June 22, 2011

The First Throne

Emperor Jimmu

Emperor Jimmu (神武天皇 Jinmu-tennō^?) was the first Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. He is also known as Kamuyamato Iwarebiko, his personal names are Wakamikenu no Mikoto or Sano no Mikoto.

The Imperial house of Japan traditionally based its claim to the throne on its descent from Jimmu. No firm dates can be assigned to this early emperor's life or reign, nor for the reigns of his early successors. Most modern historians dismiss this entire period as being beyond what history can know. The reign of Emperor Kimmei (509?-571 AD), 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.

Modern scholars have come to question the existence of at least the first nine emperors; and Jimmu's descendant, Emperor Sujin is the first many agree might have actually existed. Most contemporary historians still agree that it is unlikely any of the recorded emperors existed until those about five hundred years after Suijin's reign, about a millennium after Jimmu's recorded reign. The name Jimmu-tennō was assigned to him posthumously by later generations.

Archaeologists and historians regard Jimmu as mythical or legendary.In Japanese mythology, the Age of the Gods is the period before Jimmu's accession.

It is not certain whether he actually existed or if he may have been a composite figure.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.

According to Shinto belief, Jimmu is regarded as a direct descendant of the sun goddess, Amaterasu. Amaterasu had a son called Ame no Oshihomimi no Mikoto and through him a grandson named Ninigi-no-Mikoto. She sent her grandson to the Japanese islands where he eventually married Konohana-Sakuya-hime. Among their three sons was Hikohohodemi no Mikoto, also called Yamasachi-hiko, who married Toyotama-hime. She was the daughter of Ryūjin, the Japanese sea god. They had a single son called Hikonagisa Takeugaya Fukiaezu no Mikoto. The boy was abandoned by his parents at birth and consequently raised by Tamayori-hime, his mother's younger sister. They eventually married and had a total of four sons. The last of these sons, Kamu-Yamato-Iwarebiko, became Emperor Jimmu.

It is said that soon after the beginning of Jimmu's reign, a Master of Ceremonies (saishu) was appointed. This office was commonly held by a member of the Nakatomi clan after the eighth century.