| Emperor Tenmu 天武天皇 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Portrait from the bookShūko Jisshu, 1800 | |||||
| Emperor of Japan | |||||
| Reign | 673–686 | ||||
| Predecessor | |||||
| Successor | Jitō | ||||
| Born | Ōama (大海人) c. 630 Asuka, Japan | ||||
| Died | 686 (aged around 56) Asuka, Japan | ||||
| Burial | Noguchi Ōbo Kofun [ja], Asuka | ||||
| Spouse | Ten consorts, includingPrincess Uno no Sarara (later Empress Jitō) | ||||
| Issue | |||||
| |||||
| House | Imperial House of Japan | ||||
| Father | Emperor Jomei | ||||
| Mother | Empress Kōgyoku | ||||
Emperor Tenmu (also romanizedTemmu,c. 630 – 686) was 40thEmperor of Japan according to thetraditional order of succession. He was bornPrince Ōama around 630, the son ofEmperor Jomei and his consortPrincess Takara. Ruling from 673 to 686, during theAsuka period, his life is mainly documented by the chroniclesNihon Shoki andKojiki, as well as the poetry collectionMan'yōshū.
Little is known of Ōama's early life. During the rule of his elder brotherTenji, Ōama was ambiguously favored as his successor, but was gradually bypassed in favor of Tenji's sonPrince Ōtomo. Tenji allegedly offered Ōama the throne during an illness in 671, but fearing a conspiracy against him, Ōama declined and left to serve as a monk atYoshino Palace. Tenji died soon after. The following year, Ōama received word that Ōtomo, now ruler, was planning to kill him. He fled Yoshino with a group of followers, beginning theJinshin War. Along with a group of retainers and the governor ofIse Province, Ōama was able to block off the mountain passes to the northern and eastern provinces, where he raised an army against his nephew. Ōtomo was defeated and forced to commit suicide. Ōama took the throne under the name Tenmu.
Tenmu made a number of political reforms, modeling his government after the centralized state ofTang China. He was likely the first Japanese ruler to use the title oftennō ('emperor') and the first to be described as a divine being (kami) in his lifetime. He redistributed political titles among his family and political supporters and created four new ranks at the top of thekabane noble title system. He selected a site for a new capital around 683, on which (after his death) was likely builtFujiwara-kyō. He was an enthusiastic supporter of both Buddhism and the goddessAmaterasu, making various reforms to Buddhist clerical governance and elevating Amaterasu'sIse Shrine to preeminence in Japan.
Tenmu's health began to decline in 685. In attempt to gain divine favor, the imperial court sponsored large-scale Buddhist rituals, but he died in 686. This began a mourning period and interregnum almost twice the length as usual, during which both of his crown princes died:Prince Ōtsu was executed later the same year, likely on the orders of Tenmu's consortUno-no-sarara, whilePrince Kusakabe died of ill health in 689. Uno-no-sarara ascended to the throne in 689 as Empress Jitō.
Prince Ōama was the son ofEmperor Jomei ofAsuka Japan and his consortPrincess Takara, and the younger brother ofNaka no Ōe.[1] His date of birth is unclear; traditional sources date his birth to either 613 or 621, but this would make him older than Naka, born in 626. Some modern historians have estimated a date around 630, owing to the existence of a middle sister,Princess Hashihito, between the two brothers.[2] Due to the much older date in traditional sources, archaeologist Yuji Seki theorized that Ōama may have been the son of Takara and her first husband,Prince Takamuku.[3]
Jomei had ascended to the throne in 629, around the time of Ōama's birth, following the death of the long-reigningEmpress Suiko.[1][2] Suiko had never selected an heir after the death ofPrince Shōtoku in 622, leading to a protracted succession dispute between Jomei (the grandson of Suiko andEmperor Bidatsu) and Shōtoku's son Yamashiro. Although Jomei took the throne with the support of Senior MinisterSoga no Emishi, Yamashiro continued to press his claim.[1][4][5]
Upon Jomei's death in 641, Yamashiro stood as the strongest potential candidate for emperor, as Jomei's crown prince Naka no Ōe was only sixteen years old. However, Emishi continued to oppose Yamashiro, and proposed Jomei's sonFuruhito no Ōe (whose mother was a member of theSoga clan) take the throne. Lacking significant backing, Emishi agreed to a compromise following the precedent of Empress Suiko's ascension, and Princess Takara took the throne as Empress Kōgyoku. Emishi's sonSoga no Iruka became the dominant political figure during Kōgyoku's reign, seizing control of administrative affairs and purging many of his opponents, including Yamashiro and his family. A triumvirate of three statesmen—Nakatomi no Kamatari,Soga no Ishikawa Maro, and Prince Naka no Ōe—assassinated Iruka in 645. Kōgyoku abdicated, initially intending for Naka to take the throne; however, with pressure from Nakatomi, her brother Prince Karu took the throne asEmperor Kōtoku.[6][7][8]
