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Edward Lear

Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks, a form he popularised.

His principal areas of work as an artist were threefold: as a draughtsman employed to make illustrations of birds and animals, making coloured drawings during his journeys (which he reworked later, sometimes as plates for his travel books) and as a minor illustrator of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poems.

As an author, he is known principally for his popular nonsense collections of poems, songs, short stories, botanical drawings, recipes and alphabets. He also composed and published twelve musical settings of Tennyson's poetry.

Early years
Lear was born into a middle-class family at Holloway, North London, the penultimate of 21 children (and youngest to survive) of Ann Clark Skerrett and Jeremiah Lear, a stockbroker formerly working for the family sugar refining business. He was raised by his eldest sister, also named Ann, 21 years his senior. Jeremiah Lear ended up defaulting to the London Stock Exchange in the economic upheaval following the Napoleonic Wars; owing to the family's now more limited finances, Lear and his sister were required to leave the family home, Bowmans Lodge, and live together when he was aged four. Ann doted on Edward and continued to act as a mother for him until her death, when he was almost 50 years of age.

Lear had lifelong health problems. From the age of six he had frequent grand mal epileptic seizures, bronchitis, asthma and, during later life, partial blindness. Lear experienced his first seizure at a fair near Highgate with his father. The event scared and embarrassed him. Lear felt lifelong guilt and shame for his epileptic condition. His adult diaries indicate that he always sensed the onset of a seizure in time to remove himself from public view. When Lear was about seven years old he began to show signs of depression, possibly due to the instability of his childhood. He had periods of severe melancholia which he referred to as "the Morbids".

Artist
Lear was already drawing "for bread and cheese" by the time he was aged 16 and soon developed into a serious "ornithological draughtsman" employed by the Zoological Society and from 1832 to 1836 by the Earl of Derby, who kept a private menagerie at his estate, Knowsley Hall. He was the first major bird artist to draw birds from real live birds, instead of skins. Lear's first publication, published when he was 19 years old, was Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots in 1830. One of the greatest ornithological artists of his era, he taught Elizabeth Gould whilst also contributing to John Gould's works and was compared by some to the naturalist John James Audubon. After his eyesight deteriorated too much to work with such precision on the fine drawings and etchings of plates used in lithography, he turned to landscape painting and travel.

Among other travels, he visited Greece and Egypt during 1848–49 and toured India during 1873–75, including a brief detour to Ceylon. While travelling he produced large quantities of coloured wash drawings in a distinctive style, which he converted later in his studio into oil and watercolour paintings, as well as prints for his books. His landscape style often shows views with strong sunlight, with intense contrasts of colour.

Between 1878 and 1883, Lear spent his summers on Monte Generoso, a mountain on the border between the Swiss canton of Ticino and the Italian region of Lombardy. His oil painting The Plains of Lombardy from Monte Generoso is in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Throughout his life, he continued to paint seriously. He had a lifelong ambition to illustrate Tennyson's poems; near the end of his life, a volume with a small number of illustrations was published.

Illustrated Excursions in Italy (1842–47)
In 1842, Lear began a journey into the Italian peninsula, travelling through the Lazio, Rome, Abruzzo, Molise, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria and Sicily. In personal notes, together with drawings, Lear gathered his impressions on the Italian way of life, folk traditions, and the beauty of the ancient monuments. Of particular interest to Lear was the Abruzzo, which he visited in 1843, through the Marsica (Celano, Avezzano, Alba Fucens, Trasacco) and the plateau of Cinque Miglia (Castel di Sangro and Alfedena), by an old sheep track of the shepherds.

Lear drew a sketch of the medieval village of Albe with Mount Sirente, and described the medieval village of Celano, with the castle of Piccolomini dominating the vast plain of Lago Fucino, which was drained a few years later to promote agricultural development. At Castel di Sangro, Lear described the winter stillness of the mountains and the beautiful basilica.

More adventurous was the voyage to the regions of southern Italy in 1847, described in Lear's Journals of a Landscape Painter in Southern Calabria, & c. The broad Calabria section in which Lear tells his itinerary among breathtaking landscapes and often surreal characters, is thought to be among the best in his travel literature.

Composer and musician
Lear primarily played the piano, but he also played the accordion, flute, and small guitar. He composed music for many Romantic and Victorian poems, but was known mostly for his many musical settings of Tennyson's poetry. He published four settings in 1853, five in 1859, and three in 1860. Lear's were the only musical settings that Tennyson approved of. Lear also composed music for many of his nonsense songs, including "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat", but only two of the scores have survived, the music for "The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bò" and "The Pelican Chorus". While he never played professionally, he did perform his own nonsense songs and his settings of others' poetry at countless social gatherings, sometimes adding his own lyrics (as with the song "The Nervous Family"), and sometimes replacing serious lyrics with nursery rhymes.

Relationships
Lear's most fervent and painful friendship was with Franklin Lushington. He met the young barrister in Malta in 1849 and toured southern Greece with him. Lear developed an infatuation for him that Lushington did not wholly reciprocate. Although they remained friends for almost forty years until Lear's death, the disparity of their feelings constantly tormented Lear. Indeed, Lear's attempts at male companionship were not always successful; the very intensity of Lear's affections may have doomed these relationships.

The closest he came to marriage was two proposals, both to the same woman 46 years his junior, which were not accepted. For companions, he relied instead on friends and correspondents, and especially, during later life, on his Albanian Souliote chef, Giorgis, a faithful friend and (as Lear complained) a thoroughly unsatisfactory chef. Another trusted companion in San Remo was his cat, Foss, who died in 1887 and was buried with some ceremony in a garden at Villa Tennyson.

San Remo and death
Lear eventually settled in San Remo, on his beloved Mediterranean coast in the 1870s at a villa he named "Villa Tennyson."

Lear was known to introduce himself with a long pseudonym: "Mr Abebika kratoponoko Prizzikalo Kattefello Ablegorabalus Ableborinto phashyph" or "Chakonoton the Cozovex Dossi Fossi Sini Tomentilla Coronilla Polentilla Battledore & Shuttlecock Derry down Derry Dumps", which he based on Aldiborontiphoskyphorniostikos. After a long decline in his health, Lear died at his villa in 1888 of heart disease, which he had had since at least 1870. Lear's funeral was described as a sad, lonely affair by the wife of Dr. Hassall, Lear's physician, none of Lear's many lifelong friends being able to attend.

Lear is buried in the Cemetery Foce in San Remo. On his headstone are inscribed these lines about Mount Tomohrit (in Albania) from Tennyson's poem To E.L. [Edward Lear], On His Travels in Greece:

The centenary of his death was marked in Britain with a set of Royal Mail stamps in 1988 and an exhibition at the Royal Academy. Lear's birthplace area is now marked with a plaque at Bowman's Mews, Islington, in London, and his bicentenary during 2012 was celebrated with a variety of events, exhibitions and lectures in venues across the world including an International Owl and Pussycat Day on his birth anniversary.

Author
In 1846, Lear published A Book of Nonsense, a volume of limericks which went through three editions and helped popularise the form and the genre of literary nonsense. In 1871, he published Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany and Alphabets, which included the nonsense song "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat", which he wrote for the children of his patron Edward Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby. Many other works followed.

Lear's nonsense books were quite popular during his lifetime, but a rumour developed that "Edward Lear" was merely a pseudonym, and the books' true author was the man to whom Lear had dedicated the works, his patron the Earl of Derby. Promoters of this rumour offered as evidence that both men were named Edward, and that "Lear" is an anagram of "Earl". Lear's nonsense works are distinguished by a facility of verbal invention and a poet's delight in the sounds of words, both real and imaginary. A stuffed rhinoceros becomes a "diaphanous doorscraper". A "blue Boss-Woss" plunges into "a perpendicular, spicular, orbicular, quadrangular, circular depth of soft mud". His heroes are Quangle-Wangles, Pobbles, and Jumblies. One of his most famous verbal inventions, the phrase "runcible spoon", occurs in the closing lines of "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat" and is now found in many English dictionaries.

Though known for his neologisms, Lear used a number of other devices in his works in order to defy reader expectations. For example, "Cold Are the Crabs" conforms to the sonnet tradition until its dramatically foreshortened last line.

Today, limericks are invariably typeset as five lines. Lear's limericks, however, were published in a variety of formats; it appears that Lear wrote them in manuscript in as many lines as there was room for beneath the picture. For the first three editions, most are typeset as, respectively, two, five, and three lines. The cover of one edition bears an entire limerick typeset in two lines:

In Lear's limericks, the first and last lines usually end with the same word rather than rhyming. For the most part they are truly nonsensical and devoid of any punch line or point. They are completely free of the bawdiness with which the verse form is now associated. A typical thematic element is the presence of a callous and critical "they". An example of a typical Lear limerick:

Lear's self-description in verse, How Pleasant to know Mr. Lear, ends with this stanza, a reference to his own mortality:

Five of Lear's limericks from the Book of Nonsense (in the 1946 Italian translation by Carlo Izzo) were set to music for choir a cappella by Goffredo Petrassi in 1952.

Portrayals
Edward Lear has been played in radio dramas by Andrew Sachs in The Need for Nonsense by Julia Blackburn (BBC Radio 4, 9 February 2009) and by Derek Jacobi in By the Coast of Coromandel by Lavinia Murray (BBC Radio 4, 21 December 2011).

In popular culture
Lear's written work was used extensively in the short-lived The Tomfoolery Show, a Saturday morning cartoon that was produced by Rankin-Bass and broadcast on NBC from 1970 to 1971.

Works

 * Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots (1832)
 * Views in Rome and its Environs (1841)
 * Gleanings from the Menagerie at Knowsley Hall (1846)
 * The Book of Nonsense (1846)
 * Illustrated Excursions in Italy (1846)
 * Mount Timohorit, Albania (1848)
 * Journal of a Landscape Painter in Greece and Albania (1851)
 * The falls of the Kalama Albania (1851)
 * Journal of a Landscape Painter in Southern Calabria (1852)
 * Poems and Songs by Alfred Tennyson (1853, 1859, 1860) Twelve total musical settings published, each being for a Tennyson poem.
 * History of the Seven Families of the Lake Pipplepopple (1865), illustrated manuscript now in the British Library
 * Journal of a Landscape Painter in Corsica (1870)
 * Nonsense Songs and Stories (1870, dated 1871)
 * Tortoises, Terrapins, and Turtles (1872), introduction by J. E. Gray
 * More Nonsense Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, etc. (1872)
 * Laughable Lyrics (1877)
 * Nonsense Alphabets
 * Argos from Mycenae (1884), now in the collection of Trinity College, Cambridge
 * Nonsense Botany (1888)
 * Tennyson's Poems, illustrated by Lear (1889)
 * Facsimile of a Nonsense Alphabet (1849, but not published until 1926)
 * The Quangle-Wangle's Hat (1876)
 * Edward Lear's Parrots by Brian Reade, Duckworth (1949), including 12 coloured plates from Lear's Psittacidae
 * The Scroobious Pip, unfinished at his death, but completed by Ogden Nash and illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert (1968)
 * The Dong with a Luminous Nose, illustrated by Edward Gorey, Young Scott Books, NY (1969)
 * "Edward Lear: The Corfu Years" (1988) ISBN 0-907978-25-8

title: Edward Lear


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Eve Arden

Eve Arden (born Eunice Mary Quedens, April 30, 1908 – November 12, 1990) was an American film, radio, stage and television actress. She performed in leading and supporting roles for nearly six decades.

