Editing Emperor Jimmu (section)

== Historicity ==
{{See also|Jimmu's Eastern Expedition#Various theories}}
Since after [[World War II]], when the prohibition on questioning the Kojiki and the Nihongi was lifted, documentary research in China and archaeological research in Japan has undermined much of the information in both the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last1=Ring |first1=Trudy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JqHPpNaZfNwC&dq=Jimmu+existed&pg=PA592 |title=International Dictionary of Historic Places: Asia and Oceania |last2=Salkin |first2=Robert M. |last3=Schellinger |first3=Paul E. |last4=Boda |first4=Sharon La |last5=Watson |first5=Noelle |last6=Hudson |first6=Christopher |last7=Hast |first7=Adele |date=1994 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-884964-04-6 |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=460}} No evidence has been found for Jimmu's existence, except the mention in the {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Nihon Shoki]]}} and {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Kojiki]]}}.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Ruoff|first= Kenneth J.|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Mo8cEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA175 |title= Japan's Imperial House in the Postwar Era, 1945–2019|date= 2021|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-1-68417-616-8|page =171}}</ref><ref name= "KodanshaJimmu" /><ref name="Hoye 1999 78">{{Cite book |last=Hoye |first=Timothy |title=Japanese Politics: Fixed and Floating Worlds |year=1999 |page=78}}</ref> Today most modern scholars agree that the traditional founding of the [[Imperial House of Japan|imperial dynasty]] in 660 BC is a myth and that Jimmu is legendary.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Shillony |first=Ben-Ami |author-link=Ben-Ami Shillony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FwztKKtQ_rAC&pg=PA15 |title=The Emperors of Modern Japan |date=2008 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-16822-0 |page=}}</ref>{{Rp|page=15}}[[Emperor Sujin|Emperor Sujin's]] historicity is considered possible by historians, while [[Emperor Kinmei]] is the first verifiable historical figure in the imperial lineage.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoye |first=Timothy |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/38438419 |title=Japanese politics : fixed and floating worlds |date=1999 |publisher=Prentice Hall |isbn=0-13-271289-X |edition=1st |location=Upper Saddle River, N.J. |pages=78 |oclc=38438419}}</ref><ref name="yoshida">{{cite web |last=Yoshida |first=Reiji |date=March 27, 2007 |title=Life in the Cloudy Imperial Fishbowl |url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2007/03/27/reference/life-in-the-cloudy-imperial-fishbowl/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727134306if_/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2007/03/27/reference/life-in-the-cloudy-imperial-fishbowl/ |archive-date=27 July 2020 |access-date=22 August 2013 |work=The Japan Times}}</ref>

The dates of Jimmu reigning from 660 BC to 585 BC are improbable.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Henshall |first=Kenneth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tmYYAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA99 |title=Historical Dictionary of Japan to 1945 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-8108-7872-3 |page=99}}</ref> According to Dr. Lu, the year 660 BC was probably selected by the writers of {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Nihon Shoki]]}} to put the founding of Japan on a [[Sexagenary cycle|kanoto-tori]] year.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lu |first=David J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vgvrBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA9 |title=Japan: A Documentary History |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-46712-0 |volume=1: The Dawn of History to the Late Eighteenth Century: A Documentary History |page=9}}</ref>

However, the stories of Jimmu may reflect real events of the mid to late Yayoi period.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Delmer M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A3_6lp8IOK8C&pg=PA102 |title=The Cambridge History of Japan |last2=Hall |first2=John Whitney |last3=McCullough |first3=William H. |last4=Jansen |first4=Marius B. |last5=Shively |first5=Donald H. |last6=Yamamura |first6=Kozo |last7=Duus |first7=Peter |date=1988 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-22352-2 |page=102}}</ref> According to historian Peter Wetzler, Jimmu's conquest of [[Osaka]] and [[Nara Prefecture|Nara]] may reflect an actual event. Still, the dates and many of the details are fictitious.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Wetzler |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g58BEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA101 |title=Hirohito and War: Imperial Tradition and Military Decision Making in Prewar Japan |date=1998 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-6285-5 |pages=101–102}}</ref> Historian [[Kenneth G. Henshall]] stated that Jimmu's conquest may also reflect a time when the [[Yayoi people]] from continental Asia immigrated in masses starting from [[Kyushu]] and moving eastward during the [[Yayoi period]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Henshall |first=Kenneth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tmYYAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA487 |title=Historical Dictionary of Japan to 1945 |date=2013 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-7872-3 |page=100}}</ref>

Some scholars suggest that there may have been a real person behind Jimmu. He could have been a local ruler who conquered the area near [[Kashihara, Nara|Kashihara]] after [[62 BC]].<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|page=460}} Some scholars believe he was present in [[Miyazaki Prefecture|Miyazaki]] during the first century&nbsp;BC while others say he was there during the third or fourth century&nbsp;AD. Nevertheless, there is a high probability that there was either a foreign or indigenous dynasty in the vicinity of [[Miyazaki Prefecture]] during the [[Kofun period]].<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|page=592}}

According to [[Louis Frédéric]], he may have been a fusion of emperors [[Emperor Sujin|Sujin]] and [[Emperor Keitai|Keitai]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC |title=Japan Encyclopedia |last=Louis-Frédéric |date=2002 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-01753-5 |pages=420–421 |language=en}}</ref> The Japanese historian Ino Okifu identifies Emperor Jimmu with the Chinese alchemist and explorer [[Xu Fu]], a hypothesis supported by certain traditions in Japan and regarded as possible by some modern scholars.<ref>Liu, Hong. The Chinese Overseas: Routledge Library of Modern China. Taylor & Francis (2006). {{ISBN|0-415-33859-X}}.</ref><ref name="Major">{{cite journal |last1=Major |first1=John S. |title=Christy G. Turner II, 'Dental Evidence on the Origins of the Ainu and Japanese.' Science 193 (3 091976):911–13. Marvin J. Allison, 'Paleopathology in Peru'. Natural History 88.2 (2, 1978):74–82. |journal=Early China |date=1978 |volume=4 |pages=78–79 |doi= 10.1017/S0362502800005988|s2cid=163764133}}</ref> The [[Yayoi period]], during which significant changes in Japanese metallurgy and pottery occurred, started around the time of his supposed arrival.<ref>Lee, Khoon Choy Lee. Choy, Lee K. (1995). Japan – between Myth and Reality: Between Myth and Reality. World Scientific publishing. {{ISBN|981-02-1865-6}}.</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Face to Face. The Transcendence of the Arts in China and Beyond – Historical Perspectives |date=2014 |publisher= Faculdade de Belas Artes |location=Lisbon, Portugal |isbn= 978-989830049-2 |pages=17–18 |edition= 1st}}</ref> However, the legend of Xu Fu's voyage also has numerous inconsistencies with the linguistic and [[anthropological]] history of Japan.<ref name="Major" />