Kotoku was succeeded by the former Empress Kōgyoku in 655, who reigned again under the new name Saimei. In 660, the Korean kingdom ofBaekje (an ally of Japan) fell to a combinedTang–Silla force. The following year, Saimei, alongside Naka and Ōama, sailed toKyushu to oversee the construction of an armada to invade Korea and restore Baekje. Saimei died in Kyushu in the 9th month of that year, and Prince Naka was appointed as an interim regent, unwilling to officially take the throne; two years later, the Japanese armada was defeated. Naka oversaw the expansion of fortifications around Kyushu, seeking to defend against a possible Sino-Korean invasion, and integrated provincial elites into the court rank system. These efforts increased royal authority, but created considerable unrest among the Japanese clans.[9][10][11]
Ōama's first wife wasPrincess Nukata, the daughter of an obscure noble named Prince Kagami.[12] Ōama also married four of Naka's daughters, likely as an effort to lessen the influence of prominent families such as the Soga over future successors. Among these wasUno-no-sarara, who became his chief consort. He married five other wives, including Kamatari's daughter Ioe.[13] Around 660, Nukata was forced to leave Ōama in order to marry Prince Naka.[12]
Naka appears to have ambiguously supported Prince Ōama as his successor; the 8th century chronicleNihon Shoki inconsistently labels him as a crown prince.[11] Naka moved the capital to theŌtsu Palace inŌmi Province in 667 and was formally enthroned as Emperor Tenji the next year. Following this, he distanced himself from his brother to support his own favorite son,Prince Ōtomo, as his successor.[9][10][11] TheTōshi Kaden, an 8th century history of theFujiwara clan, relays an anecdote from Tenji's coronation banquet in 668, stating that Ōama startled Tenji by throwing a spear into the floorboards in front of him. Tenji is said to have drawn his sword and prepared to kill his brother, but the Fujiwara ancestor Nakatomi no Kamatari calmed his temper and saved the crown prince.[14]
Ōtomo was granted the title ofDaijō-daijin (prime minister) in early 671. The following day, either Ōama or Ōtomo was tasked with performing court duties; the chronicles are unclear and contradictory on who was entrusted with this role. In the eighth month of that year, Tenji became seriously ill and summoned Ōama, offering him the position as his successor. Either unwilling to become emperor or fearing that his acceptance would be used as pretext to have him removed from succession, Ōama refused, instead proposing that Tenji's consortYamatohime serve as empress, with Ōtomo as her regent. Ōama shaved his hair and asked permission from Tenji to become aBuddhist monk; Tenji accepted two days later, and Ōama traveled toYoshino Palace in southernYamato Province with a small group followers. It is unknown if Tenji genuinely sought to offer the throne to his brother, or if the offer was made as part of a plot against him.[15][16]
Tenji died in the 12th month of 671. Although Ōtomo was recognized as his successor by the imperial court in Ōmi, later chronicles such as theNihon Shoki do not recognize him as an emperor, and it is unclear if he was ever enthroned; he may have simply controlled affairs as the designated heir, possibly with Yamatohime as an uncrowned empress regnant.[15][17] The imperial court suspected a conspiracy on Ōama's part, and cut him off from receiving supplies from the capital. In the sixth month of 672, Ōama received a report from his political allies inMino Province that Ōtomo was plotting to attack him, and fled east on horseback, beginning a succession dispute known as theJinshin War. Alongside a small group of retainers and soldiers from Yamato Province, he was accompanied by Uno-no-sarara and their eleven-year-old sonKusakabe.[15][18][19]