Beginning her film career in 1929 and on Broadway in the early 1930s, Arden's first major role was in the RKO Radio Pictures drama Stage Door (1937) opposite Katharine Hepburn, followed by roles in the comedies Having Wonderful Time (1938) and At the Circus (1939). She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Mildred Pierce (1945).

Somewhat surprisingly for an actress of Arden's refinement and wit, she appeared to good effect in a number of films noir, some exceptionally high-profile, including Mildred Pierce, The Unfaithful (1947), The Arnelo Affair (1947), Whiplash (1948), and Anatomy of a Murder (1959).

Later in her career, Arden moved to television, playing a sardonic but engaging high school teacher in Our Miss Brooks, for which she won the first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She also played the maternity ward nurse in Bewitched and the school principal in the film musicals Grease (1978) and Grease 2 (1982).

Early life
Eve Arden was born Eunice Mary Quedens on April 30, 1908, in Mill Valley, California, to Charles Peter Quedens, the son of Charles Henry Augustus Quedens and Eunice Meta Dierks, and Lucille Frank, the daughter of Bernard Frank and Louisa Mertens. Lucille, a milliner, divorced Charles over his gambling and went into business for herself.

Although not Catholic, young Eunice was sent to a Dominican convent school in San Rafael, California. She then attended Tamalpais High School, a public high school in Mill Valley, until age 16. After leaving school, she joined the stock theater company of Henry "Terry" Duffy.

Film
She made her film debut under her real name in the backstage musical Song of Love (1929), as a wisecracking, homewrecking showgirl who becomes a rival to the film's star, singer Belle Baker. The film was one of Columbia Pictures' earliest successes. In 1933, she relocated to New York City, where she had supporting parts in several Broadway stage productions. In 1934, she was cast in the Ziegfeld Follies revue, the first role where she was credited as Eve Arden. When she was told to adopt a stage name for the show, Arden looked at her cosmetics and "stole my first name from Evening in Paris, and the second from Elizabeth Arden". Between 1934 and 1941, she appeared in Broadway productions of Parade, Very Warm for May, Two for the Show, and Let's Face It!.

Arden's film career began in earnest in 1937 when she signed a contract with RKO Radio Pictures and appeared in the films Oh Doctor and Stage Door. Her Stage Door portrayal of a fast-talking, witty supporting character gained Arden considerable notice and was a template for many of Arden's future roles.

In 1938, she played a supporting part in the comedy Having Wonderful Time, starring Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. This was followed by roles in the crime film The Forgotten Woman (1939), and the Marx Brothers comedy At the Circus (1939), a role that required her to perform acrobatics.

In 1940, she appeared in support of Clark Gable and Hedy Lamarr in Comrade X, followed by support in the drama Manpower (1941) opposite Marlene Dietrich, Edward G. Robinson and George Raft. She also had a supporting part in the Red Skelton comedy Whistling in the Dark (1941) and the romantic comedy Obliging Young Lady (1942).

Her many memorable screen roles include a supporting role as Joan Crawford's wise-cracking friend in Mildred Pierce (1945), for which she received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress; as a catty cousin turned peacemaker in The Unfaithful (1947); and as James Stewart's wistful but wry secretary in Otto Preminger's mystery Anatomy of a Murder (1959) (which also featured her husband, Brooks West). In 1946, exhibitors voted her the sixth-most promising "star of tomorrow".

Arden became familiar to a new generation of filmgoers when she played Principal McGee in Grease (1978) and Grease 2 (1982). Arden was known for her deadpan comedic delivery.

Radio and television
Arden's ability with witty scripts made her a natural talent for radio. She was a regular on Danny Kaye's short-lived but memorably zany comedy-variety show in 1946, which also featured swing bandleader Harry James and gravel-voiced character actor-comedian Lionel Stander.

The additional exposure of Arden's comic talent on Kaye's show led to her best-known role, that of Madison High School English teacher Connie Brooks in Our Miss Brooks. Arden portrayed the character on radio from 1948 to 1957, in a television version of the program from 1952 to 1956, and in a 1956 feature film. Her character clashed with the school's principal, Osgood Conklin (played by Gale Gordon) and nursed an unrequited crush on fellow teacher Philip Boynton (played originally by future film star Jeff Chandler; and later on radio and TV by Robert Rockwell). Except for Chandler, the entire radio cast of Arden, Gordon, Richard Crenna (Walter Denton), Robert Rockwell (Mr. Philip Boynton), Gloria McMillan (Harriet Conklin) and Jane Morgan (landlady Margaret Davis) played the same roles on TV.

Arden's portrayal of Miss Brooks was so popular that she was made an honorary member of the National Education Association, received a 1952 award from the Teachers College of Connecticut's Alumni Association "for humanizing the American teacher", and even received teaching job offers. Her well-established wisecracking, deadpan character ultimately became her public persona as a comedienne. She won a listeners' poll by Radio Mirror magazine as the top-ranking comedienne of 1948–1949, receiving her award at the end of an Our Miss Brooks broadcast that March. "I'm certainly going to try in the coming months to merit the honor you've bestowed upon me, because I understand that if I win this (award) two years in a row, I get to keep Mr. Boynton," she joked. She was also a hit with the critics: A winter 1949 poll of newspaper and magazine radio editors by Motion Picture Daily named her the year's best radio comedienne.

Arden had a very brief guest appearance in a 1955 I Love Lucy episode titled "L.A. at Last", where she played herself. While awaiting their food at the Brown Derby, Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) and Ethel Mertz (Vivian Vance) argue over whether a certain portrait on a nearby wall is Shelley Winters or Judy Holliday. Lucy urges Ethel to ask a lady occupying the next booth, who turns and replies, "Neither. That's Eve Arden." As Ethel realizes she just spoke to Arden herself, Arden passes Lucy and Ethel's table to leave the restaurant while the pair gawk.

Desilu Productions, jointly owned by Desi Arnaz and Ball during their marriage, was the production company for the Our Miss Brooks television show, filmed during the same years as I Love Lucy. Ball and Arden met when they costarred in the film Stage Door in 1937. Ball, according to numerous radio historians, suggested Arden for Our Miss Brooks after Shirley Booth auditioned for but failed to land the role and Ball—committed at the time to My Favorite Husband—could not.

Arden tried another series for CBS in the fall of 1957, The Eve Arden Show, but it was canceled in spring of 1958 after 26 episodes. In 1966, she played Nurse Kelton in an episode of Bewitched. She later costarred with Kaye Ballard as her neighbor and in-law, Eve Hubbard, in the 1967–1969 NBC situation comedy The Mothers-in-Law, produced by Arnaz after the dissolution of Desilu Productions. In her later career, Arden made appearances on such television shows as Bewitched, Alice, Maude, Hart to Hart, and Falcon Crest. In 1985, she appeared as the wicked stepmother in the Faerie Tale Theatre production of Cinderella.

Stage
Arden was one of many actresses to take on the title roles in Hello, Dolly! and Auntie Mame in the 1960s; in 1967, she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theater. In 1983, Arden was cast as the leading lady in what was to be her Broadway comeback, Moose Murders, but she withdrew and was replaced with the much younger Holland Taylor after one preview performance, citing "artistic differences". The show went on to open and close on the same night, becoming known a legendary flop in Broadway history.

Personal life
Arden was married to Edward Grinnell "Ned" Bergen 1939–47 and reportedly had a long relationship with Danny Kaye through the 1940s (likely starting from their Broadway work on Let's Face It! in 1941). Arden was married to actor Brooks West from 1952 until his death in 1984 from a brain hemorrhage at age 67. She adopted her first child with Bergen and a second child as a single mother after her divorce from him; she adopted her third child with West and gave birth to her youngest (with West) at age 46 in 1954. All four children survived their parents.

Death
On November 12, 1990, Arden died at home at age 82. According to her death certificate, she died of cardiac arrest and arteriosclerotic heart disease. She is buried in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, Westwood, Los Angeles, California.

Legacy
Arden published an autobiography, The Three Phases of Eve, in 1985. In addition to her Academy Award nomination, Arden has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: Radio and Television (see List of stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for addresses). She was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1995.

Select stage credits

 * Private Lives (1933)
 * On Approval (1933)
 * Ziegfeld Follies of 1934 (1934)
 * Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 (1936)
 * Very Warm for May (1939)
 * Two for the Show (1940)
 * Let's Face It! (1941)
 * Over 21 (1950)
 * Auntie Mame (1958)
 * Goodbye Charlie (1960)
 * The Marriage-Go-Round (1961)
 * Hello, Dolly! (1966)
 * Barefoot in the Park (1967)
 * Cactus Flower (1968)
 * Butterflies Are Free (1970)
 * Applause (1975)
 * Absurd Person Singular (1978)
 * Little Me (1980)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Eve Arden


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Elementary function

In mathematics, an elementary function is a function of a single variable (typically real or complex) that is defined as taking sums, products, roots and compositions of finitely many polynomial, rational, trigonometric, hyperbolic, and exponential functions, and their inverses (e.g., arcsin, log, or x1/n).

All elementary functions are continuous on their domains.

Elementary functions were introduced by Joseph Liouville in a series of papers from 1833 to 1841. An algebraic treatment of elementary functions was started by Joseph Fels Ritt in the 1930s. Many textbooks and dictionaries do not give a precise definition of the elementary functions, and mathematicians differ on it.

