Editing Emperor Monmu

{{Short description|Emperor of Japan from 697 to 707}}
{{use mdy dates|date=June 2012}}
{{Infobox monarch
| name         = Emperor Monmu<br>{{nobold|{{lang|ja|文武天皇}}}}
| succession   = [[Emperor of Japan]]
| image        = Emperor Monmu portrait.png
| caption      = 
| reign        = 697–707
| coronation   = September 23, 697
| cor-type     = Japan
| predecessor  = [[Empress Jitō|Jitō]]
| successor    = [[Empress Genmei|Genmei]]
| posthumous name = [[Posthumous name#Chinese-style (Han-style) shigō|Chinese-style ''shigō'']]:<br/>Emperor Monmu ({{lang|ja|文武天皇}})<br/><br/>[[Posthumous name#Japanese-style shigō|Japanese-style ''shigō'']]:<br/>Yamato-neko-toyoohoji no Sumeramikoto ({{lang|ja|倭根子豊祖父天皇}}) (707)<br/>Ame-no-mamune-toyoohoji no Sumeramikoto ({{lang|ja|天之真宗豊祖父天皇}}) (797)
| issue        = {{plainlist|
* [[Emperor Shōmu]]
* Prince Hironari
* Prince Hiroyo}}
| royal house  = [[Imperial House of Japan]]
| father       = [[Prince Kusakabe]]
| mother       = [[Empress Genmei]]
| birth_name   = Karu ({{lang|ja|珂瑠}} ''or'' {{lang|ja|軽}})
| birth_date   = 13 October 683
| birth_place  = 
| death_date   = {{death date and age|707|7|18|683|10|13|df=y}}
| death_place  = [[Fujiwara-kyō]], [[Japan]]
| burial_place = ''Hinokuma no Ako no oka no e no misasagi'' (檜隈安古岡上陵) (Nara)|
}}

{{nihongo|'''Emperor Monmu'''|文武天皇|Monmu-[[tennō]]|683–707}} was the 42nd [[emperor]] of [[Japan]],<ref name="kunaicho">[[Imperial Household Agency]] (''Kunaichō''): [http://www.kunaicho.go.jp/ryobo/guide/042/index.html  文武天皇 (42)]; retrieved 2013-8-22.</ref> according to the traditional [[List of Emperors of Japan|order of succession]].<ref>[[Richard Ponsonby-Fane|Ponsonby-Fane, Richard]]. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan'', p. 55.</ref>

Monmu's reign spanned the years from [[Asuka period|697 through 707.]]<ref>[[Isaac Titsingh|Titsingh, Isaac]]. (1834). {{Google books|18oNAAAAIAAJ| ''Annales des empereurs du Japon,'' pp. 60–63|page=63}}[[Delmer Brown|Brown, Delmer M.]] (1979). ''Gukanshō'', pp. 270–271; [[H. Paul Varley|Varley, H. Paul]]. (1980). ''Jinnō Shōtōki''. pp. 137–140.</ref>

==Traditional narrative==
Before his ascension to the [[Chrysanthemum Throne]], his personal name (''[[imina]]'')<ref>Brown, pp. 264; prior to [[Emperor Jomei]], the personal names of the emperors were very long and people did not generally use them.  The number of characters in each name diminished after Jomei's reign.</ref> was Karu''-shinnō''.<ref name="b270">Brown, p. 270.</ref>

He was a grandson of [[Emperor Tenmu]] and [[Empress Jitō]]. He was the second son of Prince Kusakabe. Monmu's mother was Princess Abe, a daughter of [[Emperor Tenji]]. Monmu's mother would later accede to the throne herself, and she would be known as Empress Genmei.<ref>Varley, p. 138.</ref>

===Events of Monmu's life===
Karu''-shinnō'' was only six years old when his father, [[Crown Prince Kusakabe]], died.

* '''697''':  In the 10th year of Jitō''-tennō''{{'}}s reign (持統天皇十年), the empress abdicated; and the succession (''senso'') was received by a grandson of [[Emperor Tenmu]].  Shortly thereafter, Emperor Monmu is said to have acceded to the throne (''sokui'').<ref>Titsingh, [https://books.google.com/books?id=18oNAAAAIAAJ&dq=nipon+o+dai+itsi+ran&pg=PP9  p. 60]; Brown, p. 270; Varley, pp. 44, 137–138; a distinct act of ''senso'' is unrecognized prior to [[Emperor Tenji]]; and all sovereigns except [[Empress Jitō|Jitō]], [[Emperor Yōzei|Yōzei]], [[Emperor Go-Toba|Go-Toba]], and [[Emperor Fushimi|Fishimi]] have ''senso'' and ''sokui'' in the same year until the reign of [[Emperor Go-Murakami]].</ref>

Emperor Monmu ruled until his death in 707, at which point he was succeeded by his mother, [[Empress Genmei]], who was also his [[first cousin once removed]] and his first cousin twice removed. He left a young son by [[Fujiwara clan|Fujiwara]] no Miyako, a daughter of [[Fujiwara no Fuhito]]: Obito no miko (Prince Obito), who eventually became [[Emperor Shōmu]].

