| Emperor Suizei | |
|---|---|
| 2nd Emperor of Japan | |
| Reign | legendary |
| Born | legendary |
| Died | legendary |
| Buried | Tsukida no oka no e no Misasagi (Nara) |
| Predecessor | Emperor Jimmu |
| Successor | Emperor Annei |
Emperor Suizei (綏靖天皇 Suizei-tennō); also known as Kamu-nuna-kaha-mimi no mikoto; was the 2nd 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
Suizei is almost certainly a legendary emperor. 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 are 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 the Kojiki little more than his name and genealogy are recorded. The Nihonshoki is more expansive, though the section is mythical, and almost wholly cut from the cloth of Chinese legends. An Imperial misasagi or tomb for Suizei is currently maintained, despite the lack of any reliable early records attesting to his historical existence. He is ranked as the first of eight emperors without specific legends associated with them, also known as the "eight undocumented monarchs" (欠史八代, Kesshi-hachidai).[5]
The Kojiki does, however, record his ascent to the throne. According to its account Suizei was the younger son of Jimmu's chief wife, Isukeyorihime. His older brother, Kamuyawimimi was originally crown-prince. On Jimmu's death Tagishimimi, a son of Jimmu by a lesser wife, Ahiratsuhime, attempted to seize the throne. Suizei encouraged Kamuyawimimi to slay Tagishimimi, but since he was overcome by fright at the prospect, Suizei accomplished the deed. On this, Kamuyawimimi ceded his rights and declared that Suizei, being braver, should be emperor.[6]. The story may simply reflect an attempt to explain the ancient practice of ultimogeniture, whereby the last-born exercised superior rights of inheritance, a practice later replaced by primogeniture. If there is a grain of historical truth behind these legends, it may be that Suizei's bare narrative points to one of the chieftains of four clans of the Unebi region who disputed among themselves in the struggle to achieve hegemeony in the Yamato area.
Jien records that Suizei was one of the sons of Emperor Jimmu, and that he ruled from the palace of Takaoka-no-miya at Katsuragi in what will come to be known as Yamato province.[7]
This emperor's posthumous name literally means "joyfully healthy peace". 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 Suizei, 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
- ^ Titsingh, Isaac (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, pp. 3-4; Brown, Delmer et al. (1979). Gukanshō, pp. 250-251; Varley, Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki, pp. 88-89.
- ^ Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan, p. 29.
- ^ Titsingh, pp. 34-36; Brown, pp. 261-262; Varley, pp. 123-124.
- ^ Aston, William. (1896). Nihongi, pp. 109.
- ^ a b Aston, pp. 138]-141.
- ^ Chamberlain, Basil. (1919). The Kojiki, p. 184.
- ^ Brown, p. 250.
References
- 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
- Chamberlain, Basil Hall. (1919). The Kojiki. Read before the Asiatic Society of Japan April 12th, May 10th, and June 21st, 1882; reprinted, May, 1919.
- 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 Jimmu |
Legendary Emperor of Japan 581 BC-549 BC (traditional dates) |
Succeeded by Emperor Annei |
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