Basic examples
Elementary functions of a single variable $x$ include:
 * Constant functions: $$2,\ \pi,\ e,$$ etc.
 * Rational powers of $x$: $$x,\ x^2,\ \sqrt{x}\ (x^\frac{1}{2}),\ x^\frac{2}{3},$$ etc.
 * Exponential functions: $$e^x, \ a^x$$
 * Logarithms: $$\log x, \ \log_a x$$
 * Trigonometric functions: $$\sin x,\ \cos x,\ \tan x,$$ etc.
 * Inverse trigonometric functions: $$\arcsin x,\ \arccos x,$$ etc.
 * Hyperbolic functions: $$\sinh x,\ \cosh x,$$ etc.
 * Inverse hyperbolic functions: $$\operatorname{arsinh} x,\ \operatorname{arcosh} x,$$ etc.
 * All functions obtained by adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing a finite number of any of the previous functions
 * All functions obtained by root extraction of a polynomial with coefficients in elementary functions
 * All functions obtained by composing a finite number of any of the previously listed functions

Certain elementary functions of a single complex variable $z$, such as $$\sqrt{z}$$ and $$\log z$$, may be multivalued. Additionally, certain classes of functions may be obtained by others using the final two rules. For example, the exponential function $$e^{z}$$ composed with addition, subtraction, and division provides the hyperbolic functions, while initial composition with $$iz$$ instead provides the trigonometric functions.

Composite examples
Examples of elementary functions include:

 * Addition, e.g. ($x$+1)
 * Multiplication, e.g. (2$x$)
 * Polynomial functions
 * $$\frac{e^{\tan x}}{1+x^2}\sin\left(\sqrt{1+(\log x)^2}\right)$$
 * $$-i\log\left(x+i\sqrt{1-x^2}\right) $$

The last function is equal to $$\arccos x$$, the inverse cosine, in the entire complex plane.

All monomials, polynomials, rational functions and algebraic functions are elementary.

The absolute value function, for real $$x$$, is also elementary as it can be expressed as the composition of a power and root of $$x$$: $|x|=\sqrt{x^2}$.

Non-elementary functions
Many mathematicians exclude non-analytic functions such as the absolute value function or discontinuous functions such as the step function, but others allow them. Some have proposed extending the set to include, for example, the Lambert W function.

Some examples of functions that are not elementary:

 * tetration
 * the gamma function
 * non-elementary Liouvillian functions, including
 * the exponential (Ei), logarithmic integral (Li or li) and Fresnel (S and C) integrals.
 * the error function, $$\mathrm{erf}(x)=\frac{2}{\sqrt{\pi}}\int_0^x e^{-t^2}\,dt,$$ a fact that may not be immediately obvious, but can be proven using the Risch algorithm.
 * other nonelementary integrals, including the Dirichlet integral and elliptic integral.

Closure
It follows directly from the definition that the set of elementary functions is closed under arithmetic operations, root extraction and composition. The elementary functions are closed under differentiation. They are not closed under limits and infinite sums. Importantly, the elementary functions are closed under integration, as shown by Liouville's theorem, see nonelementary integral. The Liouvillian functions are defined as the elementary functions and, recursively, the integrals of the Liouvillian functions.

Differential algebra
The mathematical definition of an elementary function, or a function in elementary form, is considered in the context of differential algebra. A differential algebra is an algebra with the extra operation of derivation (algebraic version of differentiation). Using the derivation operation new equations can be written and their solutions used in extensions of the algebra. By starting with the field of rational functions, two special types of transcendental extensions (the logarithm and the exponential) can be added to the field building a tower containing elementary functions.

A differential field F is a field F0 (rational functions over the rationals Q for example) together with a derivation map u → ∂u. (Here ∂u is a new function. Sometimes the notation u′ is used.) The derivation captures the properties of differentiation, so that for any two elements of the base field, the derivation is linear

 * $$\partial (u + v) = \partial u + \partial v $$

and satisfies the Leibniz product rule

 * $$\partial(u\cdot v)=\partial u\cdot v+u\cdot\partial v\,.$$

An element h is a constant if ∂h = 0. If the base field is over the rationals, care must be taken when extending the field to add the needed transcendental constants.

A function u of a differential extension F[u] of a differential field F is an elementary function over F if the function u (see also Liouville's theorem)
 * is algebraic over F, or
 * is an exponential, that is, ∂u = u ∂a for a ∈ F, or
 * is a logarithm, that is, ∂u = ∂a / a for a ∈ F.

title: Elementary function


text:
Enchiridion of Epictetus

The Enchiridion or Handbook of Epictetus (Ἐγχειρίδιον Ἐπικτήτου, Enkheirídion Epiktḗtou) is a short manual of Stoic ethical advice compiled by Arrian, a 2nd-century disciple of the Greek philosopher Epictetus. Although the content is mostly derived from the Discourses of Epictetus, it is not a summary of the Discourses but rather a compilation of practical precepts. Eschewing metaphysics, Arrian focuses his attention on Epictetus's work applying philosophy to daily life. Thus, the book is a manual to show the way to achieve mental freedom and happiness in all circumstances.

The Enchiridion was well-known in the ancient world, and in the medieval period, it was specially adapted for use in Greek-speaking monasteries. In the 15th century it was translated into Latin, and then, with the advent of printing, into multiple European languages. It reached the height of popularity in the 17th century, in parallel with the Neostoicism movement.

Title
The word "Enchiridion" (ἐγχειρίδιον) is an adjective meaning "in the hand" or "ready to hand". The word sometimes meant a handy sword, or dagger, but coupled with the word "book" (biblion, βιβλίον) it means a handy book or hand-book. Epictetus in the Discourses often speaks of principles which his pupils should have "ready to hand" (πρόχειρα). Common English translations of the title are Manual or Handbook.

Writing
The work consists of fifty-three short chapters typically consisting of a paragraph or two. It was compiled some time in the early 2nd century. The 6th-century philosopher Simplicius, in his Commentary on the work, refers to a letter written by Arrian which prefaced the text. In this letter Arrian stated that the Enchiridion was selected from the Discourses of Epictetus according to what he considered to be most useful, most necessary, and most adapted to move people's minds. Around half of the material in the Enchiridion has been shown to have been derived from the surviving four books of Discourses but variously modified. Other parts are presumed to be derived from the lost Discourses. Some chapters appear to be reformulations of ideas which appear throughout the Discourses.

There are some puzzles concerning the inclusion of two chapters. Chapter 29 is practically word for word identical with Discourse iii. 15. Since it was omitted in one of the early Christian editions (Par), and not commented on by Simplicius, it may not have been in the original edition. Chapter 33 consists of a list of moral instructions, which are "not obviously related to Epictetus' normal Stoic framework."

The current division of the work into fifty-three chapters was first adopted by Johann Schweighäuser in his 1798 edition; earlier editions tended to divide the text into more chapters (especially splitting chapter 33). Gerard Boter in his 1999 critical edition keeps Schweighäuser's fifty-three chapters but splits chapters 5, 14, 19, and 48 into two parts.

Contents
The Enchiridion appears to be a loosely-structured selection of maxims. In his 6th-century Commentary, Simplicius divided the text into four distinct sections suggesting a graded approach to philosophy:

 * 1) Chapters 1–21. What is up to us and not, and how to deal with external things.
 * 2) Chs 1–2. What is up to us and not, and the consequences of choosing either.
 * 3) Chs 3–14. How to deal with external things (reining the reader in from them).
 * 4) Chs 15–21. How to use external things correctly and without disturbance.
 * 5) Chapters 22–28. Advice for intermediate students.
 * 6) Chs 22–25. The problems faced by intermediate students.
 * 7) Chs 26–28. Miscellania: the common conceptions, badness, and shame.
 * 8) Chapters 30–47. Technical advice for the discovery of appropriate actions (kathēkonta).
 * 9) Chs 30–33. Appropriate actions towards (a) other people, (b) God, (c) divination, (d) one's own self.
 * 10) Chs 34–47. Miscellaneous precepts on justice (right actions).
 * 11) Chapters 48–53. Conclusions on the practice of precepts.
 * 12) Ch 48. Final advice and his division of types of people.
 * 13) Chs 49–52. The practice of precepts.
 * 14) Ch 53. Quotations for memorisation.

Chapter 29, which was probably absent from the text used by Simplicius, is a one-page Discourse which compares the training needed to become a Stoic with the rigorous approach needed to become an Olympic victor.

Themes
The Enchiridion begins with the statement that "Of things, some depend upon ourselves, others do not depend upon ourselves." So it starts with announcing that the business and concern of the real self is with matters subject to its own control, uninfluenced by external chance or change. Epictetus makes a sharp distinction between our own internal world of mental benefits and harms, and the external world beyond our control. Freedom is to wish for nothing which is not up to ourselves. When we are tried by misfortune we should never let our suffering overwhelm our sense of inward mastery and freedom.

A constant vigilance is required, and one should never relax attention to one's reason, for it is judgements, not things, which disturb people.

"What upsets people is not things themselves but their judgments about the things. For example, 'death is nothing dreadful (or else it would have appeared dreadful to Socrates) . . .'"

Reason is the decisive principle in everything. Thus we must exercise our power of assent over impressions, and wish for nothing nor avoid anything that is up to other people.

To a large extent the Enchiridion suppresses many of the more amiable aspects of Epictetus which can be found in the Discourses, but this reflects the nature of the compilation. Some believe that, unlike the Discourses which seeks to encourage the student through argument and logic, the Enchiridion largely consists of a set of rules to follow. Others challenge this view, arguing that the chapters of the Enchiridion can be interpreted as containing arguments and articulating concepts that develop progressively throughout the work. The work is built on the conception that the wise person, by the aid of philosophy, may reap benefit from every experience in life. With proper training the student can flourish in adverse situations as well as favorable ones. The human spirit has capacities as yet undeveloped, but which it is for our good to develop. Thus the book is a manual on how to make progress towards what is necessary and sufficient for happiness.

Epictetus makes a vivid use of imagery, and analogies include life depicted as: a ship's voyage (Ch. 7), an inn (Ch. 11), a banquet (Chs. 15, 36), and acting in a play (Ch. 17, 37). He takes many examples from everyday life, including: a broken jug (Ch. 3), a trip to the baths (Chs. 4, 43), his own lameness (Ch. 9), the loss of a child (Ch. 11), and the price of lettuce (Ch. 25).

Subsequent history
For many centuries, the Enchiridion maintained its authority both with Pagans and Christians. Simplicius of Cilicia wrote a commentary upon it in the 6th century, and in the Byzantine era Christian writers wrote paraphrases of it. Over one hundred manuscripts of the Enchiridion survive. The oldest extant manuscripts of the authentic Enchiridion date from the 14th century, but the oldest Christianised ones date from the 10th and 11th centuries, perhaps indicating the Byzantine world's preference for the Christian versions. The Enchiridion was first translated into Latin by Niccolò Perotti in 1450, and then by Angelo Poliziano in 1479.

