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, also known as was the 16th
Emperor of Japan The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his position is derived from "the ...
, according to the traditional order of succession. Due to his reputation for goodness derived from depictions in the
Kojiki The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperia ...
and Nihon Shoki, he is sometimes referred to as the . While his existence is generally accepted as fact, no firm dates can be assigned to Nintoku's life or reign. He is traditionally considered to have reigned from 313 to 399, although this date is doubted by scholars.


Legendary narrative

The Japanese have traditionally accepted Nintoku's historical existence, and a mausoleum (''misasagi'') for Nintoku is currently maintained. The following information available is taken from the pseudo-historical ''
Kojiki The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperia ...
'' and '' Nihon Shoki'', which are collectively known as or ''Japanese chronicles''. These chronicles include legends and myths, as well as potential historical facts that have since been exaggerated and/or distorted over time. The records state that Nintoku was born to Nakatsuhime no Mikoto (仲姫命) sometime in 290 AD, and was given the name . According to the '' Nihon Shoki'', he was the fourth son of
Emperor Ōjin , also known as (alternatively spelled 譽田別命, 誉田別命, 品陀和気命, 譽田分命, 誉田別尊, 品陀別命) or , was the 15th (possibly legendary) Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. No firm da ...
.


Known information

Nintoku is regarded by historians as a emperor or ruler of the early 5th century. The historical profile of Nintoku is generally accepted as fact without attributing all of the things he allegedly accomplished. Nintoku's contemporary title would not have been ''tennō'', as most historians believe this title was not introduced until the reigns of
Emperor Tenmu was the 40th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 天武天皇 (40) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', p. 53. Tenmu's rei ...
and Empress Jitō. Rather, it was presumably , meaning "the great king who rules all under heaven". Alternatively, Nintoku might have been referred to as or the "Great King of Yamato". The name "Nintoku" also might have been regularized centuries after the lifetime ascribed to him, possibly during the time in which legends about the origins of the Yamato dynasty were compiled as the chronicles known today as the ''
Kojiki The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperia ...
''. Although the ''Nihon Shoki'' states that Nintoku ruled from 313 to 399, research suggests those dates are likely inaccurate.Parry, Richard Lloyd
"Japan guards the Emperors' secrets; Ban on digs in ancient imperial tombs frustrates archaeologists"
''The Independent'' (London). 12 November 1995.
William George Aston notes that if they were factual, Nintoku would be 312 years old in his 78th year of reign assuming that the traditional accounts are correct. Outside of the ''Kiki'', the reign of
Emperor Kinmei was the 29th Emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 欽明天皇 (29) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Titsingh, Isaac. (1834)pp. 34–36 Brown, Delmer. (1979) ''Gukanshō,'' pp. 261– ...
( – 571 AD) is the first for which contemporary historiography has been able to assign verifiable dates. The conventionally accepted names and dates of the early Emperors were not confirmed as "traditional" though, until the reign of
Emperor Kanmu , or Kammu, was the 50th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 桓武天皇 (50) retrieved 2013-8-22. according to the traditional order of succession. Kanmu reigned from 781 to 806, and it was during his reign that the s ...
between 737 and 806 AD.


Consorts and children

According to the '' Nihon Shoki'', he was the fourth son of
Emperor Ōjin , also known as (alternatively spelled 譽田別命, 誉田別命, 品陀和気命, 譽田分命, 誉田別尊, 品陀別命) or , was the 15th (possibly legendary) Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. No firm da ...
and his mother was Nakatsuhime no Mikoto (仲姫命), a great-granddaughter of Emperor Keikō. He was also the father of Emperors Richū, Hanzei, and Ingyō. His name was . Empress ('' Kōgō''): , poet and daughter of (first) *First Son: , later Emperor Richū * *Third Son: , later Emperor Hanzei *Fourth Son: , later
Emperor Ingyō was the 19th legendary Emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 允恭天皇 (19) retrieved 2013-8-28. according to the traditional order of succession. No firm dates can be assigned to this Emperor's life or reign, but he i ...
* Empress ('' Kōgō''): ,
Emperor Ōjin , also known as (alternatively spelled 譽田別命, 誉田別命, 品陀和気命, 譽田分命, 誉田別尊, 品陀別命) or , was the 15th (possibly legendary) Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. No firm da ...
's daughter (second) Consort ('' Hi'') : , Morokata no Kimi Ushimoroi's daughter * *, married to Emperor Yūryaku Consort: , daughter of
Emperor Ōjin , also known as (alternatively spelled 譽田別命, 誉田別命, 品陀和気命, 譽田分命, 誉田別尊, 品陀別命) or , was the 15th (possibly legendary) Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. No firm da ...
Consort: , daughter of


Nintoku's tomb

Daisen Kofun The are a group of ''kofun'' ()—megalithic tombs—in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Originally consisting of more than 100 tombs, only less than 50% of the key-hole, round, and rectangular tombs remain. The , the largest ''kofun'' in Japa ...
(the largest
tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...
in Japan) in
Sakai, Osaka is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its keyhole-shaped burial mounds, or kofun, which date from the fifth century and inclu ...
, is considered to be his final resting place. The actual site of Nintoku's
grave A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grav ...
is not known. The Nintoku-ryo tumulus is one of almost 50 tumuli collectively known as "Mozu Kofungun" clustered around the city, and covers the largest area of any tomb in the world. Built in the middle of the 5th century by an estimated 2,000 men working daily for almost 16 years, the Nintoku tumulus, at 486 meters long and with a mound 35 meters high, is twice as long as the base of the famous Great Pyramid of Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops) in Giza. The Imperial tomb of Nintoku's consort, Iwa-no hime no Mikoto, is said to be located in Saki-cho,
Nara City is the capital city of Nara Prefecture, Japan. As of 2022, Nara has an estimated population of 367,353 according to World Population Review, making it the largest city in Nara Prefecture and sixth-largest in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara is ...
. Both ''
kofun are megalithic tombs or tumuli in Northeast Asia. ''Kofun'' were mainly constructed in the Japanese archipelago between the middle of the 3rd century to the early 7th century CE.岡田裕之「前方後円墳」『日本古代史大辞典� ...
''-type Imperial tombs are characterized by a keyhole-shaped island located within a wide, water-filled moat. Imperial tombs and mausolea are cultural properties; but they are guarded and administered by the
Imperial Household Agency The (IHA) is an agency of the government of Japan in charge of state matters concerning the Imperial Family, and also the keeping of the Privy Seal and State Seal of Japan. From around the 8th century AD, up until the Second World War, it ...
( IHA), which is the government department responsible for all matters relating to the Emperor and his family. According to the IHA, the tombs are more than a mere repository for historical artifacts; they are sacred religious sites. IHA construes each of the Imperial grave sites as sanctuaries for the spirits of the ancestors of the Imperial House. Nintoku is traditionally venerated at a
memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of ...
Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shint ...
shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they ...
(''misasagi'') at
Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...
. The
Imperial Household Agency The (IHA) is an agency of the government of Japan in charge of state matters concerning the Imperial Family, and also the keeping of the Privy Seal and State Seal of Japan. From around the 8th century AD, up until the Second World War, it ...
designates this location as his
mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be cons ...
. It is formally named ''Mozu no Mimihara no naka no misasagi''.Ponsonby-Fane, p. 419.


Ancestry


See also

*
Emperor of Japan The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his position is derived from "the ...
* List of Emperors of Japan * Imperial cult * Five kings of Wa * Ujigami Shrine


Notes


References


Further reading

* Aston, William George. (1896)
''Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697.''
London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner. * Brown, Delmer M. and Ichirō Ishida. (1979)
''Gukanshō: The Future and the Past.''
Berkeley: University of California Press. ; * Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon. (1959)
''The Imperial House of Japan.''
Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. * Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''
Nihon Ōdai Ichiran , ', is a 17th-century chronicle of the serial reigns of Japanese emperors with brief notes about some of the noteworthy events or other happenings. According to the 1871 edition of the '' American Cyclopaedia'', the 1834 French translation of ...
''; ou
''Annales des empereurs du Japon.''
Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. * Varley, H. Paul. (1980)
''Jinnō Shōtōki: A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns.''
New York: Columbia University Press. ; {{DEFAULTSORT:Nintoku Japanese emperors People of Kofun-period Japan 4th-century monarchs in Asia 4th-century Japanese monarchs Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Longevity myths