Emperor Monmu

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox monarch

Template:Nihongo was the 42nd emperor of Japan,<ref name="kunaicho">Imperial Household Agency (Kunaichō): 文武天皇 (42); retrieved 2013-8-22.</ref> according to the traditional order of succession.<ref>Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan, p. 55.</ref>

Monmu's reign spanned the years from 697 through 707.<ref>Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Template:Google books Brown, Delmer M. (1979). Gukanshō, pp. 270–271; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki. pp. 137–140.</ref>

Traditional narrativeEdit

Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (imina)<ref>Brown, pp. 264; prior to Emperor Jomei, the personal names of the emperors were very long and people did not generally use them. The number of characters in each name diminished after Jomei's reign.</ref> was Karu-shinnō.<ref name="b270">Brown, p. 270.</ref>

He was a grandson of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō. He was the second son of Prince Kusakabe. Monmu's mother was Princess Abe, a daughter of Emperor Tenji. Monmu's mother would later accede to the throne herself, and she would be known as Empress Genmei.<ref>Varley, p. 138.</ref>

Events of Monmu's lifeEdit

Karu-shinnō was only six years old when his father, Crown Prince Kusakabe, died.

697: In the 10th year of Jitō-tennōTemplate:'s reign (持統天皇十年), the empress abdicated; and the succession (senso) was received by a grandson of Emperor Tenmu. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Monmu is said to have acceded to the throne (sokui).<ref>Titsingh, p. 60; Brown, p. 270; Varley, pp. 44, 137–138; a distinct act of senso is unrecognized prior to Emperor Tenji; and all sovereigns except Jitō, Yōzei, Go-Toba, and Fishimi have senso and sokui in the same year until the reign of Emperor Go-Murakami.</ref>

Emperor Monmu ruled until his death in 707, at which point he was succeeded by his mother, Empress Genmei, who was also his first cousin once removed and his first cousin twice removed. He left a young son by Fujiwara no Miyako, a daughter of Fujiwara no Fuhito: Obito no miko (Prince Obito), who eventually became Emperor Shōmu.

Emperor Monmu's reign lasted 10 years. He died at the age of 25.<ref>Varley, p. 140.</ref>

The actual site of Monmu's grave is known.<ref name="kunaicho"/> This emperor is traditionally venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine (misasagi) at Nara.

The Imperial Household Agency designates this location as Monmu's mausoleum. It is formally named Hinokuma no Ako no oka no e no misasagi.<ref>Ponsonby-Fane, p. 420.</ref>

KugyōEdit

Template:Nihongo is a collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in pre-Meiji eras.

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 Monmu's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:

Daijō-daijin, Osakabe-shinnō.<ref name = "b270"/>
Sadaijin
Udaijin
Naidaijin, Nakatomi Kamako no Muraji.<ref>Brown, p. 266.</ref>
Dainagon, Fujiwara Fuhito.<ref>Brown, p. 271.</ref>

Eras of Monmu's reignEdit

Conventional modern scholarship seems to have determined that the years of Monmu's reign are encompassed within more than one era name or nengō.<ref>Titsingh, pp. 60–63; Brown, p. 271.</ref>

Taihō (era) (701–704)
Keiun (704–708)

Non-nengō periodEdit

The initial years of Monmu's reign are not linked by scholars to any era or nengō.<ref>Titsingh, p. 60.</ref> The Taika era innovation of naming time periods – nengō – languished until Monmu reasserted an imperial right by proclaiming the commencement of Taihō in 701.

See Japanese era name – "Non-nengo periods"
See Monmu period (697–701).

In this context, Brown and Ishida's translation of Gukanshō offers an explanation about the years of Empress Jitō's reign which muddies a sense of easy clarity in the pre-Taiho time-frame:

"The eras that fell in this reign were: (1) the remaining seven years of Shuchō [(686+7=692?)]; and (2) Taika, which was four years long [695–698]. (The first year of this era was kinoto-hitsuji [695].) ... In the third year of the Taka era [697], Empress Jitō yielded the throne to the Crown Prince."<ref name="b270"/>