An Oversensitive Emperor
A Story of Nara: Chapter Three
Top: Empress Kogyoku, Emperor Tenji
Bottom: Emperor Kobun, Emperor Tenmu
It all started with Emperor Tenji (天智天皇), an oversensitive person.
His real name was Kazuraki (葛城), and he was known as Naka no Ōe (中大兄皇子, “the second throne successor”) as a prince. In 645, he started a coup d’état by killing Soga no Iruka (蘇我入鹿), a minister who assumed great power, after which he led the famous Taika Reforms (大化の改新) which strengthened Japan’s imperial authority. When he started the coup d’état, the Tenno was Empress Kogyoku (皇極天皇), or his mother. At first, Empress Kogyoku was surprised at her son’s violent act, for it meant a great shift of power and policy, but accepted it anyway. Naka no Ōe’s coup d’état in effect disqualified the right to succession of his elder brother, Furuhito no Ōe (古人大兄皇子), who was not Empress Kogyoku’s son. So even though Empress Kogyoku’s policy was disrupted, and she was soon forced to abdicate, she should feel happy that her son, instead of the son of her husband’s concubine, should succeed the throne.
Now that Empress Kogyoku had abdicated and Naka no Ōe had killed the most powerful man in the court, he should have no difficulty becoming the emperor himself. However, that was not what he did. Fearing others to describe him as dethroning his own mother and disqualifying his own elder brother, Naka no Ōe supported his uncle, Prince Karu (軽皇子), or Empress Kogyoku’s younger brother, to be the new emperor (Emperor Kotoku, 孝徳天皇). Naka no Ōe assumed the title Crown Prince and was the actual ruler of Japan.
This story did not end well. In 653, Naka no Ōe wanted to move the capital, but Emperor Kotoku decided to stay in the old capital. Naka no Ōe moved anyway, together with Empress Kogyoku, the ministers, and even the empress (who, despite being Emperor Kotoku’s wife, was also Naka no Ōe’s sister). Nothing can be clearer a signal than this to show the emperor who was really in charge, so he became extremely upset and died in the next year.
With his uncle’s death, we should expect Naka no Ōe to become the emperor this time, but again he made his mother, the abdicated Empress Kogyoku, Tenno, for the second time (historians decided to call her Empress Saimei / 斉明天皇 for her second reign). In 661, Empress Saimei finally died at the age of 67. But Naka no Ōe still wouldn’t become the emperor, continuing to rule as Crown Prince for 7 years. When finally he took the title emperor in 668, it was only a few years before his death (672). He was called by historians as, of course, Emperor Tenji.
Even after becoming the emperor, Tenji’s fear of being criticized by historians did not stop. He named his younger brother, Prince Ōama (大海人皇子) the Crown Prince even though this was objected by the latter, and that Tenji had his own sons. This seemed to be a claimant that he did not gain the throne for his lineage through the coup d’état two decades ago. Apparently Emperor Tenji regretted, naming his youngest son Prince Ōtomo (大友皇子) Daijo-daijin (太政大臣, “Chancellor of the Realm”) in early 671, and raised him to Crown Prince instead of Prince Ōama later that year.
This did not end well either. When Emperor Tenji died, his brother and son fought a fierce war, after which Prince Ōtomo committed suicide (he was named Emperor Kobun many centuries later), and Prince Ōama became the new emperor (Emperor Tenmu / 天武天皇).