Ōama was limited by the small group of soldiers which came to support him. However, he was able to receive the support of the governor ofIse Province, who sent a force of five hundred soldiers to close theSuzuka Barrier, one of two mountain passes allowing access to the eastern provinces from theKansai region. Following this, he was additionally able to gain support from officials inOwari and Mino, and possibly from the governors ofShinano andKai.[20][21] However, most governors were appointed directly by the Ōmi court, and continued to recognize its rule. Various local chieftains from across the eastern and northern provinces formed an important wellspring of support: he was able to mobilize a large number of supporters in eastern Japan, especially including the chieftains of theHokuriku region, which had generally been affiliated with those in Owari and Mino. In Yamato, the powerfulŌtomo clan (unrelated to Prince Ōtomo) sided with Ōama, likely due to their opposition to the dominant Soga clan and the court's move to Ōmi. A strong hatred of Ōtomo's Bakejean generals may have also pushed the Ōtomo and the immigrantYamatonoaya clan to support Ōama.[21]
While Ōama was able to gain a significant amount of support in the north and east, the Ōmi court was unsuccessful in reinforcing his armies from the western and southern provinces.[20] Despite this, pro-Ōmi forces were able to push back a contingent of Ōama's troops in Yamato Province early in the seventh month of 672. After this, Ōama split his main force into three armies: the largest marched throughFuwa Pass and along the southern shore ofLake Biwa, another went along the north of the lake, and the last retreated back through Mino and Ise to reinforce the troops in Yamato. Although shaken by a night cavalry raid, Ōama's largest army routed Ōtomo's forces at Seta, just to the southeast of Ōmi.[18][21] Prince Ōtomo was forced to commit suicide by the end of the seventh month. Ōama executed or banished his top officials (inherited from Tenji's government), but pardoned many of the other ministers of the Ōmi court.[18][22] Ōama was enthroned atAsuka in 673.[23][24] He is often referred to during his reign by hisposthumous name, Emperor Tenmu(天武; literally 'divine warrior').[22]
Tenmu was the 40th emperor in thetraditional order of succession.[25] He was likely the first ruler of Japan to use the title of Emperor (tennō, literally "heavenly sovereign") in his lifetime, with its use attested by amokkan (wooden tablet) dating to his reign. The exact origins of the title is unknown; Tenmu, known to have an interest inDaoism, may have adopted it imitation of the Daoist deityTianhuang Emperor (tennō taitei), a name also used for theNorth Star. Alternatively, it may have been borrowed from China, asEmperor Gaozong of Tang briefly adopted the Chinese equivalent (tiānhuáng) in 674. Before this, Japanese rulers generally used the title of King (Ō) or potentially Great King (Daiō), alongside various other ceremonial titles attested in theNihon Shoki.[26]
Shortly after he took office, a set of Korean dignitaries from the states ofGoguryeo, Silla, andTamna came to Kyushu to send their condolences for Tenji's death; they were rejected and asked to return home, told that Tenmu was only accepting envoys which came to offer congratulations to him.[27] During his rise to power, the geopolitical situation in Korea began to shift: following a conflict with the Tang, Silla was able to gain hegemony over the Korean peninsula, pushing Chinese forces north and capturing the former territory of Bakeje. Tenmu continued to reinforce northern Kyushu against a potential invasion and maintained the fortification system began by his brother. He began a practice of ferrying border guards from easternHonshu to reinforce posts in Kyushu.[28][29] Tenmu took a different foreign policy than his brother, cutting off formal relationships with the Tang in favor of the ascendant Silla.[21]
Under Tenmu's reign, the Japanese state began to adopt elements of Chinese statecraft, seeking to create a more centralized state,[30] while likely also taking inspiration from the structure of the rising Silla, which featured a powerful ritualistic emperor heading a powerful ministerial government.[31] As Tenmu had most of the top officials under Tenji executed in the aftermath of the Jinshin War, he was able to redistribute the top political postings among his supporters.[22] He opened up and expanded the ranks of his court, recruitingcourtiers from among the realm's elites and chieftains. Unlike the reigns of many other emperors, no preeminent ministers came to power under Tenmu, as he leaned heavily on his immediate family for support.[32]
