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// Workers AI · dad joke modeDid Emperor Kenzō rule with an iron fist? No, he just had a grip on power.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Emperor Kenzo)
Emperor Kenzō
顕宗天皇
Emperor of Japan
Reign485–487 (traditional)[1]
PredecessorPrincess Iitoyo (de facto)
Seinei (traditional)
SuccessorNinken
Born449–450[a]
Died487 (aged 38)[b]
Asuka, Yamato
Burial
Kataoka no Iwatsuki no oka no minami no misasagi (傍丘磐坏丘南陵) (Nara)
SpouseNaniwa-no-Ono
Posthumous name
Chinese-style shigō:
Emperor Kenzō (顕宗天皇)

Japanese-style shigō:
Woke no Sumeramikoto (弘計天皇)
HouseImperial House of Japan
FatherIchinobe no Oshiwa[2]
MotherHae-hime[6]

Emperor Kenzō (顕宗天皇, Kenzō-tennō) (449/50–487) was the 23rd emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.[7][8][9] No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign, but he is conventionally considered to have reigned from 485 to 487.[10]

Protohistoric narrative

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Prince Woke (袁祁王), later to become Emperor Kenzō, is said to have been the grandson of Emperor Richū, and the son of Ichinobe-no Oshiwa.[11] He would have been quite young when Emperor Yūryaku shot the arrow which killed his father during a hunting expedition; and this caused both Prince Woke and his older brother, Prince Oke, to flee for their lives. According to Harima no Kuni Fudoki, they found refuge at Akashi in Harima Province where they hid by living in obscurity. Histories from that period explained that the two brothers sought to blend into this rural community by posing as common herdsmen.[12]

It is said that the Oke came by chance to Akashi; and at that time, Prince Oke revealed his true identity. This intermediary re-introduced the lost cousins to Emperor Seinei, who had by this time ascended to the throne after the death of his father, the former Emperor Yūryaku. Seinei invited both brothers to return the court; and he adopted both of them as sons and heirs.[12]

At Seinei's death, he had no other heirs than Prince Oke and Prince Woke, whose father had been killed by Yūraku. At this point, Woke wanted his elder brother to become Emperor; but Oke refused. The two could not reach an agreement. The great men of the court insisted that one or the other of the brothers must accept the throne; but in the end, Woke proved to be more adamant. Prince Woke agreed to accept the throne; and Kenzō was ultimately proclaimed as the new Emperor—which created a sense of relief for all the people who had endured this period of uncertainty.[13]

This sample page from Nihon Ōdai Ichiran (1834) represents the first published account of Emperor Kenzō's reign to become available in the West.

Kenzō is considered to have ruled the country during the late-5th century, but there is a paucity of information about him. There is insufficient material available for further verification and study.

Historical assessment

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There is no evidence to suggest that the title tennō (meaning "emperor") was used during the time to which Kenzō's reign has been assigned. Instead, his title could have possibly been Sumeramikoto or Amenoshita Shiroshimesu Ōkimi (治天下大王), meaning "the great king who rules all under heaven", or ヤマト大王/大君 "Great King of Yamato". The name Kenzō-tennō was more than likely assigned to him posthumously by later generations.[14] His name might have been regularized centuries after the lifetime ascribed to Kenzō, possibly during the time in which legends about the origins of the imperial dynasty were compiled as the chronicles known today as the Kojiki.[15]

Outside of the Kiki, the reign of Emperor Kinmei[c] (c. 509 – 571 AD) is the first for which contemporary historiography has been able to assign verifiable dates.[17] The conventionally accepted names and dates of the early Emperors were not confirmed as "traditional" until the reign of Emperor Kanmu[d] between 737 and 806 AD.[15]

While the actual site of Kenzō's grave is not known, this regent is traditionally venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine (misasagi) in Osaka. As designated by the Imperial Household Agency as Kenzō's mausoleum, its formal name is Kataoka no Iwatsuki no oka no kita no misasagi.[8] Kenzō is also enshrined at the Imperial Palace along with other emperors and members of the Imperial Family at the Three Palace Sanctuaries.