The first printed edition (editio princeps) was Poliziano's Latin translation published in 1497. The original Greek was first published (somewhat abbreviated) with Simplicius's Commentary in 1528. The edition published by Johann Schweighäuser in 1798 was the major edition for the next two-hundred years. A critical edition was produced by Gerard Boter in 1999.

The separate editions and translations of the Enchiridion are very many. The Enchiridion reached its height of popularity in the period 1550–1750. It was translated into most European languages, and there were multiple translations in English, French, and German. The first English translation was by James Sandford in 1567 (a translation of a French version) and this was followed by a translation (from the Greek) by John Healey in 1610. The Enchiridion was even partly translated into Chinese by the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci. The popularity of the work was assisted by the Neostoicism movement initiated by Justus Lipsius in the 16th century. Another Neostoic, Guillaume du Vair, translated the book into French in 1586 and popularised it in his La Philosophie morale des Stoiques.

In the English-speaking world it was particularly well known in the 17th century: at that time it was the Enchiridion rather than the Discourses which was usually read. It was among the books John Harvard bequeathed to the newly-founded Harvard College in 1638. The work, being written in a clear distinct style, made it accessible to readers with no formal training in philosophy, and there was a wide readership among women in England. The writer Mary Wortley Montagu made her own translation of the Enchiridion in 1710 at the age of twenty-one. The Enchiridion was a common school text in Scotland during the Scottish Enlightenment—Adam Smith had a 1670 edition in his library, acquired as a schoolboy. At the end of the 18th century, the Enchiridion is attested in the personal libraries of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.

In the 19th century, Walt Whitman discovered the Enchiridion when he was about the age of sixteen. It was a book he would repeatedly return to, and late in life he called the book "sacred, precious to me: I have had it about me so long—lived with it in terms of such familiarity."

The Enchiridion gave its name to a fictional book from the cartoon Adventure Time.

The Commentary of Simplicius
In the 6th century the Neoplatonist philosopher Simplicius wrote a huge commentary on the Enchiridion, which is more than ten times the bulk of the original text. Chapter after chapter of the Enchiridion is dissected, discussed, and its lessons drawn out with a certain laboriousness. Simplicius' commentary offers a distinctly Platonist vision of the world, one which is often at odds with the Stoic content of the Enchiridion. Sometimes Simplicius exceeds the scope of a commentary; thus his commentary on Enchiridion 27 (Simplicius ch. 35) becomes a refutation of Manichaeism.

The Commentary enjoyed its own period of popularity in the 17th and 18th centuries. An English translation by George Stanhope in 1694 ran through four editions in the early 18th century. Edward Gibbon remarked in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire that Simplicius' Commentary on Epictetus "is preserved in the library of nations, as a classic book" unlike the commentaries on Aristotle "which have passed away with the fashion of the times."

Christian adaptations
The Enchiridion was adapted three different times by Greek Christian writers. The oldest manuscript, Paraphrasis Christiana (Par), dates to the 10th century. Another manuscript, falsely ascribed to Nilus (Nil), dates to the 11th century. A third manuscript, Vaticanus gr. 2231 (Vat), dates to the 14th century. It is not known when the original versions of these manuscripts were first made.

These guides served as a rule and guide for monastic life. The most obvious changes are in the use of proper names: thus the name Socrates is sometimes changed to Paul. All three texts follow the Enchiridion quite closely, although the Par manuscript is more heavily modified: adding or omitting words, abridging or expanding passages, and occasionally inventing new passages.

In the 17th century the German monk Matthias Mittner did something similar, compiling a guide on mental tranquillity for the Carthusian Order by taking the first thirty-five of his fifty precepts from the Enchiridion.

title: Enchiridion of Epictetus


text:
Talk:Enchiridion of Epictetus

The ambiguity of Enchiridion
All the word enchiridion means is 'handbook' (as the author of this entry knows, since the weblink has 'handbook' in its title). As such, there are many, many books from the past which are known as So-and-so's Enchiridion. I have a copy of Augustine's here, and I believe Erasmus wrote something he called by that name, too. At best this should be a pointer page to entries about various author's handbooks. I am (as I said when people were busy trying to Wikify Shakespeare plays) opposed to posting primary texts on wikipedia, no matter how interesting. The question of editability introduces a horrifying question of reliability. I'm sure the mid 18th century translation is a lovely thing, but how long will it last before someone 'edits' it? The 'oh, run and check it here if you're not sure' promise defeats the purpose of Wikipedia. It's been a while since I've read the Enchiridion of Epictetus, but isn't it longer than this? --MichaelTinkler

Dead link
The external link to the text (Enchiridion of Epictetus) seems to have gone bad. :-( Wesley

Practical Handbook
I believe the Enchiridion was such a practical handbook it was distributed to soldiers.Kenneth Kloby (talk) 17:41, 5 June 2009 (UTC)

Change the translation of Manual to Handbook?
Handbook appears to be a more common translation and, in my (admittedly limited) opinion, is more evocative of what Enchiridion actually would have meant to contemporaries. If anyone has objections to this please state them but for now I will be making the relevant change to the articles opening. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Fritz1776 (talk • contribs) 18:26, 31 May 2018 (UTC)

title: Talk:Enchiridion of Epictetus


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Emperor Kinmei

Emperor Kinmei (欽明天皇) was the 29th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. His reign is said to have spanned the years from 539 to 571. Some historians regard Kinmei as the first historically verifiable Japanese emperor.

Traditional narrative
Kinmei's contemporary title would not have been tennō, as most historians believe this title was not introduced until the reigns of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō. Rather, it was presumably Sumeramikoto or Amenoshita Shiroshimesu Ōkimi (治天下大王), meaning "the great king who rules all under heaven". Alternatively, Kinmei might have been referred to as ヤマト大王/大君 or the "Great King of Yamato".

Events of Kinmei's life
Because of several chronological discrepancies in the account of Emperor Kinmei in the Nihon Shoki, some believe that he was actually ruling a rival court to that of Emperors Ankan and Senka. Nevertheless, according to the traditional account, it was not until the death of Emperor Kinmei's older brother Emperor Senka that he gained the throne.

According to this account, Emperor Senka died in 539 at the age of 73; and succession passed to the third son of Emperor Keitai. This Imperial Prince was the next youngest brother of Emperor Senka. He would come to be known as Emperor Kinmei. He established his court at Shikishima no Kanazashi Palace (磯城嶋金刺宮) in Yamato.

The Emperor's chief counselors were:
 * Ōomi (Great Imperial chieftain): Soga no Iname no Sukune, also known as Soga no Iname.
 * Ōmuraji (Great Deity chieftain): Monotobe Okoshi no Muraji, also known as Mononobe no Okoshi.
 * Ōmuraji (Great Deity chieftain): Ōtomo Kanamura Maro, also known as Otomo no Kanamura.

Although the imperial court was not moved to the Asuka region of Japan until 592, Emperor Kinmei's rule is considered by some to be the beginning of the Asuka period of Yamato Japan, particularly by those who associate the Asuka period primarily with the introduction of Buddhism to Japan from Baekje.

According to the Nihon Shoki, Emperor Kinmei received a bronze statue of Gautama Buddha as a gift from the king of Baekje King Song Myong (聖明王, Seimei Ō) along with a significant envoy of artisans, monks, and other artifacts in 552. (However, according to the Jōgū Shōtoku Hōō Teisetsu, Buddhism was introduced in 538.) This episode is widely regarded as the official introduction of Buddhism to the country.

With the introduction of a new religion to the court, a deep rift developed between the Mononobe clan, whose members supported the worship of Japan's traditional deities, and the Soga clan, whose members supported the adoption of Buddhism.

According to the Nihon Shoki, Emperor Kinmei ruled until his death in 571 and was buried in the Hinokuma no Sakai Burial Mound (桧隈坂合陵). An alternate stronger theory holds that he was actually buried in the Misemaruyama Tumulus (見瀬丸山古墳), located in Kashihara City (橿原市).

The Emperor is traditionally venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine (misasagi) at Nara. The Imperial Household Agency designates the Nara location as Kinmei's mausoleum. It is formally named Hinokuma no saki Ai no misasagi. However, the actual sites of the graves of the early Emperors are unclear, according to some historians and archaeologists.

Genealogy
Emperor Kinmei's father was Emperor Keitai and his mother was Emperor Ninken's daughter, Princess Tashiraka (手白香皇女). In his lifetime, he was known by the name Amekuni Oshiharaki Hironiwa (天国排開広庭).

Kinmei had six Consorts and 25 Imperial children (16 sons and 9 daughters). According to Nihongi, he had six wives, but the Kojiki gives only five wives; identifying the third consort to be the same as the sixth one. The first three were his nieces, daughters of his half-brother Emperor Senka; two others were sisters, daughters of the Omi Soga no Iname.

 * Empress: Ishi-hime (石姫皇女), Emperor Senka's daughter
 * First son: Prince Yata no Tamakatsu no Ōe (箭田珠勝大兄皇子)
 * Second son: Prince Nunakura Futotama-Shiki (渟中倉太珠敷尊), later Emperor Bidatsu
 * Princess Kasanui (笠縫皇女)
 * Consort: Princess Wayaka-Hime (稚綾姫皇女), Emperor Senka's daughter
 * Prince Iso no Kami (石上皇子)
 * Consort: Princess Hikage (日影皇女), Emperor Senka's daughter
 * Prince Kura (倉皇子), in the Kojiki as Soga no Kura (宗賀之倉王)
 * Consort: Soga no Kitashihime (蘇我堅塩媛), Soga no Iname's daughter
 * Fourth Son: Imperial Prince Ogetaroinogushiwamikoto (大兄皇子), later Prince Shōtoken, adoptive father of Prince Shōtoku
 * Imperial Princess Iwakuma-hime (磐隈皇女), Saiō; had to resign her charge after being convicted of intrigue with her half-brother Imperial Prince Mubaragi
 * Prince Atori (臘嘴鳥皇子), also 足取王
 * Princess Ishiroi-Hime (額田部皇女), later Empress Dowager Kitano-Hime, married to Emperor Bidatsu
 * Prince Maroko (椀子皇子), also 麻呂古王
 * Princess Ohoyake (大宅皇女)
 * Prince Iso no Kami Be (石上部皇子)
 * Prince Yamashiro (山背皇子), also 山代王
 * Princess Ohotomo (大伴皇女), married to her nephew, Prince Oshisako no Hikohito no Oe, Emperor Bidatsu's son
 * Sixth Son: Prince Sakurai (桜井皇子), also 桜井之玄王
 * Princess Katano (肩野皇女), also 麻奴王
 * Prince Tachibana Moto no Wakugo (橘本稚皇子)
 * Princess Toneri (舎人皇女), also 泥杼王, married to her nephew, Prince Maroko, Emperor Yōmei's son
 * Emperor Yōmei (用明天皇)
 * Consort: Soga no Oane (蘇我小姉君), Soga no Iname's daughter
 * Prince Umaraki (茨城皇子), also 馬木王
 * Prince Kazuraki (葛城皇子)
 * Third daughter: Princess Hasetsukabe-no-Anahobe-no-Hashihito (穴穂部間人皇女), married to her half brother, Emperor Yōmei, later married to her nephew and stepson, Prince Tame (Emperor Yōmei's son)
 * Prince Amatsukabe Anahobe (穴穂部皇子)
 * Prince Kōshiko (泊瀬部皇子), later Kimiyori no Kimitsuhi
 * Prince Yakabe (宅部皇子), speculated as Emperor Senka's son
 * Consort: Nukako (糠子), Kasuga no Hifuri no Omi's daughter
 * Princess Kasuga no Yamada (春日山田皇女)
 * Prince Tachibana no Maro (橘麻呂皇子), also 麻呂古王

title: Emperor Kinmei


text:
Emperor Bidatsu

Emperor Bidatsu (敏達天皇) was the 30th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.