Due to his reforms, Tenmu's reign is often seen as the beginning of theJapanese imperial system (Tennō-sei). He left vacant the positions ofMinister of the Left (Sadaijin) andMinister of the Right (Udaijin)—previously the most powerful political appointments—while appointing a member of the imperial clan to the new post of Counselor (nagon), who served as his private secretary. Various other members of his immediate family received appointments: his consort Uno-no-sarara served as one of his main advisors, while two of his sons were given important posts during the early 680s. He largely preserved the old system of noble titles (kabane), but created four new ranks at the top of the hierarchy:Mahito for members of the imperial clan,Asomi for clan chiefs related to the royal family, andSukune andImiki for chiefs of other clans loyal to imperial rule.[31][32]
Between 680 and 684, Tenmu granted noble titles to 177 families. Tenmu's government inherited some aspects of his predecessors; he preserved a government structure of six ministries subordinate to a Council of State (Daijō-kan) and a Secretariat (Benkan). The Justice Ministry (Gyōkan) in particular saw expansion under Tenmu's reign, who proclaimed that both officials and nonofficials would be judged and punished for crimes.[33]
Upon taking the throne, Tenmu returned the imperial court from Ōmi to the old capital of Asuka. He ordered the construction of the new imperial palace ofKiyomihara at the site of three previous palaces in the prior decades, the first built by his father Jomei around 630. Although grand in scale—theNihon Shoki describes it as featuring a variety of offices, halls, and aDaigoku-den (Hall of State) in addition to the imperial residence and courtyard—it was constructed very quickly, and likely incorporated parts of the previous palaces at the site.[34][35][36] This may have only been intended as a temporary capital, as by 767 Tenmu began searching for a site to build a new, larger capital city (tentatively referred to asShinjō, 'the new walled [city]") based off Chinese-style urban planning. However, he did not seem to have found a suitable site for some time after he became emperor.[30][37]
Around 682 or 683, Tenmu seems to have settled on a location for his new capital; this was likelyFujiwara-kyō, a site near Asuka which would become Japan's first Chinese-style planned city. In addition to the new capital, he advocated for the coastal center ofNaniwa-kyō to become a walled secondary capital, likely in imitation of the Tang dynasty's capitals atChang'an andLuoyang.[38]
One poem, allegedly written byŌtomo no Miyuki [ja] in 672 following Tenmu's victory in the Jinshin War, celebrates him and the palace of Kiyomihara, and is possibly the first Japanese poem to describe a ruler as akami (divine being);[39] Tenmu himself is thought to have begun the practice of beginning imperial edicts with the proclamation "Hear ye the edict of an emperor of Japan who is a manifestkami".[40] He reformed the system ofkami worship, prioritizing the imperial clan in various religious matters:Amaterasu, the ancestral goddess of the imperial clan, was prioritized above other ancestralkami, while thetennō himself was placed at the top of both the hierarchy of religious leaders and the system of rites and offerings. TheIse Shrine to Amaterasu was made the preeminent shrine in Japan, with Tenmu reviving the practice of appointing an imperial princess to reside at the temple in order to worship Amaterasu on his behalf.[40]
Tenmu sponsored and regularized official Buddhist rites, performed at the three temples he granted official status, all located in the vicinity of Kiyomihara:Gufuku-ji,Gangō-ji, and (the most prestigious)Daikandai-ji. The Soga-backedAsuka-dera, while not formally an official temple, was treated as such in accordance with Tenmu's edicts. Buddhist institutions became increasingly dependent on state backing during his reign; he reorganized the Prelates' Office (Sōgō), staffing it with clerics housed at Daikandai-ji. He moved one of the top Buddhist officials formerly under the Prelates' Office, the Chief of the Law (Hōtō), into the secular Agency of Buddhist and Alien Affairs (Genbaryō [ja]), which managed immigration in addition to Buddhist matters.[41] In 673, Tenmu oversaw the completion of theTakechi no Ōdera temple, and commissioned construction of the grandYakushi-ji temple in 680.[24] He also sponsored the copying of the entireBuddhist canon in a project completed in 677.[41]
