Isshi Incident

The Isshi Incident (Japanese: 乙巳の変, "Isshi no hen") or the incident of 645, takes its name from the zodiological name of the year 645 during which a transformative event in the history of the Japanese Imperial history occurred.

The incident was a successful plot by Nakatomi no Kamatari, Prince Naka no Ōe, Soga no Yamada no Ishikawa no Maro and several others to eliminate the main branch of the Soga clan, beginning with the assassination of Soga no Iruka.

The assassination of Iruka took place on July 10, 645 (Traditional Japanese date: Twelfth Day of the Sixth Month of 645), during a court ceremony at which memorials from the Three Kingdoms of Korea were being read to Empress Kōgyoku by Ishikawa no Maro. Prince Naka no Ōe had made elaborate preparations, including closing the palace gates, bribing several palace guards, hiding a spear in the hall where the ceremony was to take place and ordering four armed men to attack Iruka. However, when it became clear that the four men were too frightened to carry out the orders, Naka no Ōe rushed Iruka himself and cut open his head and shoulder. Iruka was not killed immediately, but protested his innocence and pleaded for an investigation. Prince Naka no Ōe pleaded his case before Empress Kōgyoku, and when she retired to consider the matter, the four guards finally rushed Iruka again and completed the killing. Shortly afterwards, Iruka's father Soga no Emishi committed suicide and his residence was burned. The conflagration destroyed the manuscript copy of the "Tennōki" and other Imperial treasures which had been taken for safe-keeping by the Soga, but Fune no Fubitoesaka quickly grabbed the burning "Kokki" from the flames. Later, he is said to have presented it to Naka no Ōe; but no known extant copies of the work remain. [Sakamoto, Tarō "et al." (1965). "Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei: Nihon Shoki" Vol. II, p. 264.]

The violence actually unfolded in Kōgyoku's presence. The Empress responded to this shock by determining to renounce the throne. Japanese society during the Asuka period was sensitive to issues of "pollution," both spiritual and personal. Deaths -- especially a violent killing in close physical proximity to the Empress was considered to have been amongst the worst possible acts of pollution -- an event so stunning that it would have warranted days of seclusion in an uncertain process attempting to redress what would have been construed as a kind of profanity.

Although Kōgyoku wanted to abdicate immediately in favor of her eldest son, Naka no Ōe insisted that throne should pass instead to his younger brother, Karu-shinnō, who also declined to accept the succession ("senso"). [Aston, William. (2005). "Nihongi", p. 195-196; Brown, Delmer "et al". (1979). "Gukanshō", p. 266; Varley, H. Paul. "Jinnō Shōtōki". p. 44.] A distinct act of "senso" is unrecognized prior to Naka no Ōe's refusal of the throne. [Varley, p. 44.]

Naka no Ōe unexpectedly resolved the impasse by declaring his intention to renounce any claim to the throne by taking the tonsure of a Buddhist monk. That same day -- traditionally said to be Tuesday, July 12, 645, [ [http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/geschichte-japans/nengo_calc.htm Tsuchihashi conversion] : 皇極四年六月十四日] Naka no Ōe shaved off his hair at Hōkō-ji, in the open air between the Hall of Buddha and the pagoda. [Aston, pp. 195-196.] At this point, Kōgyoku did abdicate in favor of her second son who shortly thereafter acceded to the throne as Emperor Kōtoku (645-654). [Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). "Annales des empereurs du japon", pp. 47-48.] Eventually, Naka no Ōe would come to abandon his religious vows. He would take the throne as Emperor Tenji (661-672); [Titsingh, p. 54.] and the complex at Kōryū-ji would benefited from his patronage and from its unique connection to the chronology of the emperors.

References

* Aston, William G. (2005). "Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697." Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company. ISBN 0-804-83674-4
* 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
* Sakamoto, Tarō, Ienaga Saburō, Inoue Mitsusada and Ōno Susumu. (1965). "Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei: Nihon Shoki". Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. 10-ISBN 4-000-60068-0
* Shimura, Izuru and Izumu Shinmura. (1998). "Kōjien", 5th edition. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. 10-ISBN 4-000-80111-2; 13-ISBN 978-4-000-80111-9 (cloth)
* Titsingh, Isaac, ed. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652] , "Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon, tr. par M. Isaac Titsingh avec l'aide de plusieurs interprètes attachés au comptoir hollandais de Nangasaki; ouvrage re., complété et cor. sur l'original japonais-chinois, accompagné de notes et précédé d'un Aperçu d'histoire mythologique du Japon, par M. J. Klaproth." Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. [http://books.google.com/books?id=18oNAAAAIAAJ&dq=nipon+o+dai+itsi+ran ...Click link for digitized, full-text copy of this book (in French)]
* Varley, H. Paul , ed. (1980). [ Kitabatake Chikafusa, 1359] , "Jinnō Shōtōki ("A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinnō Shōtōki of Kitabatake Chikafusa" translated by H. Paul Varley)." New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-04940-4