Editing Emperor Richū (section)

==Protohistoric narrative ==
The Japanese have traditionally accepted this sovereign's historical existence, and a mausoleum (misasagi) for Richū is currently maintained. The following information available is taken from the [[Pseudohistory|pseudo-historical]] ''[[Kojiki]]'' and ''[[Nihon Shoki]]'', which are collectively known as {{Nihongo|''Kiki''|記紀}} or ''Japanese chronicles''. These chronicles include legends and myths, as well as potential historical facts that have since been [[Tall tale|exaggerated and/or distorted]] over time. These records state that Richū was born to {{Nihongo|'''[[Princess Iwa]]'''|磐之媛命|Iwa no hime no Mikoto}} sometime in 336 AD, and was given the name {{Nihongo||大兄去来穂別尊|''Ōenoizahowake no Mikoto''}}.<ref name="Henshall"/><ref name="Fane1915"/> He was the eldest son of Emperor Nintoku, and was later appointed crown prince by his father during the 31st year of his father's reign. (343 AD).<ref name="Fane1915-2"/><ref name="Brown1">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w4f5FrmIJKIC&q=31st|title=Emperor Richū|work=A Translation and Study of the Gukanshō, an Interpretative History of Japan Written in 1219|author=[[Delmer Brown|Brown, Delmer M.]] and Ichirō Ishida|publisher=University of California Press|year=1979|page=257|isbn=9780520034600}}</ref> When Nintoku died in 399 AD, a period of mourning was followed by a scandal that almost took the Crown Prince's life.

===Assassination attempt===
Sometime during the interval before Richū assumed the throne, he sent his younger brother, {{Nihongo|Prince Suminoe no Nakatsu|住吉仲皇子}} to make marriage arrangements for his consort {{Nihongo|Kuro-hime|黒媛}}.<ref name="Fane1915-2"/><ref name="Aston1"/> Prince Nakatsu instead passed himself off as his older brother Richū, and seduced Kuro-hime. When the act was done he carelessly left his wrist-bells behind at Kuro-hime's house. Richū later discovered these during his first visit to her house, assumed what his brother had done, but decided to take no action against him.<ref name="Aston1"/> Nakatsu on the other hand was fearful of his scandalous actions and plotted to kill his brother that night. He secretly raised a small group of people who surrounded his brother's [[Naniwa Nagara-Toyosaki Palace|palace]].<ref name="Fane1915-2"/><ref name="Aston1"/> Luckily for Richū, some of his loyal retainers intervened by rescuing the heir and carrying him off to [[Isonokami Shrine]] in Yamoto. Nakatsu meanwhile set fire to the besieged palace not knowing of his brother's escape.<ref name="Fane1915-2"/><ref name="Aston1"/>

Richū's other younger brother {{Nihongo|Prince Mizuhawake|瑞歯別尊}} (later Emperor Hanzei) followed him to Yamoto. He was told by Richū though, that unless he proved his loyalty by killing Nakatsu he could not be trusted.<ref name="Fane1915-2"/> Mizuhawake returned to [[Naniwa-kyō|Naniwa]] and bribed one of Nakatsu's [[Affinity (medieval)|retainer]]s to kill him. Nakatsu was utterly defenseless and unprepared as he assumed his brother had fled and disappeared. He was subsequently stabbed to death by his retainer, and Mizuhawake made his way back to Yamoto to report his death. Richū in turn gratefully granted his younger brother "Mura-ahase [[Granary|granaries]].<ref name="Aston1"/>

===Reign===
Richū was crowned emperor after his brother's failed rebellion had been put to rest in the following year (400 AD).<ref name="Aston1"/> During this time, those who were not executed for their participation in the rebellion were forced to undergo tattooing as a punishment.<ref name="Brinkley">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HOJxAAAAMAAJ&dq=Rich%C5%AB&pg=PA109|title=Chapter XII: The Protohistoric Sovereigns|author=[[Francis Brinkley]]|work=A History of the Japanese People from the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era|publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|year=1915|pages=108–110}}</ref> Kurohime was also officially appointed as a concubine later in that year. Although the two had two sons and a daughter, Richū appointed the title of "Crown Prince" to his brother Prince Mizuhawake (later Emperor Hanzei) in 401 AD.<ref name="Fane1915-2"/><ref name="Aston1"/> In the year 403 AD, "local recorders were appointed for the first time in various provinces, who noted down statements and communicated writings of the [[Emperor Sujin#Four Cardinal Quarters (Shidō shogun)|four quarters]]."<ref name="Brinkley"/> Kurohime died sometime in the following year (404 AD) under unclear circumstances. Its said that the Emperor heard a voice in the wind utter mysterious words in the "great void" before a messenger announced of her death.<ref name="Brinkley"/> Richū attributed the cause to an offended deity due to the misconduct of an official regarding a shrine.<ref name="Brinkley"/> [[Princess Kusakanohatabino-hime]] was appointed empress in the following year (405 AD), and the two gave birth to a daughter ([[Princess Nakashi]]).<ref name="Aston1"/> A royal treasury was also established in that year which was managed by two appointed Koreans.<ref name="Brinkley"/> Emperor Richū's reign ended during its sixth year, when he fell ill and succumbed to disease at the age of 64 or 70.<ref name="Aston1"/><ref name="KojikiR"/> The ''kiki'' states that Richū was buried in the misasagi on the "Plain of Mozo no Mimi".<ref name="Aston1"/><ref name="KojikiR"/> His brother ''Mizuhawake'' was enthroned as the [[Emperor Hanzei|next emperor]] in the following year (406 AD).