The years of reign of Bidatsu start in 572 and end in 585; however, there are no certain dates for this emperor's life or reign. The names and sequence of the early emperors were not confirmed as "traditional" until the reign of Emperor Kanmu, who was the 50th monarch of the imperial dynasty.

Traditional narrative
Historians consider details about the life of Emperor Bidatsu to be possibly legendary, but probable. The name Bidatsu-tennō was created for him posthumously by later generations.

In the Nihon Shoki, he is called Nunakura no Futotamashiki (渟中倉太珠敷).

His palace in Yamato Province was called Osada no Miya of Iware.

Events of Bidatsu's life
In the 15th year of Emperor Kinmei’s reign, Bidatsu was named Crown Prince.

In the 32nd year of Kimmei-tennō's reign (欽明天皇32年), the old Emperor died, and the succession was received by his second son. Soon after, Emperor Bidatsu is said to have acceded to the throne.

Bidatsu's contemporary title would not have been tennō, as most historians believe this title was not introduced until the reigns of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō. Rather, it was presumably Sumeramikoto or Amenoshita Shiroshimesu Ōkimi (治天下大王), meaning "the great king who rules all under heaven". Alternatively, Bidatsu might have been referred to as ヤマト大王/大君 or the "Great King of Yamato".

Bidatsu's reign was marked by power struggles about Buddhism. The two most important men in the court of Bidatsu were Soga no Umako and Mononobe no Moriya. Soga supported the growth of Buddhism, and Moriya wanted to stop it.

Bidatsu sought to re-establish relations with Korean Kingdoms and, according to Nihon Shoki, his court successfully established relations with Baekje and Silla, two of the Three Kingdoms of Korea.

The Emperor died from a disease which afflicted him with sores, apparently the first royal victim of smallpox in Japan.

The actual site of Bidatsu's grave is known. The Emperor is traditionally venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine (misasagi) at Osaka.

The Imperial Household Agency designates this location as Bidatsu's mausoleum. It is formally named Kawachi no Shinaga no naka no o no misasagi.

Genealogy
He was the second son of Emperor Kinmei. His mother, Ishi-hime, was a daughter of Emperor Senka.

Although he had many children, none of them would ever become Emperor. According to Gukanshō, Bidatsu had four empresses and 16 Imperial children (6 sons and 10 daughters).

Bidatsu's first empress, Hirohime, died in the fifth year of his reign. To replace her, he elevated one of his consorts, Princess Nukatabe, to the rank of empress. Nukatabe was his half-sister by their father Kinmei. Later she ascended to the throne in her own right and is today known as Empress Suiko.

He was succeeded first by one of his brothers, Emperor Yōmei, then by another, Emperor Sushun, and then Empress Suiko, his sister and wife, before his grandson, Emperor Jomei, eventually took the throne.

 * Empress: Hirohime (広姫), Prince Okinaga-no-Mate's daughter
 * First Son: Prince Oshisako no Hikohito no Ōe (押坂彦人大兄皇子)
 * Princess Sakanobori (逆登皇女)
 * Princess Uji (菟道皇女), Saiō
 * Empress: Princess Nukatabe (額田部皇女), later Empress Suiko, Emperor Kinmei's daughter
 * Princess Uji no Kaitako (菟道貝蛸皇女), married to Prince Shōtoku
 * Prince Takeda (竹田皇子)
 * Princess Oharita (小墾田皇), married to Prince Oshisako-no-Hikohito-no-Ōe
 * Princess Umori (鸕鶿守皇女)
 * Prince Kazuraki (葛城王)
 * Prince Owari (尾張皇子), father of Tachibana-no-Oiratsume (Prince Shōtoku's consort)
 * Princess Tame (田眼皇女), married to Emperor Jomei
 * Princess Sakurai no Yumihari (桜井弓張皇女), married to Prince Oshisako-no-Hikohito-no-Ōe, later married to Prince Kume (Emperor Yomei's son)
 * Consort: Kasuga-no-Ominako-no-Iratsume (春日老女子), Kasuga no Nakakimi no Omi's daughter
 * Prince Naniwa (難波皇子)
 * Prince Kasuga (春日皇子)
 * Princess Kuwata (桑田皇女)
 * Third Son: Prince Ohomata (大派皇子)
 * Concubine: Unako no Otoshi (菟名子), Ohoka no Obito no Okuma's daughter
 * Princess Futohime (太姫), also 桜井皇女
 * Princess Nukatehime (糠手姫皇女), married to Prince Oshisako no Hikohito no Ōe

title: Emperor Bidatsu


text:
Emperor Yōmei

Emperor Yōmei (用明天皇) was the 31st Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.

Yōmei's reign spanned the years from 585 until his death in 587.

Traditional narrative
He was called Tachibana no Toyohi no Mikoto (橘豊日尊) in the Kojiki. He was also referred to as Prince Ōe (大兄皇子) and Prince Ikebe (池辺皇子) after the palace in which he lived. He acceded to the throne after the death of his half brother, Emperor Bidatsu.

The influential courtiers from Emperor Bidatsu's reign, Mononobe no Moriya, also known as Mononobe Yuge no Moriya no Muraji or as Ō-muraji Yuge no Moriya, and Soga no Umako no Sukune, both remained in their positions during the reign of Emperor Yōmei. Umako was the son of Soga Iname no Sukune, and therefore, he would have been one of Emperor Yōmei's cousins.

 * 585: In the 14th year of Bidatsu-tennō's reign (敏達天皇14年), he died; and the succession was received by his younger brother. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Yōmei is said to have acceded to the throne.

Yōmei's contemporary title would not have been tennō, as most historians believe this title was not introduced until the reigns of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō. Rather, it was presumably Sumeramikoto or Amenoshita Shiroshimesu Ōkimi (治天下大王), meaning "the great king who rules all under heaven". Alternatively, Yōmei might have been referred to as ヤマト大王/大君 or the "Great King of Yamato".

Emperor Yōmei's reign lasted only two years; and he died at the age of 46 or 47.

 * 587, in the 4th month: Yōmei died and his body was placed in a coffin, but not buried.
 * 587, in the 5th month: Armed conflict over the succession erupted. Shintoist, anti-Buddhist forces of Yuge no  Moriya no Muraji (also known as Ō-muraji Yuge no Moriya) battled unsuccessfully against the pro-Buddhist forces of Prince Shōtoku and Soga Umako no Sukune.  The opposition to Buddhism was entirely destroyed.
 * 587, in the 7th month: The body of former Emperor Yōmei was buried.

Because of the brevity of his reign, Emperor Yōmei was not responsible for any radical changes in policy, but his support of Buddhism created tension with supporters of Shinto who opposed its introduction. According to Nihon Shoki, Emperor Yomei believed both in Buddhism and Shinto. Moriya, the most influential supporter of Shinto, conspired with Emperor Yōmei's brother, Prince Anahobe, and after Emperor Yomei's death they made an abortive attempt to seize the throne. Although Emperor Yōmei is reported to have died from illness, this incident and the brevity of his reign have led some to speculate that he was actually assassinated by Moriya and Prince Anahobe.

The actual site of Yōmei's grave is known. The Emperor is traditionally venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine (misasagi) at Osaka.

The Imperial Household Agency designates this location as Yōmei's mausoleum. It is formally named Kōchi no Shinaga no hara no misasagi.

Genealogy
Emperor Yōmei was the fourth son of Emperor Kinmei and his mother was Empress Hirohime, a daughter of Soga no Iname.

In 586, Emperor Yōmei took his half-sister Princess Anahobe no Hashihito (穴穂部間人皇女), whose mother was another of Iname's daughters, Soga no Oane Hime, as his consort. Princess Hashihito no Anahobe bore him four sons.

Empress (Kōgō): Princess Hashihito no Anahobe (穴穂部間人皇女), Emperor Kinmei's daughter
 * Second Son: Prince Umayado (厩戸皇子), later Prince Shōtoku, regent to Empress Suiko
 * Fourth Son: Prince Kume (来目皇子)
 * Fifth Son: Prince Eguri (殖栗皇子)
 * Sixth Son: Prince Mamuta (茨田皇子)

Concubine (Hin): Soga no Ishikina (蘇我石寸名), Soga no Iname's daughter
 * First Son: Prince Tame (田目皇子)

Consort (Hi): Katsuragi Hiroko (葛城広子), Katsuragi no Atahe's daughter
 * Third Son: Prince Maroko (当麻皇子)
 * Princess Sukatehime (酢香手姫皇女)

Yomei had three Empresses and seven Imperial sons and daughters.

title: Emperor Yōmei


text:
Emperor Sushun

Emperor Sushun (崇峻天皇) was the 32nd Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.

Sushun's reign spanned the years from 587 through 592.

Traditional narrative
Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (his imina) was Hatsusebe-shinnō, also known as Hatsusebe no Waka-sazaki.

His name at birth was Hatsusebe (泊瀬部). He was the twelfth son of Emperor Kinmei. His mother was Empress Hirohime (蘇我小姉君), a daughter of Soga no Iname, who was the chief, or Ōomi, of the Soga clan.

He succeeded his half-brother, Emperor Yōmei in 587, and lived in the Kurahashi Palace (Kurahashi no Miya) in Yamato.

 * 587: In the 2nd year of Yōmei-tennō's reign (用明天皇2年), the Emperor died, and despite a dispute over who should follow him as sovereign, the succession was received by another son of Emperor Kinmei, one of Yōmei's younger brothers.  Shortly thereafter, Emperor Sushun is said to have acceded to the throne.

