Emperor Seinei

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Template:Nihongo (444 – 484) was the 22nd (possibly legendary) emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.<ref name="Titsingh">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="kunaicho">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, pp. 28–29; Brown, Delmer M. (1979). Gukanshō, pp. 258–259; Varley, H. Paul. (1980). Jinnō Shōtōki, pp. 115–116.</ref>

No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign, but he is conventionally considered to have reigned from 480 to 484.<ref>Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). The Imperial House of Japan, p. 41.</ref> Because he had such a low profile, there are theories questioning his existence and whether he ever ascended to the throne .

Protohistoric narrative

The Japanese have traditionally accepted this sovereign's historical existence, and a mausoleum (misasagi) for Seinei is currently maintained. The following information available is taken from the pseudo-historical Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, which are collectively known as Template:Nihongo or Japanese chronicles. These chronicles include legends and myths, as well as potential historical facts that have since been exaggerated and/or distorted over time. It is recorded in the Nihon ShokiTemplate:Efn that Seinei was born to Template:Nihongo sometime in 444 AD, and was given the name Template:Nihongo.<ref name="Longford"/> Prince Shiraka was the third and favorite son of Emperor Yūryaku, and was made heir apparent a year before his father's death.<ref name="Aston1">Template:Cite web</ref> Yūryaku had taken notice at how Shiraka was born with white hair as meaning something significant.<ref name="Brown"/>

During the transition period, Yūryaku's other consort Template:Nihongo convinced her younger son Prince Hoshikawa to assert his claim to the throne.<ref name="Brinkley">Template:Cite book</ref> While Hoshikawa was Prince Shiraka's older brother, the eldest sibling in the household (Template:Nihongo) advised against it.<ref name="Fane1">Template:Cite web</ref> In the rebellion that followed Hoshikawa and his followers sieged the Imperial treasury. They were then surrounded by court troops who burned the building to the ground, roasting to death all but one surviving minor official (who was given mercy).<ref name="Brinkley"/> With the rebellion put down, Prince Shiraka assumed the throne as Emperor Seinei in 480 AD.<ref name="Aston1"/> Although the Emperor appointed a woman named Katsuraki Kara-hime as "Grand Consort", she was never made an Empress.<ref name="Aston1"/>

Seinei grew distressed in the second year of his reign as he had no children to succeed him. His father Emperor Yūryaku had done away with all of his male relations in his obsessive conquest for the throne.<ref name="Fane1"/> His older brother Prince Hoshikawa had been burnt to death, and Prince Iwaki died sometime in 481 AD.<ref name="Aston1"/>

Seinei's full sister was Princess Takuhatahime.

Seinei fathered no children; however, two grandsons of the 17th Emperor, Emperor Richū, were found—later to ascend as Prince Woke and Prince Oke. Seinei adopted them as his heirs.<ref>Aston, William. (1998). Nihongi, Vol. 1, pp. 373–377.</ref>

Historical assessment

Seinei was a 5th-century monarch.<ref>Kelly, Charles F. "Kofun Culture," Japanese Archaeology. 27 April 2009.</ref> The reign of Emperor Kinmei (Template:Circa – 571 AD), the 29th emperor,<ref name="Titsingh pp. 34-36">Titsingh, pp. 34–36; Brown, pp. 261–262; Varley, pp. 123–124.</ref> is the first for which contemporary historiography is able to assign verifiable dates;<ref>Hoye, Timothy. (1999). Japanese Politics: Fixed and Floating Worlds, p. 78; excerpt, "According to legend, the first Japanese Emperor was Jinmu. Along with the next 13 Emperors, Jinmu is not considered an actual, historical figure. Historically verifiable Emperors of Japan date from the early sixth century with Kinmei.</ref> however, the conventionally accepted names and dates of the early emperors were not to be confirmed as "traditional" until the reign of Emperor Kanmu (737–806), the 50th sovereign of the imperial dynasty.<ref>Aston, William. (1896). Nihongi, pp. 109.</ref>

It is said that the color of his hair was white since birth.<ref>Titsingh, p. 29; n.b., there is speculation that this unusual hair color suggests albinism.</ref>

Seinei'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 Template:Nihongo, meaning "the great king who rules all under heaven". Alternatively, Seinei might have been referred to as Template:Nihongo2 or the "Great King of Yamato".

The actual site of Seinei's grave is not known.<ref name="kunaicho"/> The emperor is traditionally venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine (misasagi) at Osaka.

The Imperial Household Agency designates this location as Seinei's mausoleum. It is formally named Kawachi no Sakado no hara no misasagi.<ref>Ponsonby-Fane, p. 419.</ref>