It is recorded that his capital was at Chikatsu Asuka no Yatsuri no Miya (近飛鳥八釣宮) in Yamato Province.[18] The location of the palace is thought to have been in present-day Osaka Prefecture or Nara Prefecture.[19]

Murray reports that the only event of major consequence during Kenzō's reign had to do with the filial respect he showed for his murdered father. Kenzō arranged to have his father's remains retrieved and re-interred in a mausoleum appropriate for the son of an Emperor and the father of another.[20]

Kenzō died at age 37, reigning only three years.[18] He too had no other heirs; so his brother would follow him on the throne. His Empress was Princess Naniwa-no-Ono (難波小野王; d.489), Prince Oka-no-Wakugo's daughter (also Prince Iwaki's granddaughter and Emperor Yuryaku's great-granddaughter).

Consorts and children

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Empress (Kōgō): Princess Naniwa-no-Ono (難波小野王; d.489), Prince Oka-no-Wakugo's daughter (also Prince Iwaki's granddaughter and Emperor Yuryaku's great-granddaughter)

See also

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Notes

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  1. ↑ Joseph Henry Longford mentions 449 AD as a birth year, while two other sources specifically state "450".[2][3][4] Emperor Kenzō dying at the age of 38 would imply the former of these two possible years.
  2. ↑ At least one source by Delmer M. Brown mentions Emperor Kenzō dying at the age of 48.[5]
  3. ↑ The 29th Emperor[7][16]
  4. ↑ Kanmu was the 50th sovereign of the imperial dynasty
Japanese Imperial kamon — a stylized chrysanthemum blossom

References

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  1. ↑ "Genealogy of the Emperors of Japan" (PDF). Kunaicho.go.jp. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 22, 2011. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
  2. 1 2 "Genealogy". Reichsarchiv (in Japanese). 30 April 2010. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
  3. ↑ Kenneth Henshall (2013). Historical Dictionary of Japan to 1945. Scarecrow Press. p. 488. ISBN 9780810878723.
  4. ↑ Joseph Henry Longford (1923). "List of Emperors: II. The Dawn of History and The great Reformers". Japan. Houghton Mifflin. p. 304.
  5. ↑ Brown, Delmer M. (1979). "(24) Emperor Kenzō". A Translation and Study of the Gukanshō, an Interpretative History of Japan Written in 1219. Gukanshō. p. 259. ISBN 978-0-520-03460-0.
  6. ↑ Ponsonby-Fane, Richard (1915). "Table of Emperors Mothers". The Imperial Family of Japan. Ponsonby Memorial Society. p. xiii.
  7. 1 2 Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon (in French). Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. p. 28–29.
  8. 1 2 "顯宗天皇". Imperial Household Agency (Kunaichō) (in Japanese). Retrieved June 17, 2026.
  9. ↑ Varley, H. Paul (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 116.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  10. ↑ Ponsonby-Fane, Richard (1915). "Kenso (485–487)". The Imperial Family of Japan. Ponsonby Memorial Society. p. 14–15.
  11. ↑ Murray, David. (1906). Japan, p. 102., p. 102, at Google Books
  12. 1 2 Titsingh, p. 29.
  13. ↑ Titsingh, pp. 29-30.
  14. ↑ Brinkley, Frank (1915). A History of the Japanese People from the Earliest Times to the end of the Meiji Era. Encyclopaedia Britannica Company. p. 21. Posthumous names for the earthly Mikados were invented in the reign of Emperor Kanmu (782–805), i.e., after the date of the compilation of the Records and the Chronicles.
  15. 1 2 Aston, William George. (2008) [1896]. Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697. Vol. 2. The Japan Society London. pp. 109, 217–23. ISBN 978-0-52405347-8.
  16. ↑ Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida (1979). A Translation and Study of the Gukanshō, an Interpretative History of Japan Written in 1219. University of California Press. pp. 248, 261–262. ISBN 9780520034600.
  17. ↑ Hoye, Timothy. (1999). Japanese Politics: Fixed and Floating Worlds. Prentice Hall. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-13271289-7. According to legend, the first Japanese Emperor was Jimmu. Along with the next 13 Emperors, Jimmu is not considered an actual, historical figure. Historically verifiable Emperors of Japan date from the early sixth century with Kimmei.
  18. 1 2 Titsingh, p. 30.
  19. ↑ Aston, William. (1998). Nihongi, Vol. 1, pp. 377–393.
  20. ↑ Murray, p. 103., p. 103, at Google Books

Further reading

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Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Emperor_Kenzō&oldid=1359849882"