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Emperor Seinei

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Emperor Seinei
清寧天皇
Emperor of Japan
Reign480 – 484 (traditional)[1]
PredecessorYūryaku
SuccessorPrincess Iitoyo (de facto)[a]
Kenzō (traditional)
BornShiraka (白髪)
444[b]
Died484(484-00-00) (aged 39–40)[5]
Iware no Mikakuri Palace
Burial
Kawachi no Sakado no hara no misasagi (河内坂門原陵) (Osaka)
Posthumous name
Chinese-style shigō:
Emperor Seinei (清寧天皇)

Japanese-style shigō:
Shiraka-no-takehiro-kunioshiwaka-yamato-neko no Sumeramikoto (白髪武広国押稚日本根子天皇)
HouseImperial House of Japan
FatherEmperor Yūryaku[2]
MotherKatsuragi no Karahime [ja][6]

Emperor Seinei (清寧天皇, Seinei-tennō) (444 – 484) was the 22nd (possibly legendary) emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.[7][8][9] He is best known for events that took place before and after his reign with an empty void left in between. These include a rebellion which was quickly put down, and a succession crisis as the Emperor had no children. Because Seinei had such a low profile, there are theories questioning his existence and whether he ever ascended to the throne .

No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign, but he is conventionally considered to have reigned from 480 to 484.[10] Dates confirmed as "traditional" did not appear until the reign of Emperor Kanmu (the 50th emperor). Modern historians have come to the conclusion that the title of "Emperor" and the name "Seinei" were used by later generations to describe him.

Protohistoric narrative

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The Japanese have traditionally accepted this sovereign's historical existence, and a mausoleum (misasagi) for Seinei is currently maintained. The following information available is taken from the pseudo-historical Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, which are collectively known as Kiki (記紀) or Japanese chronicles. These chronicles include legends and myths, as well as potential historical facts that have since been exaggerated and/or distorted over time. It is recorded in the Nihon Shoki[c] that Seinei was born to Katsuragi no Karahime (葛城韓媛) sometime in 444 AD, and was given the name Shiraka (白髪皇子).[3] Prince Shiraka was the third and favorite son of Emperor Yūryaku, and was made heir apparent a year before his father's death.[11] Yūryaku had taken notice at how Shiraka was born with white hair as meaning something significant.[5]

During the transition period, Yūryaku's other consort Kibi no Wakahime (吉備稚媛) convinced her younger son Prince Hoshikawa to assert his claim to the throne.[12] While Hoshikawa was Prince Shiraka's older brother, the eldest sibling in the household (Prince Iwaki (磐城皇子)) advised against it.[10] In the rebellion that followed Hoshikawa and his followers sieged the Imperial treasury. They were then surrounded by court troops who burned the building to the ground, roasting to death all but one surviving minor official (who was given mercy).[12] With the rebellion put down, Prince Shiraka assumed the throne as Emperor Seinei in 480 AD.[11] Although the Emperor appointed a woman named Katsuraki Kara-hime as "Grand Consort", she was never made an Empress.[11]

Seinei grew distressed in the second year of his reign as he had no children to succeed him. His father Emperor Yūryaku had done away with all of his male relations in his obsessive conquest for the throne, his older brother Prince Hoshikawa had been burnt to death, and Prince Iwaki died sometime in 481 AD.[10][11] Seinei lucked out when two grandsons (Woke and Oke) of Emperor Richū were discovered by chance while the governor of Harima was out for an inspection.[10] The two princes had fled to the countryside after their father, Ichinobe no Oshiwa was killed by Emperor Yūryaku.[5][12] These events regarding succession were also later recorded in the Kojiki.[13][14]

When word got to the Emperor about the two Princes, he was delighted and formerly adopted them as his heirs.[11] Sometime in 482 AD, Prince Oke was appointed as Crown Prince.[12] Seinei's death sometime in 484 AD (possibly January) came with a problem as his two adopted sons were very courteous towards each other.[14] Although Prince Oke had been appointed heir, he ceded the throne to his brother Prince Woke, who in turn ceded it back.[12][15] The two debated the issue for about a year while Princess Iitoyo, a daughter of Emperor Richū was allegedly made regent.[10][11][12] Her death in late 484 AD resolved the debate and Prince Woke ascended to the throne as Emperor Kenzō in the following year.[10]

Historical assessment

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Seinei was a 5th-century monarch.[16]