Sushun's contemporary title would not have been tennō, as most historians believe this title was not introduced until the reigns of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō. Rather, it was presumably Sumeramikoto or Amenoshita Shiroshimesu Ōkimi (治天下大王), meaning "the great king who rules all under heaven". Alternatively, Sushun might have been referred to as ヤマト大王/大君 or the "Great King of Yamato".

He came to the throne with the support of the Soga clan and Empress Suiko, his half sister and the widow of Emperor Bidatsu. Initially, the Mononobe clan, a rival clan of the Sogas, allied with Prince Anahobe, another son of Kimmei, and attempted to have him installed as Emperor. At the Battle of Shigisan, Soga no Umako, who succeeded his father as Ōomi of the Soga clan, eventually killed Mononobe no Moriya, the head of the Mononobe clan, which led to its decline. Umako then installed Emperor Sushun on the throne.

As time went on, Sushun eventually became resentful of Umako's power, and wanted him deposed. It is said that one day, he killed a wild boar and stated, "As I have slain this boar, so would I slay the one I despise". This angered Soga no Umako and, perhaps out of fear of being struck first, Umako hired to assassinate Sushun in 592.

Emperor Sushun's reign lasted for five years before his death at the age of 72.

The actual site of Sushun's grave is known. The Emperor is traditionally venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine (misasagi) at Nara.

The Imperial Household Agency designates this location as Yōmei's mausoleum. It is formally named Kurahashi no oka no e no misasagi.

Genealogy
Sushun had two consorts and three Imperial children.

 * Consort (Hi) : Koteko (小手子), Otomo-no-Nukateko's daughter
 * Third Son: Prince Hachiko (蜂子皇子)
 * Princess Nishikite (錦代皇女)

 * Beauty (Hin) : Kahakami-no-Iratsume (河上娘), Soga no Umako's daughter

 * Mother Unknown
 * Imperial Prince Sadayo (定世親王), older brother of Prince Hachiko, Nakahara clan's ancestor

 * Concubine: Futsuhime (布都姫), Mononobe no Moriya's younger sister

title: Emperor Sushun


text:
Empress Suiko

Empress Suiko (推古天皇) (554 – 15 April 628) was the 33rd monarch of Japan, and the country's first and longest-reigning empress regnant, according to the traditional order of succession.

Suiko reigned from 593 until her death in 628.

Traditional narrative
Before her ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, her personal name (her imina) was Mikekashiya-hime-no-mikoto, also Toyomike Kashikiya hime no Mikoto.

Empress Suiko had several names including Princess Nukatabe and (possibly posthumously) Toyomike Kashikiya. She was a daughter of Emperor Kinmei. Her mother was Soga no Iname's daughter, Soga no Kitashihime. Suiko was the younger sister of Emperor Yōmei.

Biography
Empress Suiko was a consort to her half-brother, Emperor Bidatsu, but after Bidatsu's first wife died she became his official consort and was given the title Ōkisaki (official consort of the emperor). She bore eight children.

After Bidatsu's death, Suiko's brother, Emperor Yōmei, came to power for about two years before dying of illness. Upon Yōmei's death, another power struggle arose between the Soga clan and the Mononobe clan, with the Sogas supporting Prince Hatsusebe and the Mononobes supporting Prince Anahobe. The Sogas prevailed once again and Prince Hatsusebe acceded to the throne as Emperor Sushun in 587. However, Sushun began to resent the power of Soga no Umako, the head of the Soga clan, and Umako, perhaps out of fear that Sushun might strike first, had him assassinated by Yamatoaya no Ataikoma (東漢直駒) in 592. When asked to accede to the throne to fill the power vacuum that subsequently developed, Suiko became the first of what would be several examples in Japanese history where a woman was chosen to accede to the throne to avert a power struggle.

 * 593: In the 2nd year of Sushun-tennō's reign (崇峻天皇二年), he died; and contemporary scholars then construed that the succession (senso) was received by the consort of former Emperor Bidatsu. Shortly thereafter, Empress Suiko is said to have ascended to the throne (sokui).

Suiko's contemporary title would not have been tennō, as most historians believe this title was not introduced until the reigns of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō. Rather, it was presumably Sumeramikoto or Amenoshita Shiroshimesu Ōkimi (治天下大王), meaning "the great Queen who rules all under heaven". Alternatively, Suiko might have been referred to as (ヤマト大王/大君) or the "Great Queen of Yamato".

Prince Shōtoku was appointed regent the following year. Although political power during Suiko's reign is widely viewed as having been wielded by Prince Shōtoku and Soga no Umako, Suiko was far from powerless. The mere fact that she survived and her reign endured suggests she had significant political skills.

In 599, an earthquake destroyed buildings throughout Yamato Province in what is now Nara Prefecture.

Suiko's refusal to grant Soga no Umako's request that he be granted the imperial territory known as Kazuraki no Agata in 624 is cited as evidence of her independence from his influence. Some of the many achievements under Empress Suiko's reign include the official recognition of Buddhism by the issuance of the Flourishing Three Treasures Edict in 594. Suiko was also one of the first Buddhist monarchs in Japan, and had taken the vows of a nun shortly before becoming empress.

The reign of this empress was marked by the opening of relations with the Sui court in 600, the adoption of the Twelve Level Cap and Rank System in 603 and the adoption of the Seventeen-article constitution in 604.

The adoption of the Sexagenary cycle calendar (Jikkan Jūnishi) in Japan is attributed to Empress Suiko in 604.

At a time when imperial succession was generally determined by clan leaders rather than the emperor, Suiko left only vague indications of succession to two candidates while on her deathbed. One, Prince Tamura, was a grandson of Emperor Bidatsu and was supported by the main line of Sogas, including Soga no Emishi. The other, Prince Yamashiro, was a son of Prince Shōtoku and had the support of some lesser members of the Soga clan. After a brief struggle within the Soga clan in which one of Prince Yamashiro's main supporters was killed, Prince Tamura was chosen and he acceded to the throne as Emperor Jomei in 629.

Empress Suiko ruled for 35 years. Although there were seven other reigning empresses, their successors were most often selected from amongst the males of the paternal Imperial bloodline, which is why some conservative scholars argue that the women's reigns were temporary and that male-only succession tradition must be maintained in the 21st century. Empress Genmei, who was followed on the throne by her daughter, Empress Genshō, remains the sole exception to this conventional argument.

The actual site of Suiko's grave is known. This empress is traditionally venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine (misasagi) at Osaka.

The Imperial Household Agency designates this location as Suiko's mausoleum. It's formally named Shinaga no Yamada no misasagi.

Beginning of historical writing in Japan
Sinologist Wm. Theodore de Bary believed that it was not until the reign of Suiko that "consciously written [Japanese] history becomes a reality". He noted the name Suiko can be translated to "conjecture of the past", suggesting that this posthumous title was "bestowed on the empress because the writing of history was considered to be an outstanding achievement of her reign". He commented that "little of the material from the ancient Japanese past can be taken seriously" and the earliest extant Japanese annals were the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki, which both date to the 8th century.

Spouse and children
Empress Suiko, born as Princess Nukatabe (額田部皇女), was the daughter of Emperor Kinmei and his consort (Hi), Soga no Kitashihime. Princess Nukatabe had five full sisters and seven full brothers among which the eldest would become Emperor Yōmei.

She married her eldest half-brother, Prince Nunakura Futotama-Shiki, born by her father's legal wife and empress consort. The couple had eight children but none would ascend the throne.
 * Husband: Prince Nunakakura no Futo Tamashiki no Sumeramikoto (渟中倉太珠敷) later Emperor Bidatsu,
 * First Daughter: Princess Uji no Shitsukahi/Uji no Kahitako (菟道貝蛸皇女, b.570), married to Crown Prince Shōtoku
 * First Son: Prince Takeda (竹田皇子)
 * Second Daughter: Princess Woharida (小墾田皇, b.572), married to Prince Oshisako-no-Hikohito-no-Oe
 * Third Daughter: Princess Umori/Karu no Mori (鸕鶿守皇女)
 * Second Son: Prince Wohari (葛城王)
 * Third Son: Prince Owari (尾張皇子), Father of Tachibana-no-Oiratsume (Crown Prince Shōtoku's consort) (Wohari and Owari may have been the same person )
 * Fourth Daughter: Princess Tame (田眼皇女), married to Emperor Jomei
 * Fifth Daughter: Princess Sakurawi no Yumihari (桜井弓張皇女), married to Prince Oshisako-no-Hikohito-no-Oe, later married to Prince Kume (Emperor Yōmei's son)

title: Empress Suiko


text:
Empress Kōgyoku

Empress Kōgyoku (皇極天皇), also known as Empress Saimei (斉明天皇), was the 35th and 37th monarch of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.

Kōgyoku's reign spanned the years from 642 to 645. Her reign as Saimei encompassed 655 to 661. In other words, The two reigns of this one woman spanned the years from 642 through 661.
 * 642: She ascended the throne as Kōgyoku-tennō, and she stepped down in response to the assassination of Soga no Iruka (see: Isshi incident).
 * 645: She abdicated in favor of her brother, who would become known as Emperor Kōtoku.
 * 654: Kōtoku died and the throne was vacant.
 * 655: She re-ascended, beginning a new reign as Saimei-tennō.
 * 661: Saimei ruled until her death caused the throne to be vacant again.

In the history of Japan, Kōgyoku/Saimei was the second of eight women to take on the role of empress regnant. The sole female monarch before Kōgyoku/Saimei was Suiko-tennō. The six female sovereigns reigning after Kōgyoku/Saimei were Jitō, Genmei, Genshō, Kōken/Shōtoku, Meishō, and Go-Sakuramachi.

Traditional narrative
Before her ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, her personal name (imina) was Takara (宝). As empress, her name would have been Ametoyo Takara Ikashi Hitarashi hime (天豐財重日足姬).

Princess Takara (Takara no miko) was a great-granddaughter of Emperor Bidatsu.

Events in Kōgyoku's reign
During her first reign the Soga clan seized power. Her son Naka no Ōe planned a coup d'état and slew Soga no Iruka at the court in front of her throne. The Empress, shocked by this incident, abdicated the throne.

Kōgyoku's contemporary title would not have been tennō, as most historians believe this title was not introduced until the reigns of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō. Rather, it was presumably Sumeramikoto or Amenoshita Shiroshimesu Ōkimi (治天下大王), meaning "the Great Queen who rules all under Heaven". Alternatively, Kōgyoku might have been referred to as (ヤマト大王/大君) or the "Great Queen of Yamato".

