Kibi no Asomi Makibi (吉備 朝臣 真備, 695 – November 3, 775) was aJapanese scholar and noble during theNara period.[1] Also known asKibi Daijin (吉備大臣,Minister Kibi).
Kibi no Makibi was born in Shimotsumichi County,Bitchu Province (present-dayKurashiki,Okayama Prefecture) asShimotsumichi-no Asomi Makibi, as a son of Shimotsumichi-no Asomi Kunikatsu. Shimotsumichi clan was a line of local elites and came from the greaterKibi clan. Kibi was also the ancient name of area he came from (Kibi Province), which encompassed Bitchu,Bizen,Bingo andMimasaka Provinces.
In 717-718, Kibi was part of theJapanese mission to Tang China (Kentōshi) withAbe no Nakamaro[2] andGenbō.[3] Kibi stayed in China for 17 years before returning to Japan.[4] He is credited with bringing back a number of things, introducing to Japan the game ofgo and the art of embroidery.[1]
In 737, he received promotion to the junior fifth rank. His influence at court triggered theFujiwara no Hirotsugu Rebellion of 740. In 751, at the senior fourth rank (upper grade), he received an appointment as vice-ambassador to theTang dynasty and traveled toChina the following year, returning to Japan in 753.
Kibi spent some years inKyūshū as the assistant administrator ofDazaifu (the principal governmental post on the island); he returned toNara.
In 764, he was made head of the project to constructTōdai-ji.[1] Promotion to the junior third rank followed.
He was appointed to head an army to put down the uprising byFujiwara no Nakamaro. Reaching the second rank in 765, he took the offices ofMajor Councillor, thenMinister of the Right. In 770, he supported a losing candidate for the throne and submitted his resignation from office. The court accepted only his resignation from military office and retained him as Minister of the Right. He finally resigned in 771, devoting himself to the study ofConfucian principles and their applications in Japanese administration.[1] Kibi died in 775 at the age of 80.
Kibi has sometimes been credited with inventing thekatakana phonetic syllabary and writing system.[1]
A late 12th centurynarrative handscroll in the collection of theMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston depicting Kibi's journey to China is one of the earliest of all Japanese narrative pictorial handscrolls (e-maki) known. It is believed to have been commissioned to help support the prestige of a school of divination that claimed connections to Kibi. Its purchase by the museum in 1932 directly led to the strengthening of Japanese laws against the removal of cultural properties of particular importance from the country.[5]
Media related toKibi no Makibi at Wikimedia Commons
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