It is said that the color of his hair was white since birth.[17]

There is no evidence to suggest that the title tennō (meaning "emperor") was used during the time to which Seinei'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 Seinei-tennō was more than likely assigned to him posthumously by later generations.[18] His name might have been regularized centuries after the lifetime ascribed to Seinei, possibly during the time in which legends about the origins of the imperial dynasty were compiled as the chronicles known today as the Kojiki.[19]

Outside of the Kiki, the reign of Emperor Kinmei[d] (c. 509 – 571 AD) is the first for which contemporary historiography has been able to assign verifiable dates.[21] The conventionally accepted names and dates of the early Emperors were not confirmed as "traditional" though, until the reign of Emperor Kanmu[e] between 737 and 806 AD.[19]

While the actual site of Seinei's grave is not known, this regent is traditionally venerated at a kofun-type Imperial tomb in Osaka.[8] The Imperial Household Agency designates this location as Seinei's mausoleum and is formally named Kawachi no Sakado no hara no misasagi. (河内坂門原陵).

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ It's commonly accepted that Princess Iitoyo acted as some type of regent in the interim. (See: "Protohistoric narrative" for sourcing) However, Iitoyo is not included on the official list of regents as her legitimacy and validity (concerning her reign) is mostly unknown.
  2. ^ There is a consensus among sources for this given year.[2][3][4]
  3. ^ The Kojiki only records information related to searching for a successor to Emperor Seinei.
  4. ^ The 29th Emperor[7][20]
  5. ^ Kanmu was the 50th sovereign of the imperial dynasty

References

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Japanese Imperial kamon — a stylized chrysanthemum blossom
  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. ^ a b "Genealogy". Reichsarchiv (in Japanese). 30 April 2010. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
  3. ^ a b Joseph Henry Longford (1923). "List of Emperors: II. The Dawn of History and The great Reformers". Japan. Houghton Mifflin. p. 304.
  4. ^ Kenneth Henshall (2013). Historical Dictionary of Japan to 1945. Scarecrow Press. p. 488. ISBN 9780810878723.
  5. ^ a b c Brown, Delmer M. (1979). "(23) Emperor Seinei". A Translation and Study of the Gukanshō, an Interpretative History of Japan Written in 1219. Gukanshō. p. 258. 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. ^ a b Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon (in French). Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. pp. 28–29.
  8. ^ a b "雄略天皇 (22)". Imperial Household Agency (Kunaichō) (in Japanese). Retrieved December 27, 2024.
  9. ^ Varley, H. Paul (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 115–116.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  10. ^ a b c d e f Ponsonby-Fane, Richard (1915). "Seinei (480–484)". The Imperial Family of Japan. Ponsonby Memorial Society. p. 14.
  11. ^ a b c d e f William George Aston (1896). "Book XV: Seinei Tenno". Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697. (Volume 1). London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner. pp. 338 & 373–377.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Francis Brinkley (1915). "Chapter XIII: The Protohistoric Sovereigns (continued)". A History of the Japanese People from the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era. Encyclopædia Britannica. pp. 117–119.
  13. ^ Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882). "Sect. CLXIII - Emperor Seinei (Part I - Search for a successor to him)". A translation of the "Kojiki" or Records of ancient matters. R. Meiklejohn and Co.
  14. ^ a b Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882). "Emperor Seinei (Part II - Princes Ohoke and Woke are Discovered". A translation of the "Kojiki" or Records of ancient matters. R. Meiklejohn and Co.
  15. ^ Basil Hall Chamberlain (1882). "Emperor Seinei (Part III - The Grandee Shibi". A translation of the "Kojiki" or Records of ancient matters. R. Meiklejohn and Co.
  16. ^ Kelly, Charles F. "Kofun Culture," Japanese Archaeology. 27 April 2009.
  17. ^ Titsingh, p. 29; n.b., there is speculation that this unusual hair color suggests albinism.
  18. ^ 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.
  19. ^ a b Aston, William George. (2008) [1896]. Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697, Volume 2. The Japan Society London. p. 109 & 217–223. ISBN 9780524053478.
  20. ^ 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.
  21. ^ Hoye, Timothy. (1999). Japanese Politics: Fixed and Floating Worlds. Prentice Hall. p. 78. ISBN 9780132712897. 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.

Further reading

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Regnal titles
Preceded by Emperor of Japan:
Seinei
11 February 480 – 27 February 484
(traditional dates) 		Succeeded by
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