Empress Kōgyoku reigned for four years. The years of Kōgyoku's reign are not linked by scholars to any era or nengō. The Taika era innovation of naming time periods – nengō – was yet to be initiated during her son's too-brief reign.

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."

The years of Kōgyoku's reign are not more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō which was an innovation of Kōtoku's brief reign.

Events in Saimei's reign
When Kōtoku died, his designated heir was Naka no Ōe. When Naka no Ōe's mother re-ascended, he continued in the role of her heir and crown prince. In this role, he could and did remain active in the political life of Japan.

In the fifth year of Saimei's reign, Paekche in Korea was destroyed in 660. Japan assisted Paekche loyals in an attempt to aid the revival of Paekche dynasty. Early in 661, Saimei responded to the situation by leaving her capital in Yamato Province. Her plan was to lead a military expedition to Korea. The empress stayed in Ishiyu Temporary Palace in Iyo Province, today Dōgo Onsen. In May she arrived at Asakura Palace in the north part of Tsukushi province in Kyūshū, today a part of Fukuoka Prefecture. The allied army of Japan and Baekje was preparing for war against Silla, but the death of the empress thwarted those plans. In 661, Saimei died in the Asakura Palace before the army departed to Korea. In October her body was brought from Kyūshū by sea to Port Naniwa-zu (today Osaka city); and her state funeral was held in early November.

Empress Saimei ruled for seven years. The years of Saimei's reign are not linked by scholars to any era or nengō. The Taika era innovation of naming time periods – nengō – languished until Mommu reasserted an imperial right by proclaiming the commencement of Taihō in 701.

The actual site of Kōgyoku/Saimei's grave is known, having been identified as the Kengoshizuka tomb in the village of Asuka, Nara Prefecture. This empress is traditionally venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine (misasagi) at Nara.

The Imperial Household Agency designates this location as Kōgyoku/Seimei's mausoleum. It is formally named Ochi-no-Okanoe no misasagi.

Kugyō
Kugyō (公卿) 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 Kōgyoku's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:
 * Sadaijin
 * Udaijin

The kugyō during Saimei's reign included:
 * Sadaijin, Kose no Tokoda(巨勢徳太) (593–658), 649–658
 * Udaijin (not appointed)
 * Naidaijin (内臣), Nakatomi no Kamako(中臣鎌子) (Fujiwara no Kamatari, 藤原鎌足) (614–669), 645–669

Spouses and children
Empress Saimei, born Princess Takara, was the daughter of Prince Chinu, a grandson of Emperor Bidatsu, and his princess consort.

Firstly, she married Prince Takamuku and had a son. Secondly, the princess married Prince Toneri who also was Emperor Bidatsu's grandson.The marriage produced one daughter and two sons who both ascended the throne in the future.
 * First Husband: Prince Takamuku (高向王), Prince Tame's son (also Emperor Yomei’s grandson)
 * First Son: Prince Kara (漢皇子)
 * Second Husband: Prince Tamura (田村皇子), later Emperor Jomei, Prince Oshisaka-no-hikohito-no-Ōe's son (also Emperor Bidatsu's grandson)
 * Second Son: Prince Naka no Ōe (中大兄皇子) later Emperor Tenji)
 * First Daughter: Princess Hashihito (間人皇女, d. 665), married Emperor Kōtoku
 * Third Son: Prince Ōama (大海人皇子) later Emperor Tenmu

Popular culture

 * Portrayed by Kim Min-kyung in the 2012–2013 KBS1 TV series Dream of the Emperor.

title: Empress Kōgyoku


text:
Emperor Kōtoku

Emperor Kōtoku (孝徳天皇) was the 36th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.

The years of his reign lasted from 645 through 654 (AD).

Traditional narrative
Before Kōtoku's ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (imina) was Karu (軽) or Prince Karu (軽皇子).

He was a descendant of Emperor Bidatsu. He was a son of Chinu no ōkimi (Prince Chinu, 茅渟王) by Kibitsuhime no ōkimi (Princess Kibitsuhime, 吉備姫王). Empress Kōgyoku was his elder sister from the same parents. Chinu was a son of Prince Oshisaka hikohito no ōe, whose father was the Emperor Bidatsu. He had at least three consorts including his Empress, Hashihito no Himemiko (Princess Hashihito), the daughter of Emperor Jomei and his sister Empress Kōgyoku. In the 3rd year of Kōgyoku-tennō's reign (皇極天皇三年), the empress abdicated; and the succession (senso) was received by her younger brother. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Kōtoku is said to have acceded to the throne (sokui).

Kōtoku ruled from July 12, 645 (AD), until his death in 654. In 645 he ascended to the throne two days after Prince Naka no Ōe (Emperor Tenji) assassinated Soga no Iruka in the court of Kōgyoku. Kōgyoku abdicated in favor of her son and crown prince, Naka no Ōe, but Naka no Ōe insisted Kōtoku should ascend to the throne instead. Kōtoku's contemporary title would not have been tennō, as most historians believe this title was not introduced until the reigns of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō. Rather, it was presumably Sumeramikoto or Amenoshita Shiroshimesu Ōkimi (治天下大王), meaning "the great king who rules all under heaven". Alternatively, Kōtoku might have been referred to as (ヤマト大王/大君) or the "Great King of Yamato". According to the Nihonshoki, he was of gentle personality and was in favor of Buddhism.

In 645 he created a new city in the area called Naniwa, and moved the capital from Yamato Province to this new city (see Nara). The new capital had a sea port and was good for foreign trade and diplomatic activities. In 653 Kōtoku sent an embassy to the court of the Tang dynasty in China, but some of the ships were lost en route.

Naka no Ōe held the rank of crown prince and was the de facto leader of the government. In 653 Naka no Ōe proposed to move the capital again to Yamato province. Kōtoku denied. Naka no Ōe ignored the emperor's policy and moved to the former province. Many courtiers of the court, including Empress Hashihito, followed him. Kōtoku was left in the palace. In the next year he died of an illness. After his death, Naka would not ascend to the throne. Instead, his mother and the sister of Kōtoku, the former Empress Kogyoku, ascended to the throne under another name, Empress Saimei.

He enacted the Taika Reform edicts. The system of hasshō kyakkan (eight ministries and a hundred offices) was first established during the reign of Emperor Kōtoku.

The actual site of Kōtoku's grave is known. This emperor is traditionally venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine (misasagi) at Osaka. The Imperial Household Agency designates this location as Kōtoku's mausoleum. It is formally named Ōsaka-no-shinaga no misasagi.

Traditionally the monk Hōdō, was born in India, and traveled to Japan via China and the Baekje kingdom in Korea. Hōdō cured an illness of the Emperor Kōtoku (596 – 654 AD), who then sent the monk to establish numerous Buddhist temples. According to legend Hōdō founded Tenjō-ji in 646 (AD). The monk is worshipped in the Gion faith.

Kugyō
Kugyō (公卿) 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 Kōtoko's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:
 * Sadaijin, Abe no Kurahashi-maro (阿部倉梯麻呂) (d. 649), 645–649.
 * Sadaijin, Kose no Tokoda (巨勢徳太) (593–658), 649–658.
 * Udaijin, Soga no Kura-no-Yamada no Ishikawa-no-maro (蘇我倉山田石川麻呂) (d. 649), 645–649.
 * Udaijin, Ōtomo no Nagatoko (大伴長徳) (d. 651), 649–651.
 * Naidaijin(内臣), Nakatomi Kamako (中臣鎌子) (Fujiwara no Kamatari, 藤原鎌足) (614–669), 645–669.

Eras of Kōtoku's reign
The years of Kōtoku's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō.
 * Taika  (645–650)
 * Hakuchi (650–655)

Consorts and children
Empress: Princess Hashihito (間人皇女, d. 665), Emperor Jomei and Empress Kogyoku's daughter

Hi: Abe no Otarashi-hime (阿部小足媛), Abe no Kurahashi-maro's daughter
 * Prince Arima (有間皇子, 640–658)

Hi: Saga no Chi-no-iratsume (蘇我乳娘), Soga no Kura-no-Yamada no Ishikawa-no-maro's daughter

title: Emperor Kōtoku


text:
Emperor Tenji

Emperor Tenji (天智天皇), known first as Prince Katsuragi (葛城皇子) and later as Prince Nakano Ōe (中大兄皇子) until his accession, was the 38th emperor of Japan who reigned from 668 to 671. He was the son of Emperor Jomei and Empress Kōgyoku (Empress Saimei), and his children included Empress Jitō, Empress Genmei, and Emperor Kōbun.

In 645, Tenji and Fujiwara no Kamatari defeated Soga no Emishi and Iruka. He established a new government and carried out political reforms. He then assumed real political power as the crown prince of both the Kōtoku and Saimei Emperors. Despite the death of Emperor Saimei, he did not accede to the throne for seven years, and came to the throne after the relocation of the capital to Ōmi in 668. He created Japan's first family register, the Kōgo Nenjaku, and the first code of law, the Ōmi Code.

Traditional narrative

He was the son of Emperor Jomei, but was preceded as ruler by his mother Empress Saimei.

Prior to his accession, he was known as Prince Naka-no-Ōe (中大兄皇子).

Events of Tenji's life
As prince, Naka no Ōe played a crucial role in ending the near-total control the Soga clan had over the imperial family. In 644, seeing the Soga continue to gain power, he conspired with Nakatomi no Kamatari and Soga no Kurayamada no Ishikawa no Maro to assassinate Soga no Iruka in what has come to be known as the Isshi Incident. Although the assassination did not go exactly as planned, Iruka was killed, and his father and predecessor, Soga no Emishi, committed suicide soon after. Following the Isshi Incident, Iruka's adherents dispersed largely without a fight, and Naka no Ōe was named heir apparent. He also married the daughter of his ally Soga no Kurayamada, thus ensuring that a significant portion of the Soga clan's power was on his side.

Events of Tenji's reign
Naka no Ōe reigned as Emperor Tenji from 661 to 672.