Emperor Monmu's reign lasted 10 years.  He died at the age of 25.<ref>Varley, p. 140.</ref>

The actual site of Monmu's [[grave (burial)|grave]] is known.<ref name="kunaicho"/>  This emperor is traditionally venerated at a [[memorial]] [[Shinto]] [[shrine]] (''misasagi'') at Nara.

The [[Imperial Household Agency]] designates this location as Monmu's [[mausoleum]].  It is formally named ''Hinokuma no Ako no oka no e no misasagi''.<ref>Ponsonby-Fane, p. 420.</ref>

===Kugyō===
{{nihongo|''[[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 period|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 Monmu's reign, this apex of the  ''[[Daijō-kan]]'' included:
* ''[[Daijō-daijin]]'', Osakabe''-shinnō''.<ref name = "b270"/>
* ''[[Sadaijin]]''
* ''[[Udaijin]]''
* ''[[Naidaijin]]'', Nakatomi Kamako no Muraji.<ref>Brown, p. 266.</ref>
* ''[[Dainagon]]'', Fujiwara Fuhito.<ref>Brown, p. 271.</ref>

==Eras of Monmu's reign==
Conventional modern scholarship seems to have determined that the years of Monmu's reign are encompassed within more than one [[Japanese era names|era name]] or ''[[nengō]]''.<ref>Titsingh, pp. 60–63; Brown, p. 271.</ref>
* ''[[Taihō (era)]]''  (701–704)
* ''[[Keiun]]''       (704–708)

===Non''-nengō'' period===
The initial years of Monmu's reign are not linked by scholars to any era or ''nengō''.<ref>Titsingh, p. 60.</ref>  The Taika era innovation of naming time periods – ''nengō'' – languished until Monmu reasserted an imperial right by proclaiming the commencement of Taihō in 701.
* See [[Japanese era name|Japanese era name – ''"Non-nengo periods"'']]
* See [[Monmu period]] (697–701).

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."<ref name="b270"/>

==Consorts and children==
''Bunin'': Fujiwara no Miyako (藤原宮子, d. 754), [[Fujiwara no Fuhito]]’s daughter
*First Son: Prince Obito (首皇子) later [[Emperor Shōmu]]

''Hin'': Ki no Kamado-no-iratsume (紀竃門娘)

''Hin'': Ishikawa no Tone-no-iratsume (石川刀子娘)
*Takamado Hironari (Hiroyo)

==See also==
* [[Emperor of Japan]]
* [[List of Emperors of Japan]]
* [[Imperial cult]]
* [[Taihō Code]]

==Notes==
[[File:Imperial Seal of Japan.svg|thumb|right|120px|[[Imperial Seal of Japan|Japanese Imperial kamon]] — a stylized [[chrysanthemum]] blossom]]
{{Reflist|1}}

==References==
* [[Delmer Brown|Brown, Delmer M.]] and Ichirō Ishida, eds. (1979). [https://books.google.com/books?id=w4f5FrmIJKIC&q=Gukansho  ''Gukanshō: The Future and the Past''.] Berkeley: University of California Press. {{ISBN|978-0-520-03460-0}};  {{OCLC|251325323}}
* [[Richard Ponsonby-Fane|Ponsonby-Fane, Richard Arthur Brabazon]]. (1959). [https://books.google.com/books?id=SLAeAAAAMAAJ&q=The+Imperial+House+of+Japan  ''The Imperial House of Japan''.] Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. {{OCLC|194887}}
* [[Isaac Titsingh|Titsingh, Isaac.]] (1834). ''[[Nihon Ōdai Ichiran]]''; ou, [https://books.google.com/books?id=18oNAAAAIAAJ&q=nipon+o+dai+itsi+ran  ''Annales des empereurs du Japon''.]  Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland.  {{OCLC|5850691}}
* [[H. Paul Varley|Varley, H. Paul.]] (1980). [https://books.google.com/books?id=tVv6OAAACAAJ ''Jinnō Shōtōki: A Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns''.] New York: Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-231-04940-5}};  {{OCLC|59145842}}

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{{Emperors of Japan}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Monmu}}
[[Category:683 births]]
[[Category:707 deaths]]
[[Category:7th-century Japanese monarchs]]
[[Category:8th-century Japanese monarchs]]
[[Category:Emperors of Japan]]
[[Category:People of Asuka-period Japan]]
[[Category:Sons of empresses regnant]]