Editing Emperor Seimu (section)

==Known information==
[[File:Seimu-tenno sakinotatanaminoikeshirinomisasagi1.jpg|thumb|right|Memorial Shinto shrine and mausoleum honoring Emperor Seimu]]

Emperor Seimu is regarded by historians as a "legendary Emperor" as there is insufficient material available for further verification and study. His existence is open to debate given this lack of information.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.t-net.ne.jp/~keally/kofun.html|title=Kofun Culture|author=Kelly, Charles F.|work=t-net.ne.jp|access-date=31 July 2019}}</ref> If Seimu did exist, there is no evidence to suggest that the title ''tennō'' was used during the time period to which his reign has been assigned. It is much more likely that he was a chieftain, or local clan leader, and the polity he ruled would have only encompassed a small portion of modern-day Japan.<ref name="aston-william-george-1896a">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_oEfAAAAYAAJ|title=Nihongi: Chronicles of Japan from the Earliest Times to A.D. 697, Volume 2|author=Aston, William George.|publisher=The Japan Society London|date=1896|page=109 & 214–216|isbn=9780524053478 |author-link=William George Aston}}</ref> The name Seimu''-tennō'' was more than likely assigned to him [[Posthumous name|posthumously]] by later generations.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/ahistoryjapanes00kikugoog|title=''A History of the Japanese People from the Earliest Times to the end of the Meiji Era''|author=Brinkley, Frank|publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica Company|year=1915|page=[https://archive.org/details/ahistoryjapanes00kikugoog/page/n33 21]|quote=Posthumous names for the earthly ''Mikados'' were invented in the reign of Emperor Kanmu (782–805), i.e., after the date of the compilation of the ''Records'' and the ''Chronicles.''|author-link=Francis Brinkley}}</ref> His name might have been regularized centuries after the lifetime ascribed to Seimu, possibly during the time in which legends about the origins of the [[Imperial House of Japan|imperial dynasty]] were compiled as the chronicles known today as the ''[[Kojiki]]''.<ref name="aston-william-george-1896a"/> There is a possibility that Seimu ruled during the first half of the 4th century when Japan became a unified state ruled from [[Yamato Province|Yamato]], making these accounts "not improbable".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QzjWCgAAQBAJ&q=seimu+existence&pg=PA255|title=Kojiki|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2015|page=90|isbn=9781400878000|access-date=1 August 2019}}</ref>

While the actual site of Seimu's [[grave (burial)|grave]] is not known, the Emperor is traditionally venerated at a [[memorial]] [[Shinto]] [[shrine]] (''misasagi'') at [[Nara, Nara|Nara]]. The [[Imperial Household Agency]] designates this location as Seimu's [[mausoleum]], and is formally named ''Saki no Tatanami no misasagi''.<ref name="imperial-household-agency-kunaicho-2019a"/><ref>{{cite book|title=''Studies in Shinto and Shrines''|author=[[Richard Ponsonby-Fane|Ponsonby-Fane, Richard]]|publisher=Ponsonby-Fane Society Publications|year=1953|page=419}}</ref> Outside of the ''Kiki'', the reign of [[Emperor Kinmei]]{{efn|The 29th Emperor<ref name="titsingh-isaac-1834a"/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w4f5FrmIJKIC&pg=PA261|title=A Translation and Study of the Gukanshō, an Interpretative History of Japan Written in 1219|author-link1=Delmer Brown |last1=Brown|first1=Delmer M.|first2=Ichirō|last2=Ishida |publisher=[[University of California Press]]|year=1979 |pages=248, 261–262|isbn=9780520034600 }}</ref>}} ({{circa|509}}&nbsp;– 571 AD) is the first for which contemporary historiography has been able to assign verifiable dates.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=axRyAAAAMAAJ&q=According+to+legend%2C+the+first+Japanese+Emperor+was+Jimmu.+Along+with+the+next+13+Emperors%2C+Jimmu+is+not+considered+an+actual%2C+historical+figure.+Historically+verifiable+Emperors+of+Japan+date+from+the+early+sixth+century+with+Kimmei.|title=''Japanese Politics: Fixed and Floating Worlds''|author=Hoye, Timothy.|publisher=Prentice Hall|year=1999|page=78|quote=According to legend, the first Japanese Emperor was Jimmu. Along with the next 13 Emperors, Jimmu is not considered an actual, historical figure. Historically verifiable Emperors of Japan date from the early sixth century with Kimmei.|isbn=9780132712897}}</ref> The conventionally accepted names and dates of the early Emperors were not confirmed as "traditional" though, until the reign of [[Emperor Kanmu]]{{efn|Kanmu was the 50th sovereign of the imperial dynasty}} between 737 and 806 AD.<ref name="aston-william-george-1896a"/>