- Emperor Sushun
was the 32nd emperor of
Japan according to the traditional order of succession. His reign spanned the years from 587 through 592. [Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). "Annales des empereurs du Japon," pp. 38-39; Brown, Delmer "et al." (1979). "Gukanshō," p. 263; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). "Jinnō Shōtōki," p. 126.]Genealogy
Before his ascension to the
Chrysanthemum Throne , his personal name (his "imina ") [Brown, pp. 264. [Up until the time of Emperor Jomei, the personal names of the emperors (their "imina") were very long and people did not generally use them. The number of characters in each name diminished after Jomei's reign.] ] was Hatsusebe"-shinnō", also known as Hatsusebe no Waka-sazaki. [Aston, William. (2005). "Nihongi," p. 112.]His name at birth was Hatsusebe no Miko (長谷部皇子). He was the twelfth son of
Emperor Kimmei . His mother was nihongo|Oane-no-kimi|小姉君, a daughter ofSoga no Iname Varley, p. 126.] , who was the chief, or Ō-omi, of theSoga clan.Sushun had one Empress and two Imperial children. [Brown, p. 263.]
Events of Sushun's life
He succeeded his half brother,
Emperor Yōmei in 587, and lived in the Kurahashi Palace (Kurahashi no Miya) in Yamato. [Brown, p. 263; Varley, p. 126.]* 587: In the 2nd year of Yōmei"-tennō"'s reign (用明天皇2年), the emperor died, and despite a dispute over who should follow him as sovereign, the succession (‘‘senso’’) was received by another son of
Emperor Kimmei , one of Yōmei's younger brothers. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Sushun is said to have acceded to the throne (‘‘sokui’’). [Titsingh, p. 38; Brown, 263; Varley, p. 44. [A distinct act of "senso" is unrecognized prior to Emperor Tenji; and all sovereigns except Jitō, Yōzei, Go-Toba, and Fushimi have "senso" and "sokui" in the same year until the reign of Go-Murakami.] ]He came to the throne with the support of the Soga clan and
Empress Suiko , his half sister and the widow ofEmperor Bidatsu . Initially, theMononobe clan , a rival clan of the Sogas, allied withPrince Anahobe , another son of Kimmei, and attempted to have him installed as emperor.Soga no Umako , who succeeded his father as Ōomi of the Soga clan, eventually killedMononobe no Moriya , the head of the Mononobe clan, which led to its decline. Umako then installed Emperor Sushun on the throne.As time went on, Sushun eventually became resentful of Umako's power, and wanted him deposed. It is said that one day, he saw a wild boar and proclaimed, "I want to kill Soga Umako like this wild boar." This angered Soga no Umako and, perhaps out of fear of being struck first, Umako had Sushun assassinated by nihongo|Yamato no Aya no Ataikoma|東漢直駒 in 592.
Emperor Sushun's reign lasted for five years before his death at the age of 72. [see above] ]
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
* 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
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