Tennō Shōmu was the forty-fifth sovereign and third sovereign of the Nara period, he reigned from 724 to 749; his personal name was Obito, and his religious name Shoman.
Background
Tennō Shōmu was born in 704 in Japan. He was the eldest son of Emperor Mommu; his mother, Miyako, was a daughter of Fujiwara no Fuhito.
Since he was still a child in 707 when Emperor Mommu died, his grandmother, Empress Gemmei, took the throne and was followed by his aunt, Empress Gensho.
Career
In 714 he was designated heir apparent and in 724 ascended the throne.
During the early part of Emperor Shomu’s reign, the government was dominated by Prince Nagaya, a grandson of Emperor Temmu, but he was suspected of plotting treason and committed suicide in 729. Thereafter power passed into the hands of Fujiwara no Muchimaro and his three brothers, sons of Fujiwara no Fuhito. But all four brothers died in an epidemic in 737 and were succeeded in power by Tachibana no Moroe, a half-brother of Empress Komyo, along with the Buddhist prelate Gembo and Kibi no Malcibi, who had formerly been sent to China as a student.
In 741, Emperor Shomu, acting on proposals submitted by these advisors, ordered that an officially sponsored temple (kokuhun-ji) and nunnery (koku- bun-niji) be set up in each province to pray for good fortune and the safety of the state.
Meanwhile, struggles for power continued at court. In 740, Fujiwara no Hirotsugu, hoping to restore the Fujiwara family to eminence, raised a revolt in northern Kyushu. After the revolt was put down, the capital was moved several times to Kuni, Shigaraki, and Naniwa.
In 749, when the casting of the image, known as the Great Buddha of Todai-ji, was completed, Emperor Shomu abdicated in favor of his daughter, Princess Abe, who became known as Empress Koken.
After his death in 756, his personal belongings were turned over to Todai-ji for safekeeping, where they were housed in a storehouse known as the Shoso-in and have survived in almost perfect condition to the present, constituting a priceless record of the art and material culture of Nara period Japan as well as objects from T’ang dynasty China.
Achievements
Religion
After his abdication he was initiated into the clergy by the famous monk Gyoki, taking the religious name Shoman and thereafter devoting himself to religious affairs. In 752 he attended the “eye-opening” ceremony that marked the completion of the Great Buddha of Todai-ji.
Connections
His consort was Komyōshi, a daughter of Fujiwara no Fuhito; she became his wife while he was still heir apparent and was declared empress in 729.