Background
Tennô Tenji was born in 626 in Japan. His father was Emperor Jomei; his mother was Emperor Jomei’s consort, who reigned twice under the titles Kogyoku and Saimei respectively.
天智天皇
Tennô Tenji was born in 626 in Japan. His father was Emperor Jomei; his mother was Emperor Jomei’s consort, who reigned twice under the titles Kogyoku and Saimei respectively.
The future Emperor Tenji studied Chinese thought and political doctrine under Minabuchi no Shoan, a Buddhist monk who had been sent to China some years earlier to study and who had returned to Japan in 640.
Earlier Prince Shotoku (574-622) had attempted to carry out governmental reforms and set up a strong centralized state with the emperor at its head, but he had been prevented from realizing his objectives by the privileged position of the powerful Soga family. After his death, the Sogas continued to increase in power until they overshadowed the imperial family. Meanwhile, China had come under the rule of the T’ang dynasty, which had dispatched armies in an attempt to conquer the states of the Korean peninsula.
Prince Tenji joined the court official Nakatomi no Kamatari in plotting the overthrow of the Sogas, a goal that was accomplished in 645 with the murder of Soga no Iruka and the suicide of his father, Emishi. Emperor Kotoku then came to the throne, and the prince became heir apparent.
During the reign of Emperor Kotoku, attention was concentrated upon the carrying out of government measures, which came to be known as the Taika Reforms. After the death of Emperor Kotoku in 655, the prince’s mother came to the throne under the title of Empress Saimei, and the prince continued as before to play a key role in government affairs.
In 660, the state of Paekche, Japan’s ally on the Korean peninsula, was defeated by the forces of Silla and T’ang China. Japan dispatched an army in an attempt to assist its ally, but the army was defeated in a naval engagement at Hakusuki- no-e in Korea in 663 by the combined forces of Silla and China. Somewhat earlier, Empress Saimei had died at the army headquarters set up at Asa- kura-no-miya in Kyushu.
Following her death in 661, the prince acted as ruler without formally ascending the throne, but in 667 he moved the capital to Otsu in the province of Omi and in 668 ascended the throne to become Emperor Tenji.
He died in 671 and was buried in Yamashina in the area east of the present-day city of Kyoto. Following his death, a struggle over the succession broke out between his son Prince Otomo and his younger brother Prince Oama; from the cyclical designation for the year, it came to be known as the Jinshin uprising. Prince Oama emerged victorious and ascended the throne to become Emperor Temmu. Emperor Temmu’s descendants died out during the Nara period, and the late eighth century rulers Konin and Kammu and their successors were descended from the line of Emperor Tenji.
During the reign of Emperor Kotoku, Prince Tenji carried out the actual power of government. Under his direction, the capital was moved from Asuka to Naniwa, on the site of the present-day city of Osaka.
The Chinese system of using nengo, or era names, was initiated, the period beginning in 645 being designated the Taika era. In 646 various edicts were promulgated that laid down the foundations for a new political system. In summary, the new system called for (1) the nationalization of all private lands and persons held in the past by the imperial family or the other great families; (2) the establishment of an administrative system consisting of kuni (provinces), gw« (districts), etc.; (s) the compilation of a register of all the persons in the nation and the institution of a system of equal distribu¬tion of land; and (4) the establishment of a new tax system that would ensure the state a sound financial basis. A centralized bureaucracy modeled after that of T'ang China was set up to carry out the administrative functions of the new government.
As an Emperor he took steps to prepare for a possible invasion of Japan by the forces of Silla and China, establishing defenses along the shore in western Japan. He also dispatched envoys to China to reestablish diplomatic relations between the two countries. He ordered Nakatomi no Kamatari, now renamed Fujiwara no Kamatari, and others to compile a code of laws that was in time promulgated under the name Omi ryo, or Omi Civil Code. In 670 he had a nationwide register of families compiled, known as the Kogo’nenjaku, which served as a model for similar registers in later periods.
