Emperor Ninmyō (仁明天皇, Ninmyō-tennō, 27 September 808 – 6 May 850)[1] was the 54th emperor of Japan,[2] according to the traditional order of succession.[3] Ninmyō's reign lasted from 833 to 850, during the Heian period.[4]
Traditional narrative
Ninmyō was the second son of Emperor Saga and the Empress Tachibana no Kachiko. His personal name (imina) was Masara (正良).[5] After his death, he was given the title Ninmyō (仁明).
Ninmyō had nine Empresses, Imperial consorts, and concubines (kōi); and the emperor had 24 Imperial sons and daughters.[6]
Emperor Ninmyō is traditionally venerated at his tomb; the Imperial Household Agency designates Fukakusa no Misasagi (深草陵, Fukakusa Imperial Mausoleum), in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, as the location of Ninmyō's mausoleum.[2]
Events of Ninmyō's life
Ninmyō ascended to the throne following the abdication of his uncle, Emperor Junna.
6 January 823[7] (Kōnin 10, 4th month, 19th day[8]): Received the title of Crown Prince at the age of 14.
22 March 833 (Tenchō 10, 28th day of the 2nd month[9]): In the 10th year of Emperor Junna's reign, the emperor abdicated; and the succession (senso) was received by his adopted son. Masara-shinnō was the natural son of Emperor Saga, and therefore would have been Junna's nephew.[6] Shortly thereafter, Emperor Ninmyo is said to have acceded to the throne (sokui).[10]
Shortly after Ninmyo was enthroned, he designated an heir. He named Prince Tsunesada, a son of former Emperor Junna, as the crown prince.[11]
835 (Jōwa 2[12]): Kūkai (known posthumously as Kōbō-Daishi) died. This monk, scholar, poet, and artist had been the founder of the Shingon or "True Word" school of Buddhism.[11]
842: Following a coup d'état called the Jōwa Incident, Tsunesada the crown prince was replaced with Ninmyō's first son, Prince Michiyasu (later Emperor Montoku) whose mother was the Empress Fujiwara no Junshi, a daughter of sadaijinFujiwara no Fuyutsugu. It is supposed that this was the result of political intrigue planned by Ninmyō and Fujiwara no Yoshifusa.[14] The first of what would become a powerful line of Fujiwara regents,[15] Yoshifusa had numerous family ties to the imperial court; he was Ninmyō's brother in law (by virtue of his sister who became Ninmyō's consort), the second son of sadaijin Fuyutsugu, and uncle to the new crown prince.[14]
In his lifetime, Ninmyō could not have anticipated that his third son, Prince Tokiyasu, would eventually ascend the throne in 884 as Emperor Kōkō.[16]
6 May 850 (Kashō 3, 21st day of the 3rd month[17]): Emperor Ninmyō died at the age of 41.[18][19] He was sometimes posthumously referred to as "the Emperor of Fukakusa", because that was the name given to his tomb.[20]
Eras of Ninmyō's reign
The years of Ninmyō's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name (nengō).[21]
Kugyō (公卿) is a collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in pre-Meiji eras.[22]
In general, this elite group included only three to four men at a time. These were hereditary courtiers whose experience and background would have brought them to the pinnacle of a life's career. During Ninmyō's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:
^Spelling note: A modified Hepburn romanization system for Japanese words is used throughout Western publications in a range of languages including English. Unlike the standard system, the "n" is maintained even when followed by "homorganic consonants" (e.g., shinbun, not shimbun).
^ a bEmperor Ninmyō, Fukakusa Imperial Mausoleum, Imperial Household Agency
^Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan, pp. 64–65.
^Brown and Ishida, pp.283–284; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki, p. 164-165; Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon, pp. 106–112., p. 106, at Google Books
^Brown and Ishida, p. 282; Varley, p. 164.
^ a b c d e fBrown and Ishida, p. 283.
^Julian dates derived from NengoCalc
^弘仁十四年四月十九日
^天長十年二月二十八日
^Titsingh, p. 106; Brown and Ishida, pp. 283; 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 Emperor Go-Murakami.
^ a b cBrown and Ishida, pp. 284.
^承和二年
^Sansom, George Bailey. (1958). A History of Japan to 1334, pp. 134-135; Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Fujiwara no Tsunetsugu" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 211.
^ a bMason and Caiger, p. 69
^Mason and Caiger, p. 71
^Titsingh, p. 124; Brown and Ishida, p. 289; Varley, pp. 171–175.
^嘉祥三年三月二十一日
^Brown and Ishida, p. 284
^Adolphson, Mikael et al. (2007). Heian Japan, centers and peripheries, p. 23.
^Brown and Ishida, p. 284; Varley, p. 165.
^Titsingh, p. 106.
^Heian period Imperial courts: – kugyō of Ninmyō-tennō (in French)
^ a bNussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Fujiwara no Otsugu" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 208, p. 208, at Google Books.
Brown, Delmer M.; Ishida, Ichirō (1979). The Future and the Past (a translation and study of the Gukanshō, an interpretive history of Japan written in 1219). Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-03460-0. OCLC 251325323.
Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Ōdai Ichiran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691
Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki: A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-04940-5; OCLC 59145842
External links
Hokusai: Poem #12, image of ceremonial event in Ninmyō's court