神武天皇
Tennō Jimmu was born on 13 February 712 B.C. in Kyushu. His father was Hikonagisatake-ugayafukiaezu-no -mikoto and his mother was Tamayori-hime, the daughter of the god of the sea.
His name was Sanu-no-mikoto, and he was also known as Kamuyamato- iwarehiko-no-mikoto. The posthumous name Jimmu was not given to him until the latter part of the eighth century. Accounts of him are preserved in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki.
In his youth he lived in the Takachiho Palace in Hyuga in Kyushu, which had been established by his grandfather Ninigi-no-mikoto, the grandson of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu Omikami. He departed from Hyuga on an expedition to the east, passing through northern Kyushu and conquering the various regions of Aki and Kibi along the Inland Sea.
On the first day of the first lunar month of 660 B.C. ascended the throne at the Kashiwara Palace. This date has traditionally been regarded as the founding of the imperial line in Japan.
In 1873, February 11, which corresponds to the lunar date above, was designated as Kigensetsu, a national holiday in celebration of the accession of Emperor Jimmu. It is now called Kcnkoku Ki’nembi no Hi, or National Founding Day.
Landing at Naniwa, the site of the present-day eity of Osaka, he prepared to cross over Mt. Ikoma and invade the Yamato region when he was engaged in battle by a powerful local leader named Nagasunc-hiko and driven back. He then turned southward and proceeded to the tip of the Kii Peninsula.
There he made his way overland from Kumano to the mountains of Yoshino and thence to the southern part of the Yamato region. After regrouping his forces, he launched an attack on Nagasunc-hiko. For a time he fared badly, but with the assistance of a golden bird of the variety known as a tobi (kite), he was finally able to gain victory. He thereupon pacified the remainder of the Yamato region.
In the Kojiki and Nihoti Shoki, the account of Jimmu Tenno appears at the end of the section dealing with the gods and the beginning of that dealing with human figures, serving as a bridge between the two. It is difficult to regard the account as historical, since Japan in the seventh century B.C. was still in the cultural phase known as Jomon and could hardly have witnessed the establishment of a national state.
The Yayoi culture, which replaced the Joinon and was characterized by wet-rice agriculture and the use of metals, however, seems to have appeared first in Kyushu and thereafter to have spread rather rapidly to the east. It has been suggested, therefore, that Jimmu Tennb’s eastern expedition is a mythicized reflection of that process. It has also been pointed out that the descriptive name Hatsu-kuni-shirasu- sumera-mikoto, “First Ruler of the Nation,” is also applied to the tenth sovereign, Emperor Sujin. It appears possible, therefore, that accounts of Emperor Sujin may have influenced the legends associated with the figure of Jimmu Tenno.
