| Emperor Kōgen | |
|---|---|
| 8th Emperor of Japan | |
| Reign | legendary |
| Born | legendary |
| Died | legendary |
| Buried | Tsurugi no ike no shima no e no Misasagi (Nara) |
| Predecessor | Emperor Kōrei |
| Successor | Emperor Kaika |
Emperor Kōgen (孝元天皇, Kōgen-tennō), also known as Ooyamatonekohikokunikuru no Mikoto, was the 8th emperor of Japan to appear on the traditional list of emperors.[1] No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign.[2]
Contents |
Legendary narrative
Kōgen is regarded by historians as a "legendary emperor" because of the paucity of information about him, which does not necessarily imply that no such person ever existed. There is insufficient material available for further verification and study. The reign of Emperor Kimmei (509?-571), the 29th emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, is the first for which contemporary historiography is able to assign verifiable dates;[3] however, the conventionally accepted names and dates of the early emperors were not to be confirmed as "traditional" until the reign of Emperor Kammu (737–806), the 50th sovereign of the Yamato dynasty.[4]
In Kojiki and Nihonshoki only his name and genealogy were recorded. The Japanese have traditionally accepted this sovereign's historical existence, and an Imperial misasagi or tomb for Kōgen is currently maintained; however, no extant contemporary records have been discovered which confirm a view that this historical figure actually reigned. He is considered to have been the seventh of eight emperors without specific legends associated with them, also known as the "eight undocumented monarchs" (欠史八代, Kesshi-hachidai). [5]
Later generations may have included this name to the list of emperors of Japan, thus making him posthumously an emperor and assigning him as one of the early sovereigns and ancestors of the dynasty that has reigned unbroken since time immemorial. If he lived, at his time the title tenno was not yet used, and the polity he possibly ruled did certainly not contain all or even the most of Japan. In the chronicle which encompasses his alleged successors in beginnings of historical time, it becomes reasonable to conclude that Kōgen, if he existed, might have been a chieftain or a regional king in early Yamato tribal society.
Jien records that Kōgen was the eldest son of Emperor Kōrei, and that he ruled from the palace of Sakaihara-no-miya at Karu in what will come to be known as Yamato province.[6] The Abe clan are said to have descended from a son of Emperor Kōgen.[7]
Kōgen is a posthumous name. It is undisputed that this identification is Chinese in form and Buddhist in implication, which suggests that the name must have been regularized centuries after the lifetime ascribed to Kōgen, possibly during the time in which legends about the origins of the Yamato dynasty were compiled as the chronicles known today as the Kojiki.[5]
See also
Notes
- ^ Brown, Delmer et al. (1979). Gukanshō, p. 252; Varley, Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki, pp. 92-93; Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 6.
- ^ Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan, p. 30.
- ^ Titsingh, pp. 34-36; Brown, pp. 261-262; Varley, pp. 123-124.
- ^ Aston, William. (1896). Nihongi, pp. 109.
- ^ a b Aston, pp. 147-148.
- ^ Brown, p. 252.
- ^ Asakawa, Kan'ichi. (1903). The Early Institutional Life of Japan, p.140.
References
- Asakawa, Kan'ichi. (1903). The Early Institutional Life of Japan. Tokyo: Shueisha [reprinted by Paragon Book Reprint Corp.,. New York, 1963]
- Aston, William George. (1896). Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner. [reprinted by Tuttle Publishing, Tokyo, 2007. 10-ISBN 0-8048-0984-4; 13-ISBN 978-0-8048-0984-9]
- Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979). [ Jien, c. 1220], 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
- Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 194887
- Titsingh, Isaac, ed. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652], Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland.
- Varley, H. Paul , ed. (1980). [ Kitabatake Chikafusa, 1359], Jinnō Shōtōki (A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-04940-4
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Emperor Kōrei |
Legendary Emperor of Japan 214 BC-158 BC (traditional dates) |
Succeeded by Emperor Kaika |
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