Tenmu's health began to decline in the ninth month of 685. Various Buddhist rituals and prayers were performed in an attempt to aid him, and an infusion of the herbokera was prepared to restore his health. His health continued to decline over the following year. In the sixth month of 686, his advisors advised that theKusanagi no Tsurugi sword—one of the threeImperial Regalia of Japan—had been cursed and was contributed to his ill health; it was taken to its homeAtsuta Shrine for safekeeping.[42] TheNihon Shoki reports a rapid succession of rituals conducted over the seventh and eighth months: Buddhist functionaries were called to the palace to perform penitential rituals and readsutras, while theŌharae-shiki ('Great Purification Ceremony') was ordered to be conducted in every province. Early in the seventh month, half of all taxes were remitted,forced labor was suspended, and the era name was changed toShuchō, an action often made during dire situations for the desire of a new beginning.[43]
Around the end of the seventh month and the beginning of the eighth, hundreds of people were called up to become monks and nuns in Tenmu's honor, and a hundred statues ofGuanyin were placed around the palace. Various fiefs were distributed to imperial princes and preeminent temples; the exact distribution was used to indicate how Tenmu judged the relative rank of each prince, as well as to show support to the noble benefactors of the temples. On the ninth day of the ninth month, Tenmu died and a temporary burial palace (theMogari-no-miya) was erected at the capital. Officials from various departments and offices pronounced eulogies in his honor, and the monthly anniversary of his death was declared a day of mourning.[44] Prince Kusakabe led funeral processions in his honor over the following months. A poem in Tenmu's honor is attributed to the widowed empress, Uno-no-sarara, lamenting how she can not let go of her grief over his death.[45]
After his death, construction at Naniwa-kyō was halted; the site burned down the same year, and it was not rebuilt for another forty years.[38] Tenmu was permanently reinterred on the 11th day of the 11th month in 688, over two years after his death, ending a lengthy period ofMogari-no-miya and allowing for the instatement of a formal successor.[45] Tenmu was given a long posthumous name, Ama-no-nunahara-oki-no-mahito-no-sumera-mikoto, 'Emperor, the Perfected Man of theOffing in the Central Marsh of Heaven", incorporating a variety of Daoist terms.[46] Tenmu's tomb is believed to be theNoguchi Ōbo Kofun [ja] at the site of Fujiwara-kyō in what is now the city ofKashihara. Empress Jitō (formerly Uno-no-sarara) was also later interred at this tomb.[47]
In 679, Tenmu traveled to Yoshino and had six of his sons—Kusakabe,Ōtsu,Takechi,Kawashima,Osakabe, andShiki[α]—swear an oath to not begin a succession dispute after his death, proclaiming that although born of separate mothers, all would be treated as if they were the sons of his chief consort Uno-no-sarara.[48][49] Tenmu's other sons were too young to make the pledge, but they were still bound to its legal effects.[48][49] In an edict promulgated in 681, Tenmu ordered the compilation of a new law code (theAsuka Kiyomihara Code) and proclaimed Kusakabe a senior prince, serving with fullroyal prerogative; this seems to indicate that he favored Kusakabe (his son with Princess Uno-no-sarara) to succeed him as emperor. However, in 683, he also granted elevated status to Prince Ōtsu, who (like Kusakabe) was his son with one of Tenji's daughters. It is unknown why Tenmu created an apparent rival to Kusakabe's position in the succession. From 683 until Tenmu's death, the state was managed by the co-rulership of Kusakabe, Ōtsu, Tenmu, and the queen consort Uno-no-sarara.[50]
Following Tenmu's death, Ōtsu was left politically isolated due to the prior death of his motherPrincess Ōta and the preeminent power of his aunt Uno-no-sarara. Likely under her orders, Ōtsu was charged with treason and executed in 686. Kusakabe's succession was delayed by the extremely long mourning period of twenty-seven months (almost double the average of around fifteen months). Both a lack of political consensus over Kusakabe and a desire to elevate the status of the deceased emperor likely contributed to this lengthy interregnum.[50] Kusakabe died in 689, long in poor health, leaving the succession uncertain. Following the precedent of Suiko and Kōgyoku and seeking to maintain Tenmu's branch of the royal dynasty (a merger of Tenmu's and Tenji's lines), Uno-no-sarara ascended to the throne in 690, ruling as Empress Jitō.[50] Jitō reigned until 697, when she retired to become the firstDaijō-tennō ('empress emeritus') in favor of Kusakabe's son, the young Prince Karu, who took the throne asEmperor Monmu.[51]
Tenmu's descendants would continue to rule as emperor throughout most of the lateAsuka andNara period. His stem line ruled until the death ofEmpress Shōtoku in 770, who was succeeded in favor of one of Tenji's descendants,Prince Shirakabe, who took the throne as Emperor Kōnin.[52]
TheNihon Shoki, published in 720, gives little coverage of the reign of Jomei, and as a result scant information is available on Tenmu's early life.[53] The book gives Tenmu two chapters: the first covers the Jinshin War and his rise to power, while the second covers his reign itself.[54] Despite the succession conflict, theNihon Shoki treats Tenmu's reign as having begun immediately after Tenji's death, although Tenmu was not able to return to the capital to rule for ten months after this point. Tenmu is portrayed as trying to assert his rightful rule against those loyal to Prince Ōtomo. Ōtomo was recognized as a former emperor by some early modern historians such asBan Nobutomo [ja], but only in 1870 was he officially recognized as Tenmu's predecessor.[17]
The Jinshin War and Tenmu's rise to power is described in a short preface to the 8th century chronicleKojiki ('records of ancient matters'). The section within theKojiki strongly supports Tenmu, describing him as a 'submerged dragon'[β] and 'molting cicada'[γ] who was called upon by heaven to take the throne and purify the land of the 'evil rebels'.[56] The section also claims that he surpassed theYellow Emperor andKing of Zhou in his virtue and mastery of theWay.[56]
TheKojiki preface claims that Tenmu had a deep interest in history, and was upset by the disordered state of theTeiki ('imperial chronicles') andKyūji ('ancient accounts'). He is said to have ordered the court attendantHieda no Are to compile these into a single definitive record; these were then transcribed by the scribeŌ no Yasumaro duringEmpress Genmei's reign and presented to the throne as theKojiki in 712. TheNihon Shoki also claims to be created on the order of Emperor Tenmu, but attributes its compiliation to a council of twelve princes and noblemen rather than any individual; although some scholars (such as the 19th-century theologianHirata Atsutane) have claimed that both texts stem from the same origin, others have theorized that they stem from two different orders by Tenmu, or that work on theNihon Shoki only began after theKojiki was finished. The texts may have attributed their creation to Tenmu in order to legitimize their historical content.[56][57]
Three poems in theMan'yōshū, the oldest collection of Japanese poetry, are credited to Tenmu. These comprise onechōka and threetanka; the most famous is a reply to a poem by his former wife Princess Nukata, in which he expresses her longing for her after she was taken by his brother Tenji.[58] The other poems attributed to Tenmu celebrate and praise Yoshino. These are juxtaposed in the same volume by other praise poems for Yoshino byKakinomoto no Hitomaro, alongside poems about the ruined Ōmi capital by Hitomaro andTakechi no Kurohito.[49] The historian Torquil Duthie theorized that the Yoshino Palace became a symbol of Tenmu's divine authority under the reigns of Jitō and her successors; Jitō made a large number of visits to the site, a practice resurrected by Tenmu's great-grandsonEmperor Shōmu in the 8th century.[59] Tenmu also serves as the subject of a number of other poems through theMan'yōshū. Poems mourning him are attributed to Jitō, Prince Kusakabe, and Prince Takechi.[60]
Tenmu had ten consorts, four of whom were daughters of his brother Tenji.[61] He had ten sons and seven daughters. Additionally, he adopted two of Tenji's sons as his own,Prince Kawashima andPrince Shiki.[48] His consorts were:
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Emperor of Japan: Temmu 672–686 | Succeeded by |
| Legendary |
| ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yamato |
| ||||||||
| Nara |
| ||||||||
| Heian |
| ||||||||
| Kamakura |
| ||||||||
| Northern Court |
| ||||||||
| Muromachi |
| ||||||||
| Azuchi–Momoyama |
| ||||||||
| Edo |
| ||||||||
| Empire of Japan |
| ||||||||
| Japan |
Unless otherwise noted (as BC), years are inCE / AD *Imperial Consort andRegentEmpress Jingū is not traditionally listed. | ||||||||
