Emperor Ninmyō

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.^[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

Fujiwara no Junshi, print by Teisai Hokuba, 1800 and 1805, (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam)

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 as 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]
• 838-839 (Jōwa 5-6): Diplomatic mission to Tang China headed by Fujiwara no Tsunetsugu.^[13]
• 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 sadaijin Fujiwara 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]

• Tenchō (824–834)
• Jōwa (834–848)
• Kashō (848–851)

Kugyō

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:

• Sadaijin, Fujiwara no Otsugu　(藤原緒嗣),　773–843.^[23]
• Sadaijin, Minamoto no Tokiwa　(源常),　812–854.^[6]
• Udaijin, Kiyohara no Natsuno　(清原夏野),　782–837.^[6]
• Udaijin, Fujiwara no Mimori　(藤原三守),　d. 840.^[6]
• Udaijin, Minamoto no Tokiwa　(源常)
• Udaijin, Tachibana no Ujikimi　(橘氏公),　783–847.^[6]
• Udaijin, Fujiwara no Yoshifusa　(藤原良房),　804–872.^[11]
• Udaijin, Fujiwara no Otsugu, 825–832^[23]
• Naidaijin (not appointed)
• Dainagon, Fujiwara no Otsugu, ?–825.^[24]

Consorts and children

Nyōgo (Tai-Kōtaigō): Fujiwara no Junshi (藤原順子) (809–871), daughter of Fujiwara no Fuyutsugu (藤原冬嗣)

• Imperial Prince Michiyasu (道康親王) (Emperor Montoku) (827–858)

Nyōgo: Fujiwara no Takushi or Sawako (藤原沢子) (?–839), daughter of Fujiwara no Fusatsugu (藤原総継)

• Imperial Prince Muneyasu (宗康親王) (828–868)
• Imperial Prince Tokiyasu (時康親王) (Emperor Kōkō) (830–887)
• Imperial Prince Saneyasu (人康親王) (831–872)
• Imperial Princess Shinshi (新子内親王) (?–897)

Nyōgo: Fujiwara no Teishi/Sadako (藤原貞子) (?–864), daughter of Fujiwara no Mimori (藤原三守)

• Imperial Prince Nariyasu (成康親王) (836–853)
• Imperial Princess Shinshi (親子内親王) (?–851)
• Imperial Princess Heishi (平子内親王) (?–877)

Nyōgo: Tachibana no Kageko (橘影子) (?–864), daughter of Tachibana no Ujikimi (橘氏公)

Koui: Ki no Taneko (紀種子) (?–869), daughter of Ki no Natora (紀名虎)

• Imperial Prince Tsuneyasu (常康親王) (?–869)
• Imperial Princess Shinshi/Saneko (真子内親王) (?–870)

Koui(deposed in 845): A daughter of Mikuni clan, Mikuni-machi (三国町)

• Sada no Noboru (貞登), given the family name 'Sada' from Emperor (Shisei Kōka, 賜姓降下) in 866

Court lady: Shigeno no Tsunako (滋野縄子), daughter of Shigeno no Sadanushi (滋野貞主)

• Imperial Prince Motoyasu (本康親王) (?–902)
• Imperial Princess Tokiko (時子内親王) (?–847), 2nd Saiin in Kamo Shrine 831–833
• Imperial Princess Jūshi (柔子内親王) (?–869)

Court lady: Fujiwara no Katoko (藤原賀登子), daughter of Fujiwara no Fukutomaro (藤原福当麻呂)

• Imperial Prince Kuniyasu (国康親王) (?–898)

Court lady: Fujiwara no Warawako (藤原小童子), daughter of Fujiwara no Michitō (藤原道遠)

• Imperial Princess Shigeko (重子内親王) (?–865)

Court lady: Princess Takamune (高宗女王), daughter of Prince Okaya (岡屋王)

• Imperial Princess Hisako (久子内親王) (?–876), 18th Saiō in Ise Shrine 833–850.^[25]

Court lady (Nyoju): Kudara no Yōkyō (百済永慶), daughter of Kudara no Kyōfuku (百済教復)

• Imperial Princess Takaiko (高子内親王) (?–866), 3rd Saiin in Kamo Shrine 833–850

Court lady: A daughter of Yamaguchi clan (山口氏の娘)

• Minamoto no Satoru (源覚) (849–879)

(from unknown women)

• Minamoto no Masaru (源多) (831–888), Udaijin 882–888
• Minamoto no Suzushi (源冷) (835–890), Sangi 882–890
• Minamoto no Hikaru (源光) (846–913), Udaijin 901–913
• Minamoto no Itaru (源効)

See also

• Emperor Go-Fukakusa, a later emperor named in honor of Emperor Ninmyō
• Imperial cult
• List of Emperors of Japan
• Shoku Nihon Kōki, a Japanese national history covering Emperor Ninmyō's reign.

Notes

Japanese Imperial kamon — a stylized chrysanthemum blossom

References

• Adolphson, Mikael S., Edward Kamens and Stacie Matsumoto. (2007). Heian Japan, centers and peripheries. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-3013-7
• 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. 
• Imperial Household Agency (2004). 仁明天皇　深草陵 [Emperor Ninmyō, Fukakusa Imperial Mausoleum] (in Japanese). Retrieved 2011-02-04. 
• Mason, R.H.P; Caiger, J.G. (1997). A History of Japan (2nd (revised) ed.). North Clarendon, VT: Charles E. Tuttle Company. ISBN 0-8048-2097-X. 
• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128
• Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan. Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. OCLC 194887
• Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Nihon Odai 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

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