Emperor Yūryaku

(c. 418 - Seventh Day of the Eight Month of 479 (Kibi)All dates are given in the traditional lunisolar calendar used in Japan until 1873.] ) was the 21st emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. [Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). "Annales des empereurs du japon," pp. 27-28; Varley, Paul. (1980). "Jinnō Shōtōki," pp. 113-115.] No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign. Yūryaku is considered to have ruled the country during the mid-5th century, but there is a paucity of information about him. Scholars can only lament that, at this time, there is insufficient material available for further verification and study.

According to the Kojiki he is said to have ruled from the Thirteenth Day of the Eleventh Month of 456 (Heishin) until his death on the Seventh Day of the Eight Month of 479 (Kibi).

According to "Kojiki" and "Nihonshoki", Yūryaku was named Prince Ohatsuse Wakatake (大泊瀬 幼武) at birth. Swords unearthed from some kofuns indicate his name was Waka Takeru (Ōkimi). Yuryaku is just a name posthumously assigned to him by a much later era. He was the fifth and youngest son of Emperor Ingyō. After his elder brother Emperor Ankō was murdered, he won the struggle against his other brothers and became the new emperor. His title at his own lifetime was certainly not "tennō", but presumably "Ōkimi" and/or "Sumeramikoto" (治天下大王 - amenoshita shiroshimesu ōkimi, or sumera no mikoto, Great King who rules all under heaven) and/or king of Yamato (ヤマト大王/大君 - yamato ōkimi, Great King of Yamato). He had three wives (including his consort Kusahahatahi). His successor, Prince Shiraka (Emperor Seinei), was his son by his wife Kazuraki no Karahime.

Yūryaku is believed to be referred to as "Bu" (武, In Japanese, it is read as Take or Takeru) in contemporary Chinese records. These records state that Bu began his rule before 477, was recognized as the ruler of Japan by the Liu Song, Southern Qi, and Liang dynasties, and continued his rule through 502. Bu sent messengers to the Song dynasty in 477 and 478. [Aston, William. (1998). "Nihongi," Vol. 1, pp. 333-372.]

Yūryaku is remembered as a patron of sericulture.Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai (1969). "The Manyōshū," p. 317.]

Poetry

This Japanese sovereign's predilection for poetry is amongst the more well-documented aspects of his character and reign. Poems attributed to this 5th century monarch are included in the "Manyōshū", and a number of his verses are preserved in the "Kojiki" and the "Nihonshoki." [see above] ]

References

* Aston, William George. (1896. "Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697". London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner. [reprinted by Tuttle Publishing, Tokyo, 2007. 10-ISBN 0-8048-0984-4; 13-ISBN 978-0-8048-0984-9 (paper)]
* 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
* Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai (1969). "The Manyōshū: The Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai Translation of One Thousand Poems." New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-08620-2
* 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

ee also

* Emperor of Japan
* List of Emperors of Japan
* Imperial cult