu, and sent to the Saikū near Ise Shrine and spent 13 years there as the Saiō to serve the Goddess Amaterasu-Ōmikami that dwelled in the shrine.

Her brother, Prince Ōtsu, earned the Emperor's trust and became one of the candidates of his successor. In 686, when the Emperor is dying, Prince Ōtsu secretly visited the Saikū to see her. (Probably he went and see her in order to tell her that he was likely to succeed the throne after the Emperor died.) She was very pleased to see him again and celebrated his promotion.

However, he could not be the next emperor after the Emperor died. Because Empress-consort Uno-no-Sarara had so much power that she declared that her son, Prince Kusakabe, should be appointed the next emperor. She told that Prince Ōtsu was a riot, and ordered the officers to arrest him. He was captured on the 2nd Day of the 10th Month, and a day later death by hanging was bestowed to him in his house of Osada.

His death shocked Ōku very much. More than that, she was dismissed from the position of the Saio on account of her near relative's death (Because death was considered as impure, no persons with their near relative's death can serve to God or Goddess anymore.) and returned to the capital from the Saikū. After returning to the capital, she composed three verses of lament for the sake of her brother, which are collected in the Man'yōshū.

After that, she neither did what was recorded in the chronicle nor married anybody. Her only work we know was the foundation of a temple of Natsumi at the Nabari district in the province of Iga by her vow.

Man'yōshū Poetry

A number of Waka poems are credited to Princess Ōku in the Man'yōshū. The following tell the story of the death of her brother, Prince Ōtsu.

Upon the departure of Prince Ōtsu for the capital after his secret visit to the Shrine of Ise[1]
To speed my brother
Parting for Yamato,
In the deep of night I stood
Till wet with the dew of dawn.
The lonely autumn mountains
Are hard to pass over
Even when two go together-
How does my brother cross them all alone!
On her arrival at the capital after the death of Prince Ōtsu[2]
Would that I had stayed
In the land of Ise
Of the Divine Wind.
Why have I come
Now that he is dead!
Now that he is no more --
My dear brother-
Whom I so longed to see,
Why have I come,
Despite the tired horses!
On the removal of Prince Ōtsu's remains to the Futagami mountains[3]
From tomorrow ever
Shall I regard as brother
The twin-peaked mountain of Futagami-
I, daughter of man!
I would break off the branch
Of the flowering staggerbush[4]
Growing on the rocky shore;
But no one says he lives
To whom I would show it!

See also

References

  1. ^ Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai, The Man'yōshū: The Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai Translation of One Thousand Poems, New York: Columbia University Press. p. 21. [This waka is here numbered 54-55; in the Kokka Taikan (1901), Book II, numbered 105-106.]
  2. ^ Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai, pp. 21-22. [This waka is here numbered 56-57; in in the Kokka Taikan (1901), Book II, numbered 163-164.]
  3. ^ Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai, p. 22. [This wakka is here numbered 58-59; in the Kokka taikan (1901), Book II, numbered 165-166.]
  4. ^ Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai, p. 22 n1. [Ashibi (Pieris japonica), an evergreen wild shrub, whose tiny nodding white flowers open in clusters in early spring.]

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