 * 661: In the 3rd year of Saimei's reign (斉明天皇三年), the empress designated her son as her heir; and modern scholars construe this as meaning that this son would have received the succession (senso) after her death or abdication. Shortly after, she died, and Emperor Tenji could be said to have acceded to the throne (sokui).
 * 662: Tenji is said to have compiled the first Japanese legal code known to modern historians. The Ōmi Code, consisting of 22 volumes, was promulgated in the last year of Tenji's reign. This legal codification is no longer extant, but it is said to have been refined in what is known as the Asuka Kiyomihara ritsu-ryō of 689; and these are understood to have been a forerunner of the Taihō ritsu-ryō of 701.
 * 663: Tenji invaded Korea in an attempt to support a revival of Japan's ally Paekche (one of Korea's Three Kingdoms, which had been conquered by the Korean kingdom of Silla in 660) but was seriously defeated at the Battle of Baekgang by the combined forces of Silla and Tang China.
 * 668: An account in Nihon Shoki becomes the first mention of petrochemical oil in Japan. In the 7th year of Tenji's reign (天智天皇七年), flammable water (possibly petroleum) was presented as an offering to Emperor Tenji from Echigo Province (now known as a part of Niigata Prefecture). This presentation coincided with the emperor's ceremonial confirmation as emperor. He had postponed formalities during the period that the mausoleum of his mother was being constructed; and when the work was finished, he could delay no longer.  Up until this time, although he had been de facto monarch, he had retained the title of Crown Prince.
 * 671: An account in Nihon Shoki becomes the first mention of public announcement of time by rōkoku (a kind of water clock) in Japan. In 660 also a mention of this kind of clock exists.

Tenji was particularly active in improving the military institutions which had been established during the Taika Reforms.

Death of the emperor
Following his death in 672, there ensued a succession dispute between his fourteen children (many by different mothers). In the end, he was succeeded by his son, Prince Ōtomo, also known as Emperor Kōbun, then by Tenji's brother Prince Ōama, also known as Emperor Tenmu. Almost one hundred years after Tenji's death, the throne passed to his grandson Emperor Kōnin.

 * Post-Meiji chronology
 * In the 10th year of Tenji, in the 11th month (671): Emperor Tenji, in the 10th year of his reign (天智天皇十年), designated his son as his heir; and modern scholars construe this as meaning that the son would have received the succession (senso) after his father's death. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Kōbun is said to have acceded to the throne (sokui).  If this understanding were valid, then it would follow:
 * In the 1st year of Kōbun (672): Emperor Kōbun, in the 1st year of his reign (弘文天皇元年), died; and his uncle Ōaomi-shinnō received the succession (senso) after the death of his nephew. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Tenmu could be said to have acceded to the throne (sokui).

 * Pre-Meiji chronology
 * Prior to the 19th century, Ōtomo was understood to have been a mere interloper, a pretender, an anomaly; and therefore, if that commonly accepted understanding were to have been valid, then it would have followed:
 * In the 10th year of Tenji, in the 11th month (671): Emperor Tenji, in the 10th year of his reign (天智天皇十年)), died; and despite any military confrontations which ensued, the brother of the dead sovereign would have received the succession (senso); and after a time, it would have been understood that Emperor Tenmu rightfully acceded to the throne (sokui).

The actual site of Tenji's grave is known. This emperor is traditionally venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine (misasagi) at Yamashina-ku, Kyoto.

The Imperial Household Agency designates this location as Tenji's mausoleum. It is formally named Yamashina no misasagi.

Poetry
The Man'yōshū includes poems attributed to emperors and empresses; and according to Donald Keene, evolving Man'yōshū studies have affected the interpretation of even simple narratives like "The Three Hills." The poem was long considered to be about two male hills in a quarrel over a female hill, but scholars now consider that Kagu and Miminashi might be female hills in love with the same male hill, Unebi. This still-unresolved enigma in poetic form is said to have been composed by Emperor Tenji while he was still Crown Prince during the reign of Empress Saimei:

One of his poems was chosen by Fujiwara no Teika as the first in the popular Hyakunin Isshu anthology:

After his death, his wife, Empress Yamato wrote a song of longing about her husband.

Kugyo
The top court officials (公卿) during Emperor Tenji's reign included:

 * Daijō-daijin: Ōtomo no Ōji (大友皇子), 671–672.
 * Naishin (内臣): Fujiwara no Kamatari (藤原鎌足) (614–669), 645–669.

Prince Ōtomo (Ōtomo-shinnō) was the favorite son of Emperor Tenji; and he was also the first to be accorded the title of Daijō-daijin.

Non-nengō period
The years of Tenji's reign are not linked by scholars to any era or nengō. The Taika era innovation of naming time periods – nengō – languished until Mommu reasserted an imperial right by proclaiming the commencement of Taihō in 701 (aside from the momentary proclamation of the Shuchō era under Emperor Tenmu in 686).
 * See Japanese era name – "Non-nengo periods"
 * See Tenji period (661).

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."

Consorts and children
Empress: Yamato Hime no Ōkimi (倭姫王), Prince Furuhito-no-Ōe's daughter (son of Emperor Jomei).

Hin: Soga no Ochi-no-iratsume (蘇我遠智娘, d. c. 651), Soga no Kura-no-yamada no Ishikawa-no-maro's daughter
 * First Daughter: Princess Ōta (大田皇女), married to Emperor Tenmu
 * Second Daughter: Princess Uno-no-sarara (鸕野讃良皇女) later Empress Jitō
 * Second Son: Prince Takeru (建皇子, 651–658)

Hin: Soga no Mei-no-iratsume (蘇我姪娘), Soga no Kura-no-yamada no Ishikawa-no-maro's daughter
 * Third Daughter: Princess Minabe (御名部皇女), married to Prince Takechi
 * Fourth Daughter: Princess Abe/Ahe (阿閇皇女) later Empress Genmei, married to Prince Kusakabe

Hin: Soga no Hitachi-no-iratsume (蘇我常陸娘), Soga no Akae's daughter
 * Princess Yamabe (山辺皇女), married to Prince Ōtsu

Hin: Abe no Tachibana-no-iratsume (阿部橘娘, d. 681), Abe no Kurahashi-maro's daughter 10th son: Prince Ōama, later Emperor Tenmu
 * Princess Asuka (明日香皇女), married to Prince Osakabe
 * Princess Niitabe (新田部皇女), married to Emperor Tenmu

Court lady: Koshi-no-michi no Iratsume (越道伊羅都売)
 * Seventh Son: Prince Shiki (施基皇子/志貴皇子, d. 716), Father of Emperor Kōnin

Court lady (Uneme): Yakako-no-iratsume, a lower court lady from Iga (伊賀采女宅子娘) (Iga no Uneme)
 * First Son: Prince Ōtomo (大友皇子) later Emperor Kōbun
 * Prince Abe (阿閇皇子, b.648)
 * Princess Aga (阿雅皇女, 648–709)

Court lady: Oshinumi no Shikibuko-no-iratsume (忍海色夫古娘), Oshinumi Zokuryu's daughter
 * Third Son: Prince Kawashima (川島皇子, 657–691)
 * Princess Ōe (大江皇女), married to Emperor Tenmu
 * Princess Izumi (泉皇女), Saiō in Ise Shrine (701–706)

Court lady: Kurikuma no Kurohime-no-iratsume (栗隈黒媛娘), Kurikuma Tokuman's daughter
 * Princess Minushi (水主皇女)

Mausoleum
Mausoleum of Emperor Tenji is a Kofun in that is the traditional burial site of Emperor Tenji. Specifically, it is an Octagonal Kofun.

The Imperial Household Agency has limited access by the public out of respect for Emperor Tenji who they claim is buried there.

Popular culture

 * Portrayed by Ahn Hong-jin in the 2012–2013 KBS1 TV series Dream of the Emperor.

title: Emperor Tenji


text:
Emperor Kōbun

Emperor Kōbun (弘文天皇) was the 39th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.

Kōbun's reign lasted only a few months in 672.

Traditional narrative
Emperor Kōbun was named the 39th emperor by the Meiji government in 1870; and since the late 19th century, he is known by the posthumous name accorded to him by Meiji scholars.

In his lifetime, he was known as Prince Ōtomo (大友皇子, Ōtomo no ōji). He was the favorite son of Emperor Tenji; and he was also the first to have been accorded the title of Daijō-daijin.

Contemporary historians now place the reign of Emperor Kōbun between the reigns of Emperor Tenji and Emperor Tenmu; but the Nihongi, the Gukanshō, and the Jinnō Shōtōki do not recognize this reign. Prince Ōtomo was only given his posthumous title and name in 1870.

 * Post-Meiji chronology
 * In the 10th year of Tenji, in the 11th month (671): Emperor Tenji, in the 10th year of his reign (天智天皇十年), designated his son as his heir; and modern scholars construe this as meaning that the son would have received the succession (senso) after his father's death. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Kōbun is said to have acceded to the throne (sokui).  If this understanding were valid, then it would follow:
 * In the 1st year of Kōbun (672): Emperor Kōbun, in the 1st year of his reign (弘文天皇元年), died; and his uncle Ōaomino ōji received the succession (senso) after the death of his nephew. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Tenmu could be said to have acceded to the throne (sokui).

 * Pre-Meiji chronology
 * Prior to the 19th century, Ōtomo was understood to have been a mere interloper, a pretender, an anomaly; and therefore, if that commonly accepted understanding were to have been valid, then it would have followed:
 * In the 10th year of Tenji, in the 11th month (671): Emperor Tenji, in the 10th year of his reign (天智天皇十年), died; and despite any military confrontations which ensued, the brother of the dead sovereign would have received the succession (senso); and after a time, it would have been understood that Emperor Tenmu rightfully acceded to the throne (sokui).
 * Control of the throne was wrested by Emperor Tenchi's brother, Prince Ōama, during the Jinshin War, after which Emperor Kōbun died by suicide. For centuries, the hapless Prince Ōtomo was not considered to have been a part of the traditional order of succession.

The actual site of Kōbun's grave is known. This emperor is traditionally venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine (misasagi) at Shiga.

The Imperial Household Agency designates this location as Kōbun's mausoleum. It is formally named Nagara no Yamasaki no misasagi.

Non-nengō period
The years of Kōbun's reign are not linked by scholars to any era or nengō. The Taika era innovation of naming time periods – nengō – languished until Mommu reasserted an imperial right by proclaiming the commencement of Taihō in 701.
 * See Japanese era name – "Non-nengo periods"
 * See Kōbun (period) (672).

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."

Kugyo
The top court officials (公卿) during Emperor Kōbun's reign included:
 * Sadaijin, Soga no Akae (蘇我赤兄) (?–?), 672 (7 months)
 * Udaijin, Nakatomi no Kane (中臣金) (d. 672), 672 (7 months)

Consorts and children
Consort: Princess Tōchi (十市皇女), Emperor Tenmu's daughter
 * First son: Prince Kadono (葛野王, 669–706)

Consort: Fujiwara no Mimimotoji (藤原耳面刀自), Fujiwara no Kamatari's daughter
 * Princess Ichishi-hime (壱志姫王)

Emperor Kōbun had another son named Prince Yota (興多王), whose mother is unknown.

title: Emperor Kōbun