Discover

(593- November 17, 641^[1]) was the '34th' emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.^[2]

Contents

Genealogy

Events of Emperor Jomei's life

Poetry

References

Genealogy

Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (his ''iminia'') was Tamura''-shinnō''.^[3]
He was a grandson of Emperor Bidatsu both paternally and maternally. His father was Prince Oshisakahikohito-no-Ōe, his mother was Princess Nukate-hime, who was a younger sister of his father.^[4]

Events of Emperor Jomei's life

He succeeded his great aunt, Empress Suiko. Suiko did not make it clear who was to succeed her after her death. Before her death, she called Tamura and Prince Shōtoku's son, Prince Yamashiro-no-Ōe, and gave some brief advice to each of them. After her death the court was divided into two factions, each supporting one of the princes for the throne. Soga no Emishi, the head of Soga clan, supported Tamura. He claimed that Empress Suiko's last words suggested her desire that Tamura succeed her to the throne. Prince Yamashiro-no-Ōe was later attacked by the Soga clan and committed suicide along with his entire family.

★ '629': In the 36th year of Empress Suiko's reign (推古天皇36年), she died, and dispite an ensuring dispute over who should follow her as sovereign, contemporary scholars then construed that the succession (‘‘senso’’) was received by a grandson of Emperor Bidatsu and a great-grandson of Emperor Kimmei.^[5] Shortly thereafter, Emperor Jimmu is said to have acceded to the throne (‘‘sokui’’).^[6]
During Emperor Jomei's reign, Soga no Emishi seized several political initiatives. After his death, the throne was passed to his wife and cousin, Princess Takara and then to her younger brother, Emperor Kotoku, before eventually being inherited by two of his sons, Emperor Tenji and Emperor Temmu.
Emperor Jomei's reign lasted 13 years. In the 13th year of Emperor Jomei's reign (舒明天皇13年), he died at the age of 49.^[7]

Poetry

The ''Man'yōshū'' includes poems attributed to emperors and empresses, including "Climbing Kagu-yama and looking upon the land," which is said to have been composed by Emperor Jomei:
:::Countless are the mountains in Yamato,
::: But perfect is the heavenly hill of Kagu;
:::When I climb it and survey my realm,
:::Over the wide plain the smoke-wreaths rise and rise,
:::Over the wide lake the gulls are on the wing;
:::A beautiful land it is, the land of Yamato!
:::::: -- Emperor Jomei^[8]

References

1. November 17, 641 corresponds to the Ninth Day of the Tenth Month of 641 (shinchū) of the traditional lunisolar calendar used in Japan until 1873.
2. Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''Annales des emepeurs du japon,'' p. 42; Brown, Delmer ''et al.'' (1979). ''Gukanshō,'' pp.264-265.
3. Titsingh, p. 148; Brown, p. 264. [Up until the time of Emperor Jomei, the personal names of the emperors (their ''iminia'') were very long and people did not generally use them. The number of characters in each name diminished after Jomei's reign.]
4. Varley, H. Paul. ''Jinnō Shōtōki.'' p. 129.
5. Varley, H. Paul. (1980). ''Jinnō Shōtōki,'' p. 130.
6. Titsingh, p. 42; 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 Go-Murakami.]
7. Varley, p. 130.
8. Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai. (1969). ''The Manyōshū,'' p. 3.


★ Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979). [ Jien (1221)], ''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

★ Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai (1969). ''The Manyoshu: The Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai Translation of One Thousand Poems.'' New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-08620-2

★ 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.--''Two copies of this rare book have now been made available online: (1) from the library of the University of Michigan, digitized January 30, 2007; and (2) from the library of Stanford University, digitized June 23, 2006.'' Click